What?

Submitted by Samina A. (United States), May 3, 2003 at 20:23

I would just like to point out that non-Arab Muslims are not the only ones that should be freed from blame. The vast majority of Arabs and Arab Americans also had nothing to do with 9/11.

The resentment we non-Arab Muslims feel at being treated like terrorists should be aimed at radical terrorist organizations, not Arabs or Arab Americans.

Also, terrorism is not just an Arab phenomenon. It is occurring all over the world, a fact many people have forgotten in this new wave of finger-pointing.

I am a Pakistani Muslim, and I am proud of it. I have nothing to hide, and will not make excuses for my religion. It is a strict religion. But its adherents are not extremists. The more religious you are, the better, according to Islamic ideology.

So extreme Islam is not the problem.

The form of Islam that terrorist organizations have developed is not Islam at all. People that are deeply immersed in Islam know the beauty and peace that is Islam. Islam is not and was not meant to be an Arab nationalist movement. That is not its purpose. Its purpose is to bring a beautiful message. It has nothing to do with nationalism or any other kind of man-made ideology. And anyone who would point fingers at other innocent people because they are afraid of the fingers that might be pointed at them is a coward.
It is true that the Arab world is full of anti-American sentiment. But that also has nothing to do with religion. It is a result of political unrest and American foreign policy. Arabs do not like America's foreign policy, but for most of them, it is not a reason to kill people. And it is their right to not like it. And as far as I know, no one has the right to tell someone else what they should and should not agree with, especially in their own country. If I was Arab, I could tell someone why I disagree with them and expect to be taken seriously.

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