"O'Reilly Factor wrong to equate Shahada with terrorism", Aref Assaf, July
4,2004 The Bergen Record
(Note the paper published the article unedited except for deleting the sentence
highlighted in red which references Zionist extremism) AA
Islam and Arab culture are again the focus of bigoted statements and bias
attacks. Always accused of being silent about repulsive acts committed by fellow
Muslims thousands of miles away, leaders from the NJ Arab and Muslim community
recently took a proactive stand to reaffirm our absolute dissociation with these
so-called “Islamic terrorists” and to express our solidarity with the bereaved
family of Paul Johnson. Islam does not condone the taking of innocent life as
the Quaranic verse says,” If you were to take the life of an innocent man, you
will be harshly judged by God as if you have killed all of humanity; if you save
the life a person, God will reward you as if you have saved all of humanity.”
Sadly, misrepresentation of Islam continues unabated in the media and certain
groups in the United States.
Take for example the offensive statements made by the California office The ADL,
an established Jewish anti-defamation group, in reference to a controversy
started by right wing and pro-Israel groups over the decision by Muslim students
at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) to wear stoles bearing the shahada
at weekend graduation ceremonies. The stoles in question also said in Arabic:
"God, increase my knowledge." Opponents falsely claimed that the stoles are an
expression of support for terrorism.
The controversy took national prominence when TV’s O'Reilly Factor repeated the
ADL’ charges of supporting terrorism instead of stating that that graduating
Muslim students planned to wear green stoles on which were inscribed the words
of the Shahada. The Shahada is an expression of faith in the oneness of God and
is one of the "five pillars of Islam", the essential tenets of the faith.
O'Reilly described this act on the part of the students as "...apparently
signifying their support for the terrorist group Hamas and for suicide bombers
in general." The associate regional director for the Southern California branch
of the ADL supported O'Reilly by saying that "To suggest there is only [a
religious] meaning is disingenuous at best," and the ADL branch issued a news
release referring to the shahada, as an "expression of hate" that is "closely
identified" with terrorism and is "offensive to Jewish Students."
The national ADL office recognized the outrageousness and issued an apology,
which we welcome. However, we do hope that this signaled a new willingness on
the part of ADL to engage in constructive dialogue between Jewish and Muslim
advocacy groups.
However, the apology should also be further clarified and improved upon. The
actual text of the apology still conflates the shahada with terrorism. We wish
to state that just because some murderous fanatics use Islam to justify their
acts, this cannot be accepted to imply that all Muslims need to hide their
faith. Anti-Semitic attacks cannot be justified by the acts of extremists like
Ariel Sharon, Meir Kahane or the settlers of Hebron and other radical settlers,
nor should Jews be ashamed of their religion or ethnicity because of them.
Surely, the ADL would not disagree. If the faithful cannot wear the symbols of
their respective religions, then God have mercy on America as it enters the Dark
Ages.
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