Islam - Muslims taking the blame

Yesterday I posted about some Muslim voices speaking out and accepting blame for some of the ills that afflict Islam today.

Here's another one.

Dr. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi, a reformist Kuwaiti intellectual and political science lecturer at Kuwait University, argues that the Muslims themselves - not bin Laden - are responsible for the rising hatred against them around the world. He says that Muslims living in the West have failed to repay the kindness of the countries that accepted them, and instead have followed the lead of the Muslim clerics and threatened to attack these countries from within. He adds that Muslims in the West must declare that they accept Western values and sever their ties with Muslims in the East, and with the religious clerics.

But even in this call for reform, look how Dr. Baghdadi is described - "a reformist Kuwaiti intellectual" and not a "Muslim reformist". It's akin to not calling Muslims who carry out terrorists attacks, "Muslim terrorists". It's as if the word itself is somehow taboo.

It's no longer enough to ask for moderate Muslim voices, we need Muslim reformist voices to speak out. And they need to be called that if a Muslim reformist movement is to have any chance.

Read the whole article. I would imagine he already has a fatwa on his head. Here's a snippet.

"Osama bin Laden didn't force anyone to go to Iraq, murder its people and destroy its institutions. He didn't force anyone to murder innocent people in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, America and Europe. Bin-Laden did not tell the Muslims in the West: 'Hate the country that gave you shelter when you fled [from your homelands], made you rich when you were poor, fed you when you were hungry, gave you freedom after the bondage you suffered in your Muslim countries, and educated you when you were ignorant.'

"You caused all these catastrophes out of your own choice and your own free will... and failed to repay the kindness [shown to you]. So what do you expect the West [to do] when it sees its citizens being murdered in the name of religion, when it [experiences] hatred in the name of religion and suffers the damages of terrorism [perpetrated] in the name of religion?

More of this please.
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