Arizona Islamist Media- (Issue No. 1.6)– “Local Muslim Voice asks Muslims to unite in defense of Hamas and Recently Shut Down KindHearts”

The following are excerpts from an article on the front page of the March 2006 local Muslim Voice entitled: “When the white bull was eaten” “There is an Arabic story that I heard about a wolf coming to three bulls: a white, a red, and a black one. The wolf took the red and the black bulls aside and told them if they let him eat the white bull he will not have any further interest in eating them. So they did, and the wolf ate the white bull. Then the wolf went to the black bull and told him if he let him eat the red bull he will not attack or eat him. He agreed. Later, the wolf came to the black bull and told him he is coming to eat him. At that time the black bull told the wolf, ‘I should have known that I will be eaten when the white bull was eaten.’ ” “The moral of the story is when the wolf divided the bulls and convinced them not to come to save the white bull he was able to conquer them one at a time. When the black bull realized what the wolf was up to, it was too late.” “Today we see this happening over and over again in our community as the government closes one charity at a time in the name of combating terrorism. When they closed the Holy Land Foundation first, followed by two other organizations, hardly any Islamic organizations made a serious attempt to stop the insanity of stopping aid to Muslims around the world.” “Now since Hamas won the elections in Palestine our government has been threatening to cut off funds to the Palestinian authority. Therefore they decided in an unwarranted way to close one of the most active charities in our community who helped not only Muslims but many non-Muslims too. From Katrina victims to the earthquake in Pakistan, they were always on the frontlines aiding humanity. However, for obvious reasons, our government decided to use politics to starve Palestinians for electing Hamas into their own government. ” “Again, this administration is sending the wrong message not only to the people of the Middle East but to the entire world. Theyﾒre saying that if democracy does not produce what we approve of we are going to fight back with sanctions, boycotts and isolating the winners. These double standards in our foreign policies need to be revaluated and redesigned to be consistent and fair. And the message to our Muslim organizations is that you were eaten when the Holy Land Foundation was eaten.” This article can be found online at the Muslim Voice website at this link. ————————————————————————— AIFD COMMENT: Clearly here, this weak ‘parable’ from the Muslim Voice makes some very disturbing projections of support and linkage for the entire Arizona Muslim community. The Muslim Voice is coming to the defense of both Hamas and KindHearts (recently shut down by the Treasury Department over allegations of violations of American law by funding Hamas). The story seems to make the defense in the name of the entire local Muslim community. Would the majority of local Muslims agree with this linkage? Reading between the lines, the moral of the story seems to be that when the wolf divided the bulls (‘Muslims’) and convinced them not to come to save the white bull (a victimized Muslim or Muslim organization) he was able to conquer them one at a time. They lost the strength of their unity. When the black bull (one of the leaders of the Muslim community) realized what the wolf was up to, it was too late. Thus, the Muslim Voice is implying that all Muslims should unite politically to support such causes as Hamas or KindHearts. One could perhaps understand religious unity in the face of pervasive immutable discrimination or violations of freedom to practice our faith. But both of these causes among many others put forth by the Muslim Voice are not religious (spiritual) causes but profoundly political causes simply done in the name of Islam. Regardless of the corruption and the toxic mixture of politics and religion in Hamas and Kindhearts, the Muslim Voice still asks Muslims to defend them simply because they are Muslim by name and happen to share a spiritual path regardless of their toxic political or foreign national path. Unity by faith in the cause of politics should be very concerning to most American Muslims if we are ever going to defeat radical Islamism. The Muslim Voice opinion seems to subordinate our community’s responsibilties as American citizens to uphold laws against funding terrorist organizations which utilize corrupt methods such as the targeting of noncombatants and random violence as methods of political change in the name of our faith. Many Muslims should take great offense at being grouped into front page opinions in a cultural newspaper which prioritizes political Islam and subordinates principles which directly affect American security. In fact, what is also sorely lacking in our community is an argument to the contrary, that we as Muslims should be policing our own agencies for even tacit support of terrorism (i.e. in Hamas), anti-semitism, or anti-Americanism. American Muslims should rather unite against political Islam and radical terror networks by name and by ideology. Perhaps a more representative parable for the Muslim Voice is that those who advocate causes under the guise of political Islam are in fact the real ‘bulls’ who have taken over all aspects of the ‘nature’ and ‘wildlife’ of our Muslim spiritual earth in which all Muslims could live and share a non-political spiritual path. ——————————————————————————– This report is provided as a service to our community. We pray that this type of extremism and lack of moderation in opinion does not represent the majority of Muslims and Arabs in our community. See “Why AIFD provides the ‘Arizona Islamist Media Reports” for our commentary which clearly explains our intentions in providing these reports.