As president
of the World Muslim Congress, I welcome the initiative by Congressman Peter King,
chairman of the House Committee on Homeland
Security, to hold the hearings on Islamic radicalism.
It is
our duty to keep law and order and to faithfully guard the safety of every citizen.
Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting the peace in a society, and it is
our responsibility to seek the source of such hate and work to mitigate it.
Indeed, the last few
attempts to mess with our nation's security has come from men flaunting the
Muslim label, and as Muslim Americans, it becomes our individual and collective
responsibility to participate in ensuring the safety of every American, and we
welcome the hearings. We hope the hearings will lead us to find the sources and causes of
such erratic behavior, and perhaps point out areas of concerns to be addressed,
and to find lasting solutions.
We have
to identify the criminals who are individually accountable for their actions,
and we need to punish them expediently according to the law. As a civil society,
we must also resist the temptation to blame their families, their nation or their religion. We must not fall for, nor legitimize their attempts to hide under a religious label
for their evil acts. The use of phrases
such as "Islamic Radicalism" is oxymoronic, and must be avoided in order to uphold our
civility.
As
Americans together and Muslims together, we are planning to organize conferences
and workshops on terrorism, anti-Semitism, Sharia, Quran, GLBT, racial
profiling, Islamophobia and other issues which pit one American against another.
We hope to separate realities from myths to help find solutions.
