Mideast Muslims Must Denounce Violence

By: Casapulla

Posted: 9/21/06

Shockingly, Muslims in the Middle East are responding to criticisms of the Prophet Muhammad with violence and anger. Muslims are attacking all Christians, especially Roman Catholics, after the remarks made by Pope Benedict XVI in Germany last week - at least they are finally giving the Jews a break. Last week, the Pope spoke at Regensburg University in Germany, quoting 14th-century Emperor Manuel II Paleologos of the Byzantine Empire he said, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The links between Muslims and violence is quickly becoming engrained in everyone's mind. Despite their wish to be classified as gentle and peaceful they just can't seem to shake that habit to burn things down every time they get offended. We keep hearing about how Islam has been hijacked by a minority of extremists - yet the masses of people who turn out to burn effigies of other people's religious leaders seem to contradict this. To this day, there is a significant lack of denunciation of violence carried out in the name of Islam and under the guise of a holy war. This silence of Muslims and their leaders is quickly becoming deafening.

In fact, it is almost cyclical. Someone publicly denounces certain violent aspects of Islam, then Muslims riot and burn things, usually killing a few people, all the while calling for the death of the denouncer. Next, the denouncer apologizes, but the riots keep going for a week or two just to make sure we all get the point that Muslims are not at all violent.

Here is an idea - in a religion where the call to jihad is a valid doctrine, maybe its followers should refrain from rioting every time they disagree with a characterization of their beliefs. Calling for the conquest of Rome and for the aid of God in slitting the throats of the "worshipers of the cross," may not be the best way to go about proving you are not violent. In a world where one of the most powerful Muslim nations is Iran, whose leader constantly calls for the destruction of Israel and the conquer of the West, it seems a little hypocritical to now be offended when someone calls you violent.

Dwelling on Iran for a minute, if the rest of the world were to apply Middle Eastern Muslim logic to situations, Israel should have nuked Iran a long time ago. The rhetoric spewed from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's mouth, calling for the annihilation of Jews, solidly falls into the category of offensive and may even branch out into a direct threat on another nation. Despite this, you do not see Jews rioting and burning down buildings or attacking Muslims.

Now questions arise as to whether the pope, leader of the world's approximately 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, should be commenting on other religions. The world needs to see that the pope is not just some bumbling old man who likes to dress up in white robes and wear big hats. The pope, aside from being the religious authority of the Catholic Church, is also a theologian and respected religious scholar. Pope Benedict is a well researched scholar, who has been a professor of theology and philosophy at several universities. It must be remembered that the pope did not condemn Islam, or even say that Christianity is better, or that Roman Catholicism is the only way to enter heaven. He merely was attempting to open a dialogue to prove violence has no place in religion and the tendency towards violence impedes rational thought and interpretation. I think that the reaction to his comments more than proves his point.

Making clear that he was quoting the late emperor, the pope went on to conclude his remarks saying, "The intention here is not one of retrenchment or negative criticism, but of broadening our concept of reason and its application," which he sees as necessary to have a dialogue on cultures and religions. The pope also emphasized his broader point that violence is "incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul."

Fury over the pope's suggestion that Muhammad brought an aspect of violence into Islam has been met with countless calls for his death. Notorious extremist, Anjem Choudary said that the pope and all those who insult Islam would be "subject to capital punishment."

Muslim organizations throughout Britain have accepted the apology of the pope and have moved on. Likewise, 100 protestors gathered peacefully outside the Vatican embassy in Indonesia. However, none of these people have made the critical step to denounce the violence being carried out by their fellow Muslims in other parts of the world. In Somalia, for example, a 66-year-old Italian nun was killed on her way home from the children's hospital she worked at and authorities have not ruled out a link between her death and the pope's statement. In addition, seven churches have been attacked and burned in the West Bank and Gaza.

Muslims who did not like the pope's acknowledgement of violent as part of their religion took to the streets to remind the world just what violence looks like - in case we had forgotten the outbreak of violence that occurred after a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. The world was shocked at the level of violence that produced and we were assured that it was a special circumstance since the offense was so egregious - apparently not.

How about instead of rioting the Muslims make a deal with the pope. He apologizes for his comments and all the Muslims throughout the Middle East who are upset at being characterized as "violent and insensible" publicly denounce jihad and the concept of a holy war. It's always a good step towards being seen as non-violent if you start rejecting violence.

Staff Columnist Rob Casapulla is a 5th-semester political science major.