Three cheers — no, three million cheers — for Zuhdi Jasser, a practicing doctor and retired Navy Lieutenant Commander, who is trying to catalyze fellow moderate Muslims into standing up against the jihadists and their cheerleaders. He has written this important article at FamilySecurityMatters.org denouncing CAIR and the lawsuit it is pushing on behalf of the infamous Flying Imams against US Airways and the “John Doe” passengers who had the temerity to be frightened and speak out.
Read it all. Here is one excerpt of the words we’ve been longing to hear from Muslim moderates:
Make no mistake. This lawsuit forces our courts and our community to firmly clarify our rules of engagement and the tools we can and cannot use to stay safe and maintain our freedoms. If this case is not thrown out early by the courts it stands to chill civilian reporting of suspicious behavior which will further embolden those who target our American citizenry—Muslim and non-Muslim. Frankly, it will also create a deeper wedge and greater fear whether based on reality or ignorance between the Muslim and non-Muslim community. Contrary to the CAIR spin machine and their sympathizers, this case is about much more than a few Muslim imams from Phoenix who felt their rights (to fly) were infringed by U.S. Airways and some passengers (John Does) who passed notes to the crew. It is about much more than such a simplistic view of the known facts.
As a nation, our collective response to this will be a defining moment in the articulation of our values, while also defining our priorities in defense of civilian America against the threat of militant Islamism and all those enemies who target us.
We are seeing at play in this case elements that illustrate the pathology of political Islam and how it blindly drives many Muslims who believe in it, whether or not their means are wise or their ends are understood. The longer we avoid the deeper discussion of the machinations of political Islam (Islamism) in America, the longer we allow it to take cover and thrive under the guise of political correctness within our pluralistic democracy. The longer we continue to disengage from the real aims and overriding denial of Islamist organizations that wage public battle through their toxic mixture of religion and politics, the further we fall behind in this war of ideas. Without engagement, Islamism, Salafism, and radicalism will continue to flourish within the very construct of our Constitutional government and protection of our Bill of Rights – including its establishment clause – and all the while Islamists strive to create a society which honors neither.