JUDITH APTER KLINGHOFFER:IMAM RAUF MORE EXTREME THAN REVEREND JONES
Judith Apter Klinghoffer http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/131200.html
IMAM RAUF MORE EXTREME THAN REVEREND JONES
Two fame seeking religious leaders faced off this week, Muslim Imam Rauf of sophisticated New York City and Christian reverent Terry Jones of “backwater” Gainsfield, Florida. When it became clear that the action they were about to take is causing universal consternation and may lead to the loss of innocent (and not so innocent) lives, Reverend Jones stepped down while Imam Rauf not only refused to meet with the Reverend to prevent the burning of a book supposedly holy to him but resorted to threats against any pressure to move the mosque. Thus, not withstanding the invectives flung at Reverend Jones, he proved to be more reasonable than the much cuddled Imam Rauf.
If you force me to take into account the sensibility of 71% of my New York neighbors and move the mosque, Rauf in effect said, the Muslim world would erupt in the manner it did in response to the Danish cartoons. When asked by Christiana Amanpour if that was a threat, he retorted, it was merely a prediction. Not only is this the type of prediction gangsters everywhere make but it comes following an extensive tax payer funded tour to the Muslim world.
Does that mean that the trip merely improved his understanding of the sentiments of that world? Not necessarily. Real moderates in that world urged diffusing the conflict by moving the mosque. They understood that ignoring the sensitivities of 9/11 families would result in an anti-Muslim backlash in the US and a demand for Muslim reciprocity at a time the Muslim world would rather not accommodate it. If the Muslim powers that be have, indeed, changed their mind, they did so because Imam Rauf may have helped them to do so.
It should not be forgotten that the violent response to those cartoons followed an intentionally inflammatory Muslim world tour by the Danish Imams. Remember that Imam Rauf disappeared from the stage for weeks only to return carrying dire “predictions.” Threats were also weapons used by the Danish Imams and by the Muslim supporters of the mosque against Muslims who dared to oppose them.
Just as troubling is Rauf’s implication that the outcome of the Danish cartoon imbroglio was a Muslim victory despite the fact that it cost Muslim demonstrators lives rather than Danish lives and treasure. Ironically, in today’s upside down world, Imam Rauf expects Americans to be more concerned about sparing the lives of members of unruly Muslim nobs self proclaimed moderates, like Imam Rauf and his supporters.
The chattering classes led by President Obama may reiterate yet again that Islam is a religion of peace that values life. But 49% of Americans no longer believe it. The behavior of Imam Rauf is bound to increase their number. The fact that Imam Rauf refuses to show his fellow Muslims that it is acceptable to compromise demonstrates that, like his Hamas friends but unlike Reverend Jones, he is an uncompromising extremist.
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