Let’s not let tolerance become extreme foolishness when it comes
to the proposed Islamic center in San Martin
About three years ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving at my aunt’s house. Isat next to my newest brother-in-law. As the late fternoon sun slanted through the windows, we ate and laughed and talked and sipped our wine.
My brother-in-law is charming and smart, and treats my sister well. He is not particularly devout, which is fine with me, because my brother-in-law Chams is Syrian by birth, and hence Muslim. Were he a devout Muslim, he would not have been enjoying a glass of wine with me, nor even eating, as Thanksgiving took place during the holy fast of Ramadan.
My brother-in-law Chams has interesting stories about growing up in war-torn Syria as well as an interesting job: he works for a broadcast network called Al Hurra.
Al Hurra tries to provide a more straightforward account of current events to Muslim countries and people than Al Jazeera, the major Arabic news outlet.
For example, in the western world, a news account might say: “A suicide bomber killed 23 people in a market today…” The Al Jazeera version might say, “A holy martyr blew up 23 people … Allah Akbar!”
Al Hurra decided not to call the perpetrator a martyr or a suicide bomber, but simply to describe the actions. Thus: “Ibraim Farah detonated explosives strapped around his waist at a market today, killing himself and 23 other people. Killed were Amina Osman, aged 32, and her four children: Ahmed, age 14, Hawaye, age 12 …” and so forth.
Now, if all Muslims were as kind, charming, tolerant and good as my brother-in-law, there would be no objection to building the Silicon Valley Islamic Center in San Martin. Consider: how many letters to the editor have flooded the Dispatch complaining about the Buddhist temple atop Mt. Madonna?
I rest my case.
Unfortunately, the 61 percent of Dispatch Web poll respondents who would reject the plans for the mosque because of its Muslim affiliation have legitimate cause for concern.
The issue is not just that 19 terrorists hijacked four jets and flew three of them into buildings and one into the ground, killing more than 3,000 Americans.
The larger issue is that all across the Muslim world, millions of Muslims danced in the streets as they watched video footage of that atrocity.
The issue is not just that Nonie Darwish reports that in the Egyptian grammar school in Gaza she attended, “the hatred of Israel and our obligation to pursue jihad was somehow worked into every subject we discussed at school. … Peace was never discussed as an option. … With tears running down their cheeks, older girls whom I admired would stand in front of the class and recite stirring poems pledging jihad … declaring their willingness to give up their lives and promising to kill the Jewish
enemies of God.”
The more alarming issue is that the Muslim men who bombed the London Underground were, to all appearances, moderate, well-assimilated British residents.
The issue is not just that Netherlands filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered, his body left with a knife stabbed through pages from the Koran and into his chest, for the crime of making a film called “Submission” critical of the misogynism inherent in Muslim culture.
The more troubling issue is that when Arabic speaking counter-terrorism expert Laura Mansfield attended two lectures at a local mosque, she found that the lecture in English was about peace and tolerance, and the one in Arabic was about jihad and killing Jews and infidels.
Most chilling of all, Syrian-born psychiatrist Wafa Sultan says, “I don’t believe there is any difference between radical Islam and regular Islam.”
Before a mosque is built in South County, we should examine the track record and connections of the Silicon Valley Islamic Center. Have they denounced terrorist atrocities, or excused them? Have they a history of collecting humanitarian funds that mysteriously wind up in the coffers of terrorist organizations? Do they condemn the genital mutilation of girl-children, or condone it? Does the teaching in English match the teaching in Arabic?
For Dina Campeau and the Red Phone to belittle legitimate concerns by calling the callers and writers bigoted, narrow-minded, intolerant and ignorant, is, well, bigoted, narrow-minded, intolerant, ignorant – and extremely foolish.
