Editorial
by T. O. Shanavas, M.D.

Assalamu Alaikum:

Muqtadar Khan' opinion columns are outstanding and a source of fresh air for many Muslims including those who belong to INCA and ISNA to breathe and get well. Truth sometimes hurts. Unfortunately, some Muslims accuse him as an opportunist, agent of the CIA, and Zionism. He is not a Zionist nor an agent of the CIA. Khan truthfully exposed the reality of the hypocrisy of many Muslims and Muslim leadership in America. Yes! He is correct that many Muslims including American Muslims feel severe pain and anguish when non-Muslims inflict pain on Muslims. But when Muslims torture and kills themselves or others, Muslim leadership is under general anesthesia feeling no pain at least in public. In almost all ISNA and INCA annual meetings you see special forums for the discussion of the sufferings of Palestine and Kashmir. However, there are no special forums for Kurds, Afghani women, or Shias of Saudi Arabia. There is no special forum to discuss about honor-killing of women in Pakistan and Muslim countries also. Why? Why? The answer lies in the hypocrisy of the Muslim organizations and its leadership. There is no place for tyranny, intolerance, and violence in Islam. Unfortunately, it is the Muslims who need to be told about this. Muqtadar Khan told it very candidly. Even though it is easier for many Muslims to inveigh against the prejudiced outsider, the more challenging test is to get dialogue going inside the community. The unity of the community will not be weakened by debate and dissent but will be fortified by the debate.

The American Muslim organizations and leaders were silent about Muslim extremism and fanaticism until the wicked horrible attack on America. INCA, ISNA, and its leadership conduct seminars on regulating personal behavior when fanatics among us mutilate Islam on a daily basis. Muslim men repeatedly remind their sisters the importance of wearing hijab. There is no warning in this verse (33:53) that women would go to hell for not wearing hijab. However, the verse (3:191-192) suggests that those who do not contemplate on the universe and extract exact science are warned of hell fire. Those Muslim men who reprimand women without hijab ignore the serious consequences from not extracting exact science from the creations.

The late Iqbal Ahmed, the editor of Pakistan's Dawn, once wrote Muslim extremist and fanatics promote "an Islamic order reduced to penal code, stripped of its humanism, aesthetics, intellectual quests, and spiritual devotion." I am extending his wise statement further to add that contemporary Muslims have mutilated Islam into a code of personal behavior cutting off all other aspects of Islam. So, in order to save Islam from its mutilators, Muslim leadership at the INCA, ISNA, Islamic Centers and other Muslim organizations must pay attention to Muqtadar Khan's article and act upon it. Stop focusing on "others". Promote "mercy, virtue, sacrifice, and duty." Jerusalem, Palestine, Kashmir etc are very important to us. But there is a life beyond Israel and Kashmir for Muslims. 

posted 12/13/2001