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| English: The Ethnic composition of Muslims in the United States, according to the United States Department of State based on the publication of Being Muslim in America as of March 2009 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The so called Christian American politicians
John Kasich, Bobby Jindal, Rick Scott,
Rick Snyder, John Kasich, but also democrat Maggie Hassan have made declarations to refuse refugees, to see the South rising up to keep brown-skinned people out instead of in, not because they are overwhelmed by the refugee influx and find resources stretched to the limit.
These governors’ objections to the Obama
administration’s resettlement plans revolve around the belief that
Syrian refugees, the majority of whom are Muslim, have not been properly
“vetted.” So some of them could be ISIS operatives
trying to sneak into America to launch terrorist attacks and weaken the
country. (Ridiculously some wants American citizens to believe the black president is also a 'Hussein' Obama Islamic mole.)
Many Americans do not seem to know or to believe that most of the plotters and attackers involved in the Paris slaughter were (so called) Muslims of French and Belgium origin. They did not come from an influx of people who tried to escape just the sort of violence which struck Paris last weekend.
Also the faith issue seems to have deeper wounds, because it is a matter of frustrated boys who did not find a place in our society but also not in the present Muslim communities. Whatever radicalisation they underwent
has deeper roots in the societies of France and Belgium, where most of
them lived. Will this have to mean that America is also going to stop any Belgian or Frenchman entering Belgium? Or are they prepared to stop anyone with a passport from
a European country from coming into the United States of America?
The pope may look at those American politicians who try to create division between people who want to worship God. They want to let the Americans believe that all refugees are Muslim, which they are not, and that they are all extremists and dangerous for our society, which is not true.
On Thursday September 24 in a historic address to Congress the pope had already called to open the hearts to new generations of immigrants.
Pope Francis’s passionate call for
“as many young people as possible
[to] inherit and dwell in a land which has inspired so many people to
dream”
comes amid a fierce national debate over how to handle an
estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US.
“In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue
their dream of building a future in freedom,”
Francis told hundreds of
lawmakers, cabinet members and supreme court justices in a packed
joint
session of Congress. It was the first time in history a pope had
addressed the legislative body.
“We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners,
because most of us were once foreigners,”
added Francis, who was born in
Argentina to Italian parents.
“I say this to you as the son of
immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from
immigrants.”
What is also so contradictory is that most of those complaining about emigrating people to the United States are children of descendants from people who also emigrated from their country to look for better pastures. they too were people looking for a nicer place to stay. But often they were not fleeing such horror as those immigrants and refugees of war zones are today.
Perhaps it is good to remember those words spoken by the pope wo months ago:
“We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as
persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to
respond as best we can to their situation,” he said.
“To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal,”
added Francis.
“We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to
discard whatever proves troublesome. Let us remember the Golden Rule:
‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”
Speaking during Sunday Mass, November 15, the Pope expressing his
"deep sorrow for the terrorist attacks that bloodied France late on Friday, causing many casualties."
condemned the Paris terror
attacks, calling it "blasphemy" to use the name of God to justify
"violence and hatred."
"We wonder how can it come to the heart of man to conceive and carry out of such horrible events",
he said.
"The road of violence and hatred does not resolve humanity's
problems. And using the name of God to justify this road is blasphemy."
Reading from Sunday's scripture, the Pope spoke of Jesus' preaching
on the end of the world containing
"apocalyptic elements, like war,
famine, and cosmic catastrophes."
Although he acknowledged these signs, he highlighted that they are
not the most important things. Rather,
"our final goal is the meeting
with the resurrected Lord."
Rather than focusing on when or how the end will come, Francis compelled his audience to
"live in the present."
For him we all should have the same goal, to meet the returned Messiah, who is a bringer of peace.
"This is our goal: this meeting. We do not expect a time or a place, but we encounter a person: Jesus."
At the end of the world, Francis said,
"Jesus' triumph will be the
triumph of the cross, the demonstration that the sacrifice of oneself
out of love for one's neighbour, in imitation of Christ, is the only
victorious power and the only stable point in the midst of the upheavals
and tragedies of the world."
This time imams in France and Belgium came out to tell the public those people are not real Muslims. They also wanted to warn their Muslim brothers that the violent reaction France took will not solve the problem but if some Muslims in turn would like to go to Syria they better think twice. It is good that the public could see and hear the open public warning for the members of their community in France and Belgium that joining the jihadist
group will only drag them to their death,
"to hellfire, because suicide
and slaughter are not permitted in Islam."
Based from information shared by the French interior ministry, French
nationals comprise the biggest number of European jihadis in Iraq and
Syria with at least 570 of them fighting for ISIS.
Abdalali Mamoun, an imam at a southern Paris mosque, was one of 20
Muslim clerics who came to lay flowers near the Bataclan theatre where
four terrorists wearing explosive vests killed more than 80 people
during a rock concert. He urged young French Muslims to stay away from ISIS.
Another imam
Yasser Laouti, spokesman for the Collective Against
Islamophobia in France, said
"As French citizens, and as human beings, we have been wounded by
this attack."
and made it clear that those terrorists were not afraid to kill Christians, Muslims and Jews
indiscriminately.
However, the French Muslim leaders said that although they sympathise
with the families of the terror attack victims, they do not support the
French airstrikes in the ISIS capital of Raqqa, in Syria.
"I saw that yesterday, after what happened, Francois Hollande decided to bomb Raqqa,"
human rights activist Samia
Hathroubi said.
"Do we really think that bombing a city of 200,000
people will help us combat terrorism in our own country?"
also Belgian imams expressed their concern for such actions which could bring more oil unto the fire.
On the different television channels everywhere comes up the same story of people who live here in our own regions but did not feel at their place because they seemed to be a stranger here but also in the land of their ancestors. Several have problems that though they are born in Belgium or in France they are still considered Moroccan, Turk, Tunisian, but never accepted as Belgian or French, though they often speak the dialects of the region where they live at.
The youngsters still do feel discrimination and often are a victim of poverty,
political and economic marginalisation. This are some of the reasons why so
many young Belgian and French Muslims are joining ISIS.
Americans like others should recognise that Muslim leaders throughout the world strongly condemned the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent a message of condolences to
Hollande on Saturday, informing him Iran was offering its thoughts and
prayers to the French people. Iran and its allies, Hezbollah and the
government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have been fighting ISIS.
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo also condemned the violence
that took place in Paris, as he called for international cooperation
against terrorism, according to the Jakarta Post. Indonesia is the
largest Muslim country in the world.
The leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar
and Egypt also denounced the attacks just hours after the attacks late
Friday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil
rights and advocacy organisation in the United States, also joined in
the condemnation, saying:
"These savage and despicable attacks on
civilians, whether they occur in Paris, Beirut or any other city, are
outrageous and without justification."
In YouTube video that became viral, one Moroccan Muslim named Wafi
Abdouss blasted the ISIS terrorists, saying
"these so-called jihadists
only represent themselves."
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Please do read also:
Cowardly governors give ISIS a propaganda victory: Refusing refugees is a moral outrage & a strategic blunder
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