Tag: Muslims

• November 4, 2009

  Radical Cleric Calls for Peace in Germany

  Mohammed El Fazazi has written an open letter to the Muslims of Germany calling for peaceful means of protest. Fazazi was one of the preachers who previously radicalized three of the 911 hijackers in a Hamburg mosque and is currently imprisoned for his role in radicalizing the group responsible for the Casablanca attacks of 2003.

  He writes that his time in prison has made him reflect on his beliefs and see how violence doesn’t work.

  • He calls for Muslims in Germany to seek change through civilian, peaceful methods of resistance, “means of peaceful demonstrations, strikes and protests that are far removed from indiscriminate attacks, the killing of innocent people with the argument of killing kuffar, or non believers.”
  • He says “the strength of the argument lies not in a rifle bullet, in violence or in explosive belts. Those won’t bring about change.”
  • “As for those in the streets of Hamburg

  …

• October 18, 2009

  Curiosity over Assumptions: Interfaith Meets a New Generation

  By Mallory Huggins

  On Speaking of Faith, a weekly public radio program, Krista Tippett focuses on “religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas.” This week, she talked with two women who illustrate the power of interfaith collaboration. Here’s an excerpt from the blog post about the women:

  The Power of Listening and Engaging with the “Other”
  By Krista Tippett

  

  Malka and Aziza work with emerging leaders from different spheres of life and from both of their traditions. They make a core commitment “not to be enemies.” And that, of course, is the kind of lofty statement that can be hard to put into practice against the backdrop of reality. The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the dynamics of the post-9/11 world, the rise of Iran as a regional power — these are just a few of the developments that infuse and shape relationships between Jews and Muslims everywhere.

  To read the whole article, …

• June 4, 2009

  Can Obama Turn a New Page in the American Muslim Relationship in the Cairo Speech

  

  Full article here. Excerpts below from Shadi Hamid’s,

  How Can the U.S. President Speak to Two Audiences at Once?

  “The anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding.”

  So declared President Barack Obama during his celebrated speech on race in March 2008. He was speaking, of course, about America’s history of slavery and segregation. But he might as well have been speaking about the anger felt by millions of Arabs and Muslims – and the tragic legacy of American involvement in the Middle East.

  President Barack Obama will give his highly anticipated address to the Muslim world on June 4th. His choice of Egypt as the venue presents risks but also offers the opportunity for a potentially groundbreaking address – one that attempts not only to explain American policy but to

  …

• May 27, 2009

  The Ghost of Cyrus: Iranian Potential for Reform in the Nuclear Age

  (Originally published at Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility, in a very good issue dedicated to Iran. It will give you a good overview of thinking in the American Jewish community right now on the slowly moving crisis with Iran)

  Over the past 25 years I’ve developed relationships across the Middle East; in Syria, specifically, over the past five years. While I traveled as a peacemaker, to be cautious I would emphasize my role as a professor and only reveal my role as a rabbi when it felt safe. I never experienced any negative comments because I am a rabbi; rather I heard from some a longing to meet with old Jewish friends. Experiences with Syrians have given me confidence that similar inroads can be made in Iran. What Iran shares with Syria, most importantly, is a historical tradition of religious pluralism and progressive religious thinking. There is still …

• April 1, 2009

  BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS: MERCY ON PASSOVER, MERCY IN GAZA

  See Rabbi Edward Feld’s agonized sermon on the state of ethics of Israel’s military chaplaincy that encouraged war crimes in Gaza. This is a reflective sermon that brings into sharp relief the choices of religious people between violent texts to justify their violence and nonviolent texts to articulate their deepest values, hopes and aspirations. The rabbis who have taken control of the Israel Defense Forces have made their choice, and other rabbis like Rabbi Feld have made theirs. Here is Rabbi Feld:

  “When you have mercy on a cruel enemy you are thereby showing cruelty to innocent and honest soldiers. It is a terrible immorality……This is a war against murderers.”

  The above excerpt is from Go Fight My War, a booklet published by the Jewish Awareness Department of the Chief Military Rabbinate in Israel, and distributed to soldiers in the fighting units before they entered Gaza as part of Operation …