| This war is not going to be won with guns alone. It is the ideology we must fight not just those doing the fighting. http://www.studying-islam.org/forum/topic.aspx?topicid=598&lang=&forumid=1
Islamic extremists claim they are following Mohammed’s example. What can we do?
First, we must find rebuttals that specifically address all the arguments which Islamic extremists use regarding terrorism. The ideal rebuttal would be one which lists all the arguments for terrorism which are based on verses in the Quran, Hadith and early biographies about Mohammed (as fundamentalists regard these texts as sacred), and then counters those arguments using those same respected texts. Only then will the extremists listen. Books written by respected Muslims for Muslims will be most effective. The world might have been a different place today if those involved in the September 11 attacks had of read such rebuttals while they were still moderate Muslims. The lifeblood of Islamic terrorism is the type of propaganda that encourages Muslims to fight in order to spread the domain of Islam. Without recruits terrorist organizations will eventually collapse. (Books have been written which claim Islam is a peace loving religion. However, in order to refute the arguments extremists use, a book ought to argue the extremists case as solidly as they themselves argue it and then show from the texts which they regard as sacred that they have got it wrong, if that is the case. Unfortunately, I have found no such books.)
Second, we can treat Muslims as equals and encourage Muslims to treat non-Muslims in Islamic countries as equals. (Fundamentalists have gained a foothold in many parts of the world.) The PBS video "A Class Divided" by Front-line might help some to understand how non-Muslims must feel in places like Pakistan. We must not use a double standard when comparing the Islamic world to the rest of the world. The "Open Letter to Muslims" encourages Muslims to take a step in the right direction.
Third, we must allow freedom of speech and speak the truth in order to condemn that, which should be condemned. We must not silence the moral voices within our society. History has shown that to do so signals the collapse of a society.
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In regards to the propaganda war because some of the things which are done in the name of Islam are so horrible that they refuse to show them on television. That has to change otherwise more and more people are going to think that America and the west are the baddies and the terrorists are the victims.
There needs to be late night shows (say 11 p.m.) which are heavily advertisec showing the worst of the worst atrocities in the Islamic world sparing none of the graphic details. (eg. women getting stone, men having their head cut off etc.) This will increase public support for the fight against terrorism and it will help people to understand that this is a war which has to be won (unless of course they wish to live under Islamic law in which they will have to pay more tax than Muslims and there testimony will be inferior in a court of law to that of a Muslims along with the many other injustices of the Sharia).
The people who fight to spread the boundaries of the Sharia are not freedom fighters but freedom destroyers.
We could loose this war if we don't start getting serious. |
