For Muslims, Silence Means Acceptance

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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A recent headline on Gawker.com — “Who is Alicia Colon and Why is a Religion of Peace Trying to Kill Her?” — has prompted an Albanian Muslim to send me an e-mail expressing concern that I had received death threats for my columns supporting Israel. I explained that the blog entry was satiric and not to be taken seriously.

Whoever edits the Gawker site decided that I was overwrought about Muslims in my community not rising up to condemn Islamic terrorism, especially in light of a Staten Islander being arrested for plotting to bomb our subway system. The site’s entry began as follows: “Remember the plot to murder Sun columnist Alicia Colon? You don’t? Well, it happened a couple years ago, but, as the target, she hasn’t forgotten.” Who could blame the Albanian for misunderstanding?

I explained to my correspondent that the threat was against all New Yorkers, not me in particular, and that I wasn’t taking it personally. The point in my article was about the need for all Muslims to express their outrage against terrorist activity done in the name of Islam.

Once again, it is obvious that Staten Island has residents who are sympathetic to known terrorist groups. Last week, Javel Iqbal was arrested for allegedly giving a confidential informant satellite TV access to al-Manar, Hezbollah’s network. His neighbors insist that Mr. Iqbal, a Palestinian businessman who’s a permanent American resident living on Staten Island, is just a nice guy. Frankly, I’d be more interested in knowing about his regular customers than whether he’s a nice guy.

My e-mail writer, Mr. G., made a vigorous defense of all Albanians. I learned more from him in a few paragraphs than I did during 28 years of living next to my Albanian neighbors, who never spoke about their religion. “Albanian Muslims have nothing to do with what you call Islamic world therefore they can not be picked as an example to illustrate your point,” Mr. G. wrote. “They are Albanian and European first, and … very few of them still practice any religion at all. … Albanians feel strongly that they were forced into converting to Islam by 500 years of Ottoman rule … and never fully forgot the Christian traditions.”

From what I’ve observed among many of the Albanians who live on Staten Island, this lack of religious fervor may be accurate. While some local women wear headscarves, very few appear to observe hijab — the traditional Muslim dress — and I’ve yet to see a burkha. Nevertheless, to many outside the Muslim community, silence on the subject of terrorism by any Muslim, moderate or extremist, means acceptance.

Perhaps Mr. G, my neighbors, and the decent Palestinians and non-jihadist Muslims do not like being identified with the terrorists, but they aren’t exactly holding rallies in the large cities to demonstrate their objections. No, it’s always the anti-Israel, anti-Bush dingbats holding the demonstrations. A “Stop the U.S.-Israeli War” rally was held in San Francisco on August 12. It was one of several rallies held around the country that day. “Nazi Kikes Out of Lebanon” read one sign. Others were just obscene, but the most ridiculous was the one that read:” If Hezbollah Hides among civilians, the IDF have no choice — They must hold fire.” Apparently, Hezbollah can do no wrong with this crowd.

There is a bright sign, however, that some in Hollywood are finally waking up to the true face of our enemy. Nearly 90 heavyweight stars, directors, and personalities took out a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times last week to protest terrorism around the world.

The Hollywood heavyweights with their gray cells still intact include: Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Bernie Mac, Patricia Heaton, William Hurt, Gary Sinise, Kelly Preston, and William Friedkin.

Now that Hollywood is facing reality, perhaps my Muslim neighbors on Staten Island will take a stronger stand against the terrorists in our midst. Hope springs eternal.


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