Why Don't More Muslims Speak Out Against Islamic Extremism? Part II

Moderate voices Farzana Hassan-Shahid, left, and
Tarek Fatah are named explicitly in a hate message
left on Muslim Canadian Congress voicemail. The
caller warns of "slaughter" unless the "smearing of
Islam" stops. (Photo is from the Toronto Star)

Moderate Muslims Farzana Hassan-Shahid and Tarek Fatah have been speaking out against Saudi and Iranian extremist influences on Canadian mosques. As is so often the cases with Muslims who dare to speak up against extremism, they have received death threats:

OTTAWA–Toronto police have launched a hate crime investigation into a phone call from a man who vowed to "slaughter" members of a local Muslim group unless they stop speaking publicly about Islam.

A message left Monday on the voice mail of the secretary general for the Muslim Canadian Congress warned that organization members must "cease from your campaign of smearing Islam" or "I will slaughter you."

The message mentioned congress founder Tarek Fatah and current president Farzana Hassan-Shahid by name. Both have openly criticized the politicization of Islam and alleged influence of Iran and Saudi Arabia in Canadian mosques.

It's not the first time they've been threatened. Hassan-Shahid said since publishing her book Islam, Women and the Challenges of Today, she has been heckled and had her home vandalized.

"But swearing by God that `I will do this and slaughter all of you,' that's pretty chilling," Hassan-Shahid said yesterday.

Fatah says both he and Hassan-Shahid will continue to speak out but are frustrated with the lack of public debate and the inability to air their views without the threat of violence.

"It's the youth I'm trying to reach out to with respect to providing a different perspective on Islam and women's rights and progress in general and nobody seems very interested in even entertaining another viewpoint," Hassan-Shahid said yesterday. (cont'd)

See also: Why Don't More Muslims Speak Out Against Islamic Extremism? Part I.

(For more about how Saudi oil money is used to spread extremism via mosques and schools worldwide, click here).

Why Don't More Muslims Speak Out Against Islamic Extremism?

Photo: Norwegian-Somalian Kadra, critic of
Imams' support of female genital mutilation

People often wonder: "Where are the Islamic 'moderates'?" Why don't the "moderate" Muslims speak out against the extremists? One reason may be what happens when they do.

When Muslims actually do speak out against Islamic extremism, they receive death threats-- and, in many cases they are actually physically attacked by Muslim fundamentalists.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was a devout Muslim, born in Somalia. As such, as young girl, she was forced to undergo the cruel practice of "female genital mutilation". She eventually emigrated to the Netherlands, and left Islam.

She is an outspoken critic of Islamic extremism (and had a good platform for expressing her views as she was elected to the Dutch parliament). She teamed up with Theo van Gogh to make Submission, a short film critical of the Islamic abuse of women.

Van Gogh was brutally murdered, and Hirsi Ali is still under constant guard due to the death threats she has received.

Unfortunately, these are not unusual examples. It seems that whenever Muslims speak out against the extremism so prevalent in their religion they become subject to the threat of violence. The Danish cartoonists who published the "Mohammed cartoons" all had to go into hiding. (In the riots and embassy burnings following the publication of the cartoon, over 140 people were murdered-- all over some relatively mild cartoons satirizing Mohammed!)

Kadra is the latest victim of this ongoing violence against critics of Islamic extremism:

Norwegian-Somalian Kadra, who became famous in Norway for exposing imam support of female circumcision, was beaten unconscious on Thursday

Kadra was attacked and beaten senseless by seven or eight persons of Somali origin, newspaper VG reports.

"I was terrified. While I lay on the pavement they kicked me and screamed that I had trampled on the Koran. Several shouted Allah-o-akbar (God is great) and also recited from the Koran," Kadra told VG.

Kadra linked the attack to recent remarks in VG where she said that the Koran's views on women needed to be reinterpreted.

Kadra's role in a 2000 hidden camera TV documentary revealing the positive attitude of Muslim leaders to female circumcision had a massive impact on Norway, and sparked new legislation. (complete article)

For more about FGM ("female circumcision", or "female genital mutilation"), some fascinating information about the life of Ayaan Hirsi Ali , and a video interview of a panel discussion about Islam with Hirsi Ali, Bill Maher and others, click here.