Hope for Muslims to save Islam?

Is the tide starting to turn?

On his latest video tape, bin Laden bemoans his failure in Afghanistan and to change America after killing nearly 3,000 innocent men, women and children.

Likewise, on his latest tape Zarqawi bemoans his failures in Iraq.

Then we have,

The Arab News is reporting "Over 2,500 Muslim intellectuals from 23 countries have signed a petition to the United Nations calling for an international treaty to ban the use of religion for incitement to violence."

And,

British Muslims push to integrate

Members of Britain's growing Muslim population are working to repair an image tattered by homegrown radicals - and to find a place in mainstream society.

In America,

U.S. Muslim Cable TV Channel Aims to Build Bridges

The station will differ from popular Arabic satellite channels like al-Jazeera in that it is focused on life in America, in English and backed by U.S. money, he said.

We shall see, we shall see.

It will be a long hard road and take years. I wonder if Muslims realize just how much damage bin Laden did to Islam? And how long before Muslims realize that jihad is not the way forward?

A while it would seem.

I recently posted a link to a The New York Post article about Europe's coming civil war with Muslim extremists.

And the Asia Times then reported "...most European Muslim organizations declined to disavow the murder of van Gogh" and "In Germany, most of the country's Muslim groups refused to take part in this past Sunday's Muslim demonstration in Cologne against terrorism and violence.

While Fox News reports on "Islamic Recruiters Target Potential Jihadees".

In France, with more Muslims (search) than any other European nation nearly 6 million that recruitment often starts in the mosque and the ethnic ghettos that ring the capital. [...]

On Fridays before prayers, the Imam trolls the housing projects, looking for followers among the weak who may some day be ready to kill in the name of jihad.

Yes, a long road indeed.

Hat tip to Jihad Watch

UPDATE:

Daniel Pipes thinks "Bridges TV" may be off to a bad start.

Were Investors in "Bridges TV" Misled? The Buffalo News carries a puff-piece today on the Nov. 30 opening of "Bridges TV," a new cable channel aimed at American Muslim viewers. Its founder and chief executive officer, Muzzammil S. Hassan, 40, says he chose the name because its purpose is "to build bridges of friendship and understanding." It all sounds great until one learns that the project's $5-$10 million in backing from more than fifty investors seems to be based on an error: "Hassan was able to sell investors," the Buffalo News's Jay Tokasz reports, "on key demographics for the nation's estimated 7 million Muslims." A more accurate population figure of U.S. Muslims would be less than half that large.

It is hard to imagine that hard-headed investors would put their funds into an operation premised on the mythical but faulty figure of 7 million Muslims in the United States, but if they really did, then I suspect it won't be around very long. (November 26, 2004)
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