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| Bild:

"Islam and the Rule of Law" is the title of a new monograph published by Centre for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Click here, to down the the PDF file...

Mahmoud Darwish on the cover of Banipal Magazine (source: www.banipal.co.uk)

| The autumn/winter edition of Banipal Magazine is dedicated to the memory of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Click here for more...

Where's the self-analysis?

Recent comments by local Muslim spokesmen leave more questions than answers.

Aref Assaf laments the immigration problems of Imam Qatenani. He gives no hint of what problems our government might have with Imam Qatenani's continued residency. To the contrary, without actually saying so, he seems to imply that it is more a question of government caprice or "Islamophobia," whatever that means.

Assaf is a lawyer, and knows what he is doing. The fact that he is presenting his case in the form of an appeal for sympathy rather than a logical discussion of the evidence should tell you that there is more to this than meets the eye.

Erol Bulur presents his usual denial of the Armenian Genocide, citing the words of Israel's Shimon Peres. I disagree. Major public figures like Sen. Robert Menendez and Illinois' Sen. Barack Obama have supported legislation backing the legitimacy of the genocide charges. Courageous Turkish writers are taking great personal risks to remove the blinders from Turkish society. The European Union will not admit Turkey unless the Turks accept the validity of the genocide. Obviously, these people feel they are on to something.

Because of the issues I have been involved with over the years, I may have been typecast in the public's mind as being reflexively anti-Muslim. This is not true, but I am well aware that many of these issues are being presented dishonestly. Pope Benedict's vague criticism of violent tendencies in Islam was met with attacks on Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches, although Muslims are well aware that the pope does not speak for all Christians.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians lament their conditions now, but they tolerated Arafat's financial piracy when he was alive. Muslims supported the use of "any means necessary" against Israel; now the evil of suicide bombing is metastasizing throughout much of Islam.

What is responsible for this generalized incapacity for self-analysis? What is the rest of society supposed to think?

James Goldman, Paterson