Tackling Extremism- Debate

[QasYM]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...oung+Muslim s

[mujahideenryder]

http://www.mujahideenryder.net/2006/...-doha-debates/

yeah i posted this in my blog. pretty cool discussion. it'd be cool if we had something like this in america

[osman]

Bismillah.
Assalamu alaykum.
The title, "Tackling Extremism," is interesting, considering the content of the debate. First of all, the most extremist organization in existence today, the United States government, was never called "extremist." Similarly, the United States government is responsible for most of the terrorism around the world today. When the United States government and its allies kill and oppress people, and those people fight back, those people cannot be called extremists or terrorists if the United States government is not called extremist or terrorist.
If the talk was truly about "tackling extremism," there should have been a lot more talk about certain people in the West, such as the publishers of the Danish cartoons and the United States government. How come whenever we think of "extremism" or "terrorism" the word "Muslim" comes to mind? Because the US - Zionist forces have brainwashed us into thinking WE deserve all the blame for defending ourselves.
Why didn't anyone object when someone called Hamas an extremist group? If Diana Buttu considers Hamas an extremist group for its suicide bombings, she must also consider the majority of Palestinians extremist, since they seem to condone suicide bombings. (Also, the Palestinian people elected Hamas, so does that make them extremist?) Some of the questioners and speakers made it sound like killings and razings were rampant in the Muslim world as a response to the Danish cartoons; nothing could be further from the truth, since most protests were peaceful. We should know that the honor of our Muslim brothers and sisters around the world is sacred; we should not portray Muslims around the world as barbaric (in the case of the peaceful cartoon protesters), nor should we slander them (like in the case of Hamas).
There were good points to the debate as well. The Archbishop Desmond Tutu portrayed Islam very well; better than Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, if you ask me. Overall, it seemed as if all of the scholars there portrayed Islam accurately, despite their inability to argue with certain major Western viewpoints.

[Iklas]

Osman said:
"she must also consider the majority of Palestinians extremist, since they seem to condone suicide bombings. (Also, the Palestinian people elected Hamas, so does that make them extremist?)"

The legitimacy of suicide bombings is a debatable topic among Muslims. If you ask me I think that the overall message of the Quran and various examples from the Sunnah wouldn't allow this form of defence although other forms of resistance are allowed such as against military targets.

I also agree that it would be hypocritical to only label Muslims as extremists and terrorists when extremists exist in all religions and anyone who terrifies innocent people including jingoistic nationalists also deserve to be called terrorists. By the way, when Muslims were being persecuted here in America by the media, government, and the ignorant populace (although there were many kind people), I definitely felt terrified that someone would hurt me or that "security agencies" would make me "disappear". But thank God for continually helping me through all that Terror.