Pak Tea House » Opinion, Reviews » Time for the Muslims to take responsibility

Time for the Muslims to take responsibility

August 15th, 2011 | 10 Comments

By Shueyb Gandapur

I have been seeing several status messages on facebook since the recent Oslo attacks about how the Norwegian terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, who has confessed to the carnage of July 22, is being given more favourable labels by the Western media, because he is not a Muslim. The latest one was this status message which is currently going viral amongst my countrymen on facebook.

“If the person who killed 90+ people in Norway was a Muslim, the press would have declared him as terrorist and the act as terrorism. For now, he is just an “assailant “, “attacker” (Reuters), “gunman” (BBC, CNN & Al Jazeera). Looks like “Terrorist” is a name reserved for Muslims??? The US Department of State calls it an “Act of violence” (not an “Act of Terrorism”).”

I think this message is another manifestation of the denial syndrome common to Muslim world in general and the land of the Pure in particular. There are a couple of things that promoters of such messages are completely disregarding. I will list a few:

1. Type the key words “terrorist” and “Anders Behring Breivik” on google and you’ll find many mainstream western media websites, including CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/26/norway.terror.developments/index.html), BBC(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14260297), Time (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2085623,00.html) etc. calling it an act of terrorism. So the assertion that Breivik is being labeled favourably is only partly true. It’s obvious that most people putting up such status updates are just copy-pasting without doing making any effort on research.

2. There’s no denying that initial suspicion and blame was targeted towards Islamist terror groups. However, I think that’s something easily understandable. If we just look at the sequence of all non-state terror acts (excluding openly declared state-sponsored aggressions) over the past two decades and see the names of their perpetrators, we will get the answer to why Muslim extremists are always the usual suspects. If we show a little more honesty and ask ourselves, were we, the Muslims, not mostly relieved to learn that the attacker was not a Muslim but a local Norwegian white Christian extremist. Media everywhere, in the race to break the news and offer pre-analysis, would rely on theories based on their probability. The truth is even for Muslims, fellow Muslims have become the prime suspects, and we can’t blame others for why we came to this stage.

3. Why Breivik’s actions would not be associated with his faith: because he doesn’t claim any inspiration from Christian religious scriptures nor are any significant religious groups coming to his support or calling him a hero. He calls himself a “cultural Christian” and a supporter of monocultural Christian Europe. His primary motive is to resist the influence of Muslim culture that is spreading in Europe through liberal immigration policies followed by their governments for decades. On the other hand, terrorists from the Muslim faith always tried to legitimize their actions and agendas through religious references and found large sections of populations as their supporters, though this trend is thankfully on the decline now.

4. The popular opinion in Muslim countries has been largely resistant to action against homegrown terror groups, as they are considered to be fellow Muslim brethren. Any action against them is considered to be done on behest of Western powers, as if terrorism is not our problem at all, despite the fact that majority of the victims of their terror acts are also Muslims. On the contrary, we will mostly likely see that Norwegian and European governments would deal with their far-right terrorist individuals and groups less ambiguously and much more efficiently.

5. And lastly, why would it make Muslims feel better if Muslims terrorists are referred to with supposedly sweeter names like attackers, assailants, gunmen and their acts as acts of violence instead of acts of terrorism, though I don’t see how one is better than the other. When we expect or demand that of the media, are we trying to own these terrorists or making a point that their acts are any less horrific? It is here that we permit terrorists use our faith for their unholy agendas. A terrorist is a terrorist and terrorism is his only faith. Changing terminologies doesn’t dilute the brutality of their acts. If we can’t denounce them, at least we should resist the sympathetic urge to ask for better treatment for some of them based on their faith. Don’t we see the need to distance ourselves from terrorists yet – Muslims or not Muslims? How much more blood will be shed before we recognize our responsibility to contribute to stopping this vicious cycle of hate and violence?

It’s time we should stop sulking, and feigning innocence, and start taking responsibility, for what we have become is a result of our own follies.

Written by admin

Filed under: Opinion, Reviews · Tags: faith, Muslim, Muslims, responsibility

10 Responses to "Time for the Muslims to take responsibility"

kaalchakra says:

August 15, 2011 at 9:08 pm

It’s wrong to say that Muslims never take responsibility. They always do. No matter what goes wrong with the Muslim world – it is true they often blame non-Muslims, but they are also the first to blame other Muslims for not following Islam.
KMR Overseas says:

August 16, 2011 at 12:08 am

@ Shueyb Gandapur
You trying to make a case with one or two incidence to coverup the series of Jihadi attacks around the world. Your intentions not correct.
OK, Jihadis usually have international network and their main aim is to fetch 72 virgins in their “after life” to experiencing never ending sexual pleasure.
Breivik is a murderer, no doubt on that.
Time for the Muslims to take responsibility | Tea Break says:

August 16, 2011 at 2:52 am

[...] Time for the Muslims to take responsibility [...]
Their Terrorists and Ours « Evolution Interrupted says:

August 16, 2011 at 5:57 am

[...] on July 29, 2011. Published at Pak Tea House on August 15, [...]
Kamath says:

August 16, 2011 at 7:04 pm

Atleast it is heartening to note that lots of Muslims worldwide are taking responsibility to find out what went wrong because of one’s own faults rather than pointing finger at somebody else.
Maria Murad says:

August 21, 2011 at 11:55 am

I take by ”theirs” and ”ours”, in the title, you are confirming that the world is divided into ”us” and ”them”. Good start, coz it is.

My starting point is that statusupgrader , you and I are on the same side. There is no conflict here.

If you read this article in Pakistan, it does make sense. You are asking yourself and your countryman to take responsibility for the mess Pakistan is in. Honest and brave thing to do, indeed.

But if you read this article in Stockholm, in western context, not only that you find it provocative, but also factually wrong-from the start till the end.

The suppositions you are making are based on racism and the propaganda made by the West. The irony of it is that that’s the very thing “Statusupgrader” wanted to highlight and prevent from being further strengthened. The red thread through whole debate is “Us” n “Them”

Shueyb, you keep on insisting on “partly true”. Not only that you reduce the devastating impact of that open and institutionalised racism, demonstrated by EVERY national media in country after country, but also blame yourself and us for that. Justifying it by “probability” based on the last two decades…hmm…what? Ehhhh?
Shueyb, my brave n honest friend! This excessive self accountability gonna get you in trouble! Wo kia kehte hain kay…mein hara nahi magar hare hueye lashkar mein hoon( I have a feeling that this sheir is not right but everybody who could correct it is asleep, sorry:)…something like that:)

Shueyb, what I am saying is that your lashkar consists of millions of MORONS. The only thing you can blame them for is stupidity. But the causes of that discriminatry media coverage of Oslo Attacks is too high a game for them. Remember Us and Them?. Now the interesting question is, from where do you get that “probability”? Not from the statistics, NO!

Europol´s statistics over terror attacks in Europe between 2006-2009:

Total number: 1770, Islamic: 6 (0.34%), Right Wing Ethno-Nationalist and Separatist: 1596 (90.17%), Left Wing: 106 (5.99%).

The saddest line is when you say “I think that´s something easily understandable”. Shueyb, If a Swede had said that on my face I would have hit him between the legs, saying, you racist BASTARD! (sometimes violence is justified-Arundhati Roy:).

But the thing is that even a racist Swede wouldn’t say that on my face coz he knows its NOT true. We in west have access to statistics. But it doesn’t mean that in “their” minds we are not the terrorists. Your “probability” is based on propaganda and “theirs” based on “us” and “them”. I hope that you understand that the fears expressed in the Statusupgrading, are based on facts not coz of some denial.

Why we need to label the act of violence and the perpetrator correctly? Well its definitely NOT coz we want sweeter names and titles etc for “our” terrorists. NO! Your friend Nancy has covered the legal aspect so I leave it alone.

“A terrorist is a terrorist and his only faith is terrorism”. Its correct and that’s exactly how it should be. But its NOT.

Right now a terrorist is a male or female from a Muslim country, has name like Khan or Muhammed or Saqlain etc and he looks like…hmmm YOU, not me coz I wear short skirts:)

If we label all the terrorists correctly, who you think would come on the top 10 list? Not someone named Mohamed or Khan, according to the statistics. What would that mean then? It would mean that you wont be getting visa refusals with the current speed. It means that even a blond man could get visa refusals and he will also be stripping at the airports. Its not gonna happen in our lifetime though but that’s the fight we have to take if we want a fair and just world.

Why Breiviks actions not connected to his faith? Why Pakistani terrorist groups find support from masses? Why Mulims governments don’t take actions against their homegrown terrorists? Its good that we are using the socialmedias and asking these questions. Many of us already know the answers. Pakistani situation is not unique. It’s a textbook example. In simple words-follow the money, you will find the answers. And its NOT to find someone else to blame. That’s how you get your empirical evidence.

Bottom line is that if you want to eradicate violence, you have to change the conditions that breed it. That’s the established fact. What I am saying is that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel again, do we?.

.
Shueyb Gandapur says:

August 22, 2011 at 11:52 pm

Maria: Thanks for your detailed and objective analysis. I am totally with you when you say that to eradicate violence, we must change the conditions. My basic gripe against the StatusUpgrader was the victimhood mentality which was portrayed through the status, while feigning innocence. This was not written in the status but was more obviously readable between the lines and that’s where it departs from the ground realities. My appeal was to put our own house in order first before pointing fingers at others… so as to have feet which we can use to stand on the moral ground. But you already registered that, thank you, albeit after qualifying it.

Now let’s come to the statistics, my favorite area, because they are such a cool way of establishing facts, but then they are also prone to be skewed. These statistics were also mentioned by Glenn Greenwald in a program on Democracy Now channel. Very surprising statistics indeed. Tell me, weren’t you surprised too? Maybe not, because of your previous exposure. There is something missing in the statistics though, or probably I couldn’t locate it. It only counts the number of terror attacks without informing about the casualties caused by each. And what’s the definition of a terrorist attack using which Europol has compiled these stats. Without mentioning the number of fatalities and casualties of each attack, these statistics may equate breaking a window pane with a stone with the Madrid train bombings. What private terror acts do you remember from the last decade, 9/11, 7/7, Madrid? They remain etched in our imagination because of their scale. Europol may come up with better statistics and my whole argument may be turned on its head.

The work Democracy Now and similar organizations are doing to highlight biased media coverage is infinitely commendable, but it doesn’t leave the Muslims, i.e. us (I feel constrained to use ‘us’ here), any grounds to feel exonerated and claim, see they are as bad as us, or we are as good as them. No, we have a lot to account for, and whining is probably not going to lead to that accountability. Thank you!
Överblick Norge 2011-08-23 « says:

August 24, 2011 at 1:57 am

[...] Time for the Muslims to take responsibility [...]
Maria Murad says:

August 24, 2011 at 8:56 pm

Thank you for appreciating my objective analysis Mr.Shueyb. But, may I ask, where is yours? objective analysis, I mean.
observe says:

August 24, 2011 at 9:33 pm

A muslim’s responsibility is to bring whole of earth and mankind under the boot of islamic totalitarianism and arabic imperialism. That is his ticket to allah’s paradise. Don’t burden him with other responsibilities like being honest, reasonable, open-minded, non-violent, producing less children, educating women etc.