Statement by Akbar Ahmed

Submitted by Richard Koeppel (United States), Jul 3, 2003 at 15:26

Quote: "The Muslim community has felt under siege since Sept. 11, 2001. The enormity of the crime on that day created a double outrage for the community: its beloved nation˜the United States˜had been attacked; and worse, the attackers were Muslim. The media depiction of all Muslims as extremists and terrorists further angered the community. They expected the scholars of Islam to explain to Americans this is not the case and that is why they were particularly disappointed in scholars like Pipes."

This is simply not true. The media, the government, the President, and Daniel Pipes all bent over backwards to say that it was a minority within the Muslim community that are "extremists and terrorists", and that moderate Muslims were the antidote to the extremists.
Although Ahmed later explains this somewhat, he seems to be taking both sides. It is time for moderate Muslims to accept criticism of the extremists, rather than take the position of CAIR and other apologist organizations and spokespeople.

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