Op-Ed: One Moderate New Canaanite’s Muslim Response to Paris

By Shekaiba Bennett

Last week’s terrorist attack in Paris has hit me on many levels.

The victims at Charlie Hebdo were my people, artists. I may not agree with their cartoons or sense of humor, but I stand with the right to free speech and freedom of art.

According to the world, the terrorists were also my people. I do not agree with or practice their brand of Islam.

My Islam is the Islam of French Police Officer Ahmad Merabat who was executed on the street at point blank while serving his country. My Islam is that of Charlie Hebdo copy editor Mustapha Ourrad who was killed in the Hebdo office. My Islam is that of the Kosher supermarket employee, Lassana Bathily, who hid Jews in the walk-in refrigerator to save them as the gunman was killing people. My Islam is that of the Paris Grand Mosque saving Jewish Parisians from the Nazi occupation.

And, my Islam is of poets Rumi, Hafez, Khayyam who write about love, peace and respect. My Islam is of the miniature paintings that show beauty and harmony. And mine is the Islam of the architecture of the Alhambra and the Taj Mahal. But all this does not matter because the terrorist and I are considered as one.

Any time a terrorist attack is perpetrated by thugs who claim to be Muslim, I hear, “Where are the Muslim moderate voices?” or “Why aren’t Muslim leaders condemning these attacks?” The first question assumes that there aren’t any moderate Muslim voices, and the latter question is evident of ignorance of Islam and Muslims by the questioner.

There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world; people from every race, ethnic group and nationality. Sixty percent of the global Muslim population lives in Asia and about 20 percent is in the Middle East and North Africa. Islam is not an ethnicity, nor is it a singular, monolithic religion. There is no central figure, like a Pope, who speaks for the 1.6 billion people. There are many nuances in the practice of the religion within every nationality and culture.

To the question—“Why aren’t Muslim leaders condemning these attacks?”—I would ask: Which Muslims leaders and from which community would you like to condemn these attacks?

Ten to 15 percent of the world’s Muslim population is Shia. That is, about 200 million people with around 75 million of them being Iranians.

Would you like the Shia supreme leader, the Ayatollah, to condemn these attacks? How about the Sunni leader? Oh wait, there is no singular Sunni leader as the Sunni branch of Islam does not have central authority. How about the Sufis, Ismailis or the Ahmadis? Oh wait again, the Ahmadis are considered heretics in Pakistan and brutally persecuted.

Then how about Chinese Muslim leaders? At 22 million, China has more Muslims than Syria, although they are persecuting the heck out their Muslim Uyghur population. Or, what about Russian leaders condemning these attacks? At 16 million, Russia is home to more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined. What about the European Islamic leadership in the 75 percent-majority-Muslim Kosovo and Albania?

These questions are tiresome and lack forethought. Of course Muslims leaders have and will continue to condemn attacks like the one in Paris, and then what? Will it prevent such attacks from happening again? Of course not. The fundamentalist, murderous psychopath thugs will continue to terrorize people, using funding and training from individuals and governments with political agendas.

The Paris Unity March on Sunday included 40 world leaders, people of all races, ethnicities and religions, including Muslims like Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Queen Rania.

This week, the victims will be buried, and the media will move on to the next story.

For thousands of Muslims like me, the next few months will be about visiting churches, synagogues, interfaith gatherings, ladies discussion groups, and so forth, apologizing, explaining Islam, Muslims, and Middle Easterners and hearing over and over again: “Where are the Muslim moderate voices?” “Why aren’t Muslim leaders condemning these attacks?” “You don’t look Muslim” and “Why do you hate us?”

Here is the list that I have compiled of the Muslim leaders who have condemned the Paris attacks. This list is by no means comprehensive. I just happened to jot down names as I came across them in reading articles pertaining to this attack:

1. Keith Ellison, US Congressman from Minnesota
2. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Cordoba Initiative, NYC
3. Abdul -Latif Derian, Sunni Grand Mufti of Lebanon
4. King Abdullah of Jordan
5. Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, Oxford University
6. Reza Aslan, Religious Scholar
7. Nabil al-Arab, head of the Arab League
8. Hasan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah
9. Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, Religious leader in Iran
10. Hassen Chalghoumi, Imam of Drancy Mosque, France
11. The Muslim Council of Britain
12. Qatar Foreign Ministry
13. United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry
14. Malaysia’s Prime Minister
15. King Mohammad of Morocco
16. President Abdel Fattah Sisi of Egypt
17. Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry
18. Egypt’s Foreign Minister
19. Turkey’s Foreign Minister
20. Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry
21. Iranian Foreign Ministry
22. Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF)
23. Dalil Boubakeur, Imam of the Paris Mosque
24. Arasalan Iftikhar, Human Rights Lawyer
25. Council On American-Islamic Relations, USA
26. Muslim Council Of Britain
27. French Muslim Council
28. Council On American-Islamic Relations
29. Al-Azhar, University and Mosque in Cairo, Egypt
30. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA
31. Union of Islamic Organization of France
32. Muslim Advisory Council to the NYPD
33. Birmingham Islamic Society, UK
34. The Islamic Cooperation Organization
35. The National Council of Canadian Muslims
36. Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Alnadvi, Chairman of the Canadian Council of Imams
37. Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Canada
38. Muslim Canadian Congress
39. Muslim Public Affairs Council, USA
40. Islamic Council of Victoria, Australia
41. Islamic Friendship Association of Australia
42. The Organization of the Islamic Conference
43. Sheikh Adnan Amama, a member of Lebanon’s Committee of Muslim Scholars
44. Queen Rania of Jordan
45. Irshad Manji, author, educator and advocate

The writer is a New Canaan resident.