NEW YORK -- The most recent actof horrific violence in America -- in SanBernardino, California -- was perpetratedby a Muslim man and woman. There arearound 3 million Muslims in the UnitedStates, almost all of whom are law-abidingcitizens. How should they react to theactions of the couple who killed 14 peoplethis week?The most commonly heard response isthat Muslims must immediately and loudlycondemn these acts of barbarity. But DaliaMogahed, a Muslim-American leader,argues eloquently that this is unfair. Shemade her case to NBC's Chuck Todd.
"According to the FBI, the majorityof domestic terrorist attacks are actuallycommitted by white, male Christians. ...
When those things occur, we don't suspectother people who share their faith andethnicity of condoning them. We assumethat these things outrage them just as muchas they do anyone else. And we have toafford that same assumption of innocence toMuslims."Muslims face a double standard, but Iunderstand why. Muslim terrorists don'tjust happen to be Muslim. They claim tobe motivated by religion, cite religiousjustifications for their actions, and tell theirfellow Muslims to follow in their bloodypath. There are groups around the worldspreading this religiously infused ideologyand trying to seduce Muslims to becometerrorists. In these circumstances, it isimportant for the majority of Muslims whoprofoundly disagree with jihad to speak up.
But it is also important to remember thatthere are 1.6 billion Muslims on the planet.
If you took the total number of terrorismdeaths last year -- around 30,000 -- andassumed that 50 people were involved inplanning each one (a vastly exaggeratedestimate) -- it would still add up to less than0.1 percent of the world's Muslims.
The writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a toughcritic of Islam. She divides the Muslimworld into two groups: Mecca Muslims andMedina Muslims. (The Quranic revelationsto Mohammed made in Mecca are mostlyabout brotherhood and love; the ones inMedina have the fire and brimstone.) Sheestimates that 3 percent of the worldwidecommunity are "Medina Muslims," theother 97 percent being mainstream MeccaMuslims. Now, 3 percent works out to alarge number, 48 million, and that's whywe spend lots of time, money and effortdealing with the threats that might emanatefrom them. But that still leaves the other 97percent -- the more than 1.55 billion -- whoare not jihadis. They may be reactionary andbackward in many ways. But that is not thesame as being terrorists.
While I believe that Muslims do bear aresponsibility to speak up, non-Muslimsalso have a responsibility not to makeassumptions about them based on sucha small minority. Individuals should bejudged as individuals, and not placed undersuspicion for some "group characteristic."It is dehumanizing and un-American to dootherwise.
It also misunderstands how religionworks in people's lives. Imagine aBangladeshi taxi driver in New York. Hehas not, in any meaningful sense, chosento be Muslim. He was born into a religion,grew up with it, and like hundreds ofmillions of people around the world inevery faith, follows it out of a mixture offaith, respect for his parents and family,camaraderie with his community, andinertia. His knowledge of the sacred textsis limited. He is trying to make a livingand provide for his family. For him, Islamprovides identity and psychological supportin a hard life. This is what religion looks likefor the vast majority of Muslims.
But increasingly Americans seem to viewMuslims as actively propagating a dangerousideology, like communist activists. It'snot just Donald Trump. Republicancandidates are vying with each other to makeinsinuations and declarations about Islamand all Muslims. And it's not just on the right.
The television personality and outspokenliberal Bill Maher made the expansivegeneralization recently that, "If you are inthis religion, you probably do have valuesthat are at odds [with American values]."What is most bizarre is to hear this anti-Muslim rhetoric described as brave truthtelling.
Trump insists that he will not besilenced on this issue. Chris Christie saysthat he will not follow a "politically correct"national security policy. This feeds growingprejudice. The reality is that Muslimsare today the most despised minority inAmerica. Their faith is constantly criticized,they face insults, discrimination and adramatic rise in acts of violence, as MaxFisher of Vox has detailed superbly. And theleading Republican candidate has flirtedwith the idea of registering all Muslims, aform of collective punishment that has notbeen seen since the internment of Japanese-Americans in the 1940s.
This is the first time that I can recallwatching politicians pander to mobs --and then congratulate themselves for theirpolitical courage.
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FAREED ZAKARIA>
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