05-13-2004, 06:58 PM
Quote:<i>Originally posted by Muslimah </i><b>2. Although I am really tired of saying this, but well why not repeat myself: </b>Frankly, I think it's Western egoism that is partly responsible for why Muslims must always apologize. But, I maintain that someone, somewhere, has to care enough about principles to rise above the brutality, to be better than their enemy. It is, after all, how the early Muslims and Christians survived isn't it?This is why I object when I hear people using the defence of "Look what they had to endure" etc. If violence is done to you, and you revisit it upon your enemy, you will suffer retaliation. Once you bring hatred into the mix, as is the case with Israel and Palestine, or even with the U.S. and Russia during the Cold War, you make it impossible for either side to back down.
why do we have always to apologise and condemn when Muslims have been really slaughtered almost every where without much concern, may be only now people are becoming alert?
What irks me is how willing Muslims can be to justify violence by invoking verses about defending oneself and fighting one's enemy. The same propaganda is used by Islamophobes to show that Islam is a violent and brutal religion. Why don't people ever recall that the Qur'an says it is better to forgive, or that the Prophet spared every single one of his enemies when he finally took Mecca? How about the Jewish servant girl he set free after she tried to poison him, because he felt she was justified in seeking revenge for the defeat and exile of her clan? I see these things brought up when people are trying to defend Islam against charges of barbarism, but never self-critically, never to say that Muslims should change their approaches or their attitudes.
The West isn't the only side guilty of selective memory.