I’m repeatedly asked why Muslims don’t condemn Islamist terrorism.
I myself think that there ought to be a perfectly deafening response to murders in the name of Islam, and that the reaction, thus far, hasn’t been loud enough or, in some ways, clear enough.
But it’s simply wrong to say that there have been no condemnations.
Take, for example, the horrendous and vile mass murder in Orlando, Florida:
I’m traveling right now and have little time to look for such things. Still, in just a couple of minutes I was easily able to find the following:
“Indonesian Government Condemns Orlando Nightclub Shooting Incident”
“Egypt Condemns Orlando Deadly Shooting Attack”
“CAIR-Cleveland: Ohio Muslims Condemn the Mass Shooting in Orlando”
“Jordan Condemns Terrorist Attack in Orlando, Florida”
“CAIR-Iowa: Joint Press Statement on Orlando Nightclub Massacre”
“CAIR: NJ Muslims Condemn the Mass Shooting in Orlando”
“Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA Condemns the Senseless Night Club Shooting in Orlando”
And I’m sure that there are many other such statements. I simply can’t gather them and list them right now.
Meanwhile, driving into Stockholm from the airport today, our taxi driver was an Iraqi Kurd who has been here in Sweden for twenty-five years. We had a fascinating conversation. He especially opened up after I expressed my admiration for the heroism of contemporary Kurdish fighters and for the great twelfth-century Kurdish Muslim warrior Salah al-Din (Saladin) and voiced the opinion that, in a just universe, there would be a free and independent Kurdistan today.
He grew quite animated when we turned to the subject of ISIS. They’re mere “animals,” he said repeatedly. I was afraid that he was going to wreck our car in crowded traffic as he proudly displayed several photographs on his iPhone to us of his cousin, the Kurdish Peshmerga general Hussein Mansour, who was killed in a battle with ISIS back in 2015. “Only two countries are helping us,” he said. “The United States and Israel.” He and his son have volunteered to return to Kurdistan to fight against ISIS and on behalf of the Kurdish people.
It was a fascinating drive.
And, when we arrived at our hotel in Stockholm’s Tegelbacken area, we were pleased to find a Turkish restaurant just around the corner. It was very good — I had the Iskander döner — though somebody needs to correct at least one item on their English menu: I suspect that barbecued aborigines should probably read barbecued aubergines.
Posted from Stockholm, Sweden
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