The same question that was asked after 9/11, and several times since then; where’s the outrage from Muslims who are supposedly outraged by terrorist attacks made in the name of Islam?
On Feb. 6, 2006, three Pakistanis died in Peshawar and Lahore during violent street protests against Danish cartoons that had satirized the Prophet Muhammad. More such mass protests followed weeks later. When Pakistanis and other Muslims are willing to take to the streets, even suffer death, to protest an insulting cartoon published in Denmark, is it fair to ask: Who in the Muslim world, who in Pakistan, is ready to take to the streets to protest the mass murders of real people, not cartoon characters, right next door in Mumbai?
After all, if 10 young Indians from a splinter wing of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party traveled by boat to Pakistan, shot up two hotels in Karachi and the central train station, killed at least 173 people, and then, for good measure, murdered the imam and his wife at a Saudi-financed mosque while they were cradling their 2-year-old son — purely because they were Sunni Muslims — where would we be today? The entire Muslim world would be aflame and in the streets.
So what can we expect from Pakistan and the wider Muslim world after Mumbai?
What can we expect? The same thing we get every time something like this happens; a few cheers from those who do approve of such actions, and then silence from those who supposedly don’t. Let’s contrast this with the sort of reaction we would get out of, say, Christians if a group of terrorist killed scores of people in the name of Jesus Christ. Granted you would have a few who would cheer, because every religion has their kooks, but the line of people to denounce such an act would be huge. I envision a cage match between Warren, zombie Falwell, Hagee, and Huckabee to see who would get to be the first to go on TV and denounce such an act. Millions of Christians would take to the streets in protest. There would be no question as to if the Christian community condoned such acts. But the Muslim community? If they don’t approve of kooks perverting their religion to commit vile acts, they sure do keep it to themselves.
It’s amazing what does and does not offend the Religion of the Perpetually Offended.
1 Comment
December 4, 2008 at 11:25 am
I have always been curious about this myself. I do still get a bit out of sorts with the lionization of Paul Hill in the fringes of the Pro-Life movement, but I have never seen global-level riots over anti-Christian “art” that gets gallery space at major museums.
I despirately want to hear and see – on a global level – an unequivocal denunciation of attacks on civillian targets for any reason. I want that denunciation to come without the usual appendage of rationalization.