Hi RPF,
I am one of few Muslims who have been regular here. I don’t claim to be speaking on others’ behalf, but in my experience things have been getting uncomfortable for us recently. A recent altercation convinced me that I just can’t go on here and must leave.
And I’m really writing these words with tears running down my face. That someone who calls himself religious can even think that I can condone Church burning just fills my heart with such sadness and despair that I don’t think I want to even raise a hand in protest.
Hope
I have no hard feelings for TER. I just thought that my record speaks for me. I would have thought that a casual look down my posts history can show my position towards religion inspired strife & violence very clearly. I felt I don’t need to say that an attack on a Church is to me just as despicable as an attack on a Mosque.
I could have asked where TER was when Muslims & Christians prayed, revolted, fought, died, and triumphed together in Egypt. I could have asked where TER was when ex-Interior Minister Habib Al Adly was arrested for the New Year Alexandria Church bombing, proving it was a false flag operation.
I could have asked why TER, a supposedly religious person, consistently focused on news of strife and division, and conveniently ignored news of hope, and understanding, and peace, and beautiful harmony, that show that there is, indeed, a way forward.
But I won’t, because I’ve lost hope. RPF has become an inhospitable environment for me as a Muslim. For a while I tried to bring you another point of view. I learnt a lot from you and for that I’m grateful. I formed some great friendships and found some great and hopefully life-long intellectual brothers & sisters.
But I’m sorry, this doesn’t feel like home any more.
A Cautionary Tale
But allow me before parting to sound a warning alarm. Allow me to share my story of how I came to RPF. Perhaps it would explain my recent behavior.
Some 20 years ago we in the Muslim world were bombarded with propaganda to the effect that the West was out to get us. There’s a huge crusade being planned against us, and every single American, British, French etc. citizen is complicit in it.
Those who would brainwash us knew how to present their case. They dug deep into history, knew how to present facts, found obscure news stories, and played heavily on religious sympathies and deepest fears. They knew how to tickle our emotions.
They painted passionate scenes of Crusaders treading through rivers of our blood in the 10th through 14th centuries; of brutal colonists and imperialists in the 15th through 19th centuries; and of boat loads of settlers coming to steal our land and kill our children in the 20th century.
It didn’t help that events were moving frantically in that direction. With Israel bombing Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, and the United States bombing Iraq; with massacre after massacre, it appeared they were right. The West backed some tyrants and bombed others, and supported those who occupy us.
Yes, we thought - there was a crusade. We fell for it head over heels. We became convinced that we’re under imminent and personal threat. The West is going to get us. It’s going to invade us again and impose its lifestyle, laws, economic and political systems on us. Our way of life is in danger.
And when you’re in such danger, everything is justified, because you’re in an extreme case of self-defense. Suddenly you are willing to accept the most ridiculously immoral things. Suddenly it becomes justified for a young man to blow himself up in a bus, or to bomb a school. There’s a crusade, after all, and we’re under attack. We’re defending ourselves.
With every massacre the West inflicted on us, with every bombing and blockade, it got worse. Compassionate, peace loving, God fearing people suddenly started to cheer at images of suicide bombings and car bombs. A hundred innocents dying in an embassy bombing become acceptable losses in this “fight” for self-defense and self-preservation.
Our tabloids and forums were filled with stories about Christians killing Muslims. The stories were from obscure and possibly dubious sources, but we didn't care. There's a crusade going on and every story confirms it. The Christian West is out to kill us Muslims.
Voices of harmony or understanding were drowned. Stories that challenge the "crusade" perception were ignored or under reported. And as the killing escalated on both sides, the big idiot, G. W. Bush, came out to say it straight, the “C” word: Crusade.
The result? Hundreds and thousands of young Muslims rushed into Al-Qaeda’s ideology and camps, and the terror threat, once a trivial menace in our societies, became real and daily. It's around this dizzy time that I started asking serious questions.
Finding Ron Paul
I would only say it was the grace of God that made me decide to probe deeper around that time. I listened to dissenting voices, and to my pleasure I found a voice of hope and reason. A voice that showed me what I knew in my heart – that America is good and that the spirit of the American people is one of liberty, friendship, and peace.
That voice was Ron Paul.
Not too long after, this love affair started with RPF. These forums quickly became my home on the net, where I felt my deepest convictions and beliefs in liberty and human dignity get confirmed and strengthened.
I saw that Americans aren’t my enemy. I listened to their dreams, and I listened to their pains, and I came to realize that those oppressing us are one and the same. Governments plant hate in our hearts, and we blindly and cheerfully march forward killing those who should be our friends and brothers in liberty.
RPF was my cozy first-destination whenever I came online.
But starting with the Tea Party movement, the general mood become more and more hostile, and the place felt more and more uncomfortable. Some threads started to feel like they could be taken right out of Alhesbah.org or Alburaq.net (Alqaeda's forums) circa 2001, just with the sides reversed.
I tried to resist it sometimes, ignore it others. I reached deep within my spirit to find patience and wisdom and love.
Until this.
Sorry RPF that I can’t go on. Sorry that I have a soft heart that’s easily hurt. Real sorry this isn’t a place where I feel welcome any more.
PS: Now go back to my cautionary tale and reverse terms. Replace “crusade” with “jihad”, “Muslim” with “Christian”, and get a glimpse where your country is heading.
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Originally Posted by gls
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