[Tunis Hebdo, Tunisia]

Tunis Hebdo, Tunisia

West Preaches Hatred.

Muslims Must Stand Up!

"The masters of the so-called 'civilized' world have yet to take adequate measures to slow the malevolent passions of their citizens toward one of the most tolerant religions in the world, which is based essentially on mercy and forgiveness: Islam."

By M'Hamed Ben Youssef

Translated By Elise Nussbaum

August 20 - 26, 2007  Issue

Tunisia - Tunis Hebdo - Original Article (French)

The incessant waves of racism never relent. But lately, even though we're in the middle of the summer holidays, in Europe and America these waves continue to break against Muslims. Several of their modest and often improvised places of worship - some even located in underground parking lots - have been targeted by acts of vandalism.

According to The Independent [U.K.], since June there has been a 30 percent rise in aggressive acts against Muslims in Great Britain. The situation is all the more alarming since this dangerous hostility is popping up like mushrooms just about everywhere in the West. There's nothing astonishing about that. At a time when the masters of the so-called "civilized" world have yet to decide to take adequate measures to slow - while there's still time - the malevolent passions of their citizens toward one of the most tolerant religions in the world, which is based essentially on mercy and forgiveness: Islam.

By chance, I stumbled across a quote from an interview with Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, personal secretary to the current Pope, which appeared in the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper last July 26. In the quote, the prelate had the audacity to proclaim - and this is absurd - "We must not minimize the attempts to Islamicize the West, or the danger of this to Europe's identity." What tolerance from this bishop!

This is a true incitement to racial hatred and all the collateral damage that follows from it. Emanating from an ecclesiastical personality in Benedict XVI's inner circle, and in addition his closest advisor, it becomes clear that we're dealing with a clear and quite serious stance of the Vatican on a subject of great importance, and that Gaenswein is only the voice of his master. Moreover, over the past year the Pope himself hasn't neglected trying to insult the Prophet Mohamed . Shouldn't he have retracted his statement just before his at-the-time contested visit to Turkey?

[Editor's Note: During a speech in Germany on faith and reason on Sept. 10, Pope Benedict XVI quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor, and said in part, "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached ].

Consequently, there's nothing astounding that just about everywhere, but particularly in Europe, one sees a torrent of incidents that victimize Muslims of Arab or Asian origin. Here's a recent sampling:

-- Demonstrations were organized in Cologne, Berlin, London and Marseilles against the [legally] authorized construction of mosques in each one of these major cities, in which major communities of Muslim citizens live. The opponents would be "afraid of the sight of minarets" that would have been erected atop these future places of worship.

-- A radio host of some repute named Neil Portaz [Neal Boortz?], whose program reaches every recess of the United States, went so far as to compare Muslims to crickets; those creatures that chirp all day and feed themselves at night. This, because Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan.

-- Many Muslims in England and elsewhere were shocked to learn that on the morning of Friday, August 10, an Irishman, under the pretext of wanting to convert, savagely wounded Sheikh Mohammad Salamouny, the Imam of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Regent Park, who is also an official with Al Azhar [One of the most renowned Islamic universities, located in Egypt ]. His condition is so serious that he will soon undergo a second surgery.

In his forties, the criminal is a practicing Catholic who made a point - in the heart of the mosque - of defending Christianity by displaying his crucifix to his bloodied victim, among others.

The spectrum of the misdeeds being committed against Muslims in the West are unfortunately on the way to becoming their daily bread - even in Canada and Holland - countries that were at one time well-known as lands of coexistence between different religions.

Confronted with so many crimes about which the global media report only the crumbs of the visible part of the iceberg, one must regret that so few credible voices in the Arab-Muslim world have risen up against this dramatic situation. However, there are some exceptions, including the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Ministry, which reacted vigorously when subjects of President Mubarak [Egyptian citizens?] fell victim to racist attacks or were seriously injured in the manner of Imam Salamouny ...

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