FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

A striking example of the intolerance deeply ingrained in Islam

A striking example of the intolerance deeply ingrained in Islam

Re: “The perils of saying ‘Allahu akbar’ in public”, Opinion & Analysis, yesterday.

I find it astounding that Professor Beydoun should be surprised when people stare at him after hearing him say “Allahu akbar” while making a phone call in an American airport security line. And this man is a professor at an American law school! Does he not have a brain? Is he oblivious to the history of airplane hijackings by Arabic-speaking terrorists? Has he never heard of 9-11? Is he ignorant of the fact that the pious invocation “Allahu akbar” has itself been hijacked and turned into a war cry by Islamist terrorists? Is he insensitive to the fear and fury that hearing this phrase will inspire in non-Muslim Americans – and especially in an American airport?
The latter part of his article makes it clear that he’s aware of all this, and in fact wondered, after receiving “unfriendly looks”, whether he might have been wiser to avoid uttering the phrase, especially given the context. Good thinking, professor! But then he decided “to assert [his] Muslim American identity”, as the First Amendment allows him to do. That was his choice. But in making it, he should have been socially aware enough to anticipate the hostile stares that naturally ensued. If he had said “God is greatest” in English, I doubt that anyone would have even noticed.
This incident highlights a problem in Islam. Its most fervent believers get stuck in a narrow mindset in which Muslims alone are right and everybody else will go to hell. I acknowledge that there are in this world Muslims who are broad-minded and tolerant of other points of view. The problem I have is with the ones who aren’t. There is evidence that Islam produces more of the latter than of the former.  And it is for this and other reasons that I am,
Not a Fan of Islam

nationthailand