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It doesn't hurt to explicitly condemn them and distance yourself from them, though. Specifically as a white guy.

Muslims Condemn Terrorist Attacks

Muslims for Life

Muslims for Peace

I totally would, if Muslims would come out and criticize Islamic terrorism, but most Muslims seem to clam up instead.

(a) Now you've moved the goal posts from the religion to individuals who profess to follow the religion.
You are balls-deep in the no true scotsman fallacy with that.
(b) Is thousands of prominent muslims good enough for you?

After all, where's the hue and cry when a non muslim is the target of this tiny minority?

Just because it's largely unreported by the mainstream media doesn't mean it doesn't exist. We all know that "some person says something perfectly reasonable" is the world's most boring headline.

So THAT'S why moderate muslims don't denounce the crazies. I get it now thanks.

Are you serious?

Thousands of muslims leaders and millions of regular muslims have denounced the terrorists.

Hell, even the leader of the axis of evil, Ayatollah Khamenei, publicly condemned the 9-11 attacks.

I can't believe you got modded up for that steaming pile of bullshit.

Lets take a look at just one of your accusations:

-After that get a few people to claim that people are prejudice about the religion and that the religion has been corrupted by a few people and that their views do not reflect all followers of the religion even though the actions of the few radicals are never denounced.

Here are links to literally hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of public muslim figures denouncing the "actions of the few radicals."

The abyss has stared back at you and you have succumbed to it.

My response to all this, and the snivelling about how their rights were being trampled upon was that I'm unsympathetic to their plight primarily because the Muslim community has brought this upon themselves. I stand by that statement. We never hear the Muslim community being up in arms about a Muslim suicide bomber smearing the good (?) name of Islam

Does the fact that you haven't heard about Muslims condemning suicide bombers mean it doesn't happen?

I think this is the crucial flaw in your position that the Muslim community has brought this on themselves. I've seen some condemnations, but I've also seen complaints that the media doesn't give the same coverage to moderate Muslim statements against radical Islamists as they do to the actions of terrorists. Think about the nature of media coverage, and I'm sure you'll see the bind that both reporters and moderate Muslims are in. "If it bleeds it leads" is the saying in the news business, and a moment's reflection tells you that fearmongering coverage will almost always trump reassuring statements about how not all Muslims are trying to blow you up.

Here's some of the results from a quick google search for "muslims condemn suicide bombings". The first link is a list of public condemnations by Muslim leaders and groups.

Muslims Condemn Terrorist Attacks
Landmark Islamic Ruling Unequivocally Condemns Suicide Bombings
Minister: Muslim decree to condemn suicide bombings
U.K. Sunnis condemn London suicide attacks
Grand Sheikh condemns suicide bombings
Suicide Bombing
INDONESIA: Muslim leaders condemn suicide bombing
A sampling of fatwas and other statements by Muslim individuals and groups condemning terrorist attacks
Muslim Scholars Condemn Terror U.S. Islamic Leaders Issue Edict Against Attacks On Civilians

They get some coverage, but no stories get multiple days/outlets to repeat the message the way an event like a bombing does. The problem isn't that Muslims don't condemn suicide attacks, it's that their condemnations don't get enough play, so people like you think that the Muslim community silently condones the actions of the extremists.

The big problem with Islam, IMHO, is that the moderate Islamists are so reluctant to make a stand against the fundamentalists. You won't find any Christian who's afraid to criticize David Koresh [wikipedia.org] or Jim Jones [wikipedia.org], but how many Islamists are ready to make a critical comment about Mohammed Atta? [wikipedia.org]

The problem of Islam is not the lack of speaking out against terrorism, but it's individuals like yourself that continue to repeat the same untrue point of view that Muslims do not speak out against terror. Just because you don't hear about it doesn't mean that it never happens.

There was a HUGE outpouring of condemnation from the Muslim side after 9/11 and after the London train bombings. As the author of the Dallas News piece I linked to stated, short of setting off fireworks and sending out a troupe of jugglers every single time they condemn terror, the media will never pick it up or report Muslim groups condemning terror. It's just so much more salacious to report people hating and wanting to kill one another than it is to report about peace.

After 9/11, there was a huge outcry of public support for the U.S., in Iran, even in Palestine, where they held candlelight vigils. Unfortunately, the media never bothered to cover it. Why should they? So long as someone out there can be painted as an evil enemy, it sells!

Anyway, this link was posted by an A/C in this thread, and it is a compilation of what seems to be some of the outpouring of grief and the separation from such acts from many Muslim nations.

http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm

A search on google yields this as well:

http://www.muhajabah.com/otherscondemn.php

I've seen Moryath post this crap before every chance that he gets, and while he's entitled to his own opinion, he needs to realize that he's not an expert of Islam because he can cherry-pick out verses without putting them into context and without realizing WHEN it was written.

I'm an Atheist and while I don't like any religion, I have enough sense to know that the actions of a minority should not reflect poorly on the whole. Catholicism was especially brutal, and even today, some of its points seem backwards to me, but I would never paint every Catholic as being backwards.

Religion is and should be a private thing, unless we're talking about the worship of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. :)

If the majority was silent or ambivalent, you would have had a point. Fortunately, Muslims HAVE done condemned terrorism.
Muslims Condemn Terrorist Acts
CAIR Condemns suicide bombing
Scholars of Islam condemn 9/11
American Muslims conduct anti-terror campaigns (600,000 petition signatures)

Don't feed the troll....don't feed the troll....don't feed the

The Muslim extremists are a minority. Do you honestly believe that the majority of Muslims are terrorist? Why then have the vast majority of Islamic scholars condemned terrorism? Why aren't the largest Muslim countries like Indonesia and India and Bangladesh attacking America?

Way to stuff words in my mouth. I never suggested equality, nor did I suggest the Arab world is more democratic. I'm saying you're going overboard overgeneralizing and assuming everyone supported the dictatorships they're under.

Listing of Muslim leaders who Condemn Terrorist Attacks

Fiqh Council of America makes fatwa forbidding Terror (PDF)

Sunni and Shia clerics release joint fatwa forbidding sectarian violence

What is the Islamic stance regarding kidnappings killings in Iraq?
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Recapturing Islam from the terrorists
Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad

Islamic Spirituality: The Forgotten Revolution
Shaykh Nuh Ha Meem Keller

Peace and Justice in Islam
Imam Zaid Shakir

Tolerance in Islam
Muhamamd Marmaduke Pickthal

Wahhabism: Imam Muhammad Abu Zahra Explains
Shaykh G. F. Haddad

Does Quran teach violence?
Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi

ISNA denounces terrorism in the name of Islam
Statement signed by 72 nationwide Imams, Muslim scholars, leaders and activists.

Against Terrorism and Religious Extremism: Muslim Position and Responsibilities
Fiqh Council of North America

Are Violence and Extremism an Islamic Phenomena?
Shaykh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi

IslamDenouncesTerrorism.com
Harun Yahya

""Then when the Sacred Months have passed, then kill the Mushrikoon (idolaters, polytheists)...". (Quran 9:5)"

This verse is addressed to the Muslims of Medina under attack by the polytheist Meccans, and is referring to fighting them back. You're trying to take a 1400 year old battle and apply it to today in an incorrect manner. The Quran also forbids murder and says "if they make peace, you make peace." It also commands being fair to your neighbor, and that the closest in faith are Christians (5:82). The Quran also states that God commands peace as the default.

Next, lying is usually a tremendous sin in Islam. The only time you are permitted to lie is on the Battlefield as a trick or feint, or when someone asks you about your religion and you could be killed for saying you're a Muslim. Your source is incorrect (and amazingly biased), and is twisting the Prophet's (pbuh) quote, whose actual meaning was that lying is permissible in certain circumstances to preserve friendships or relationships (like telling your wife she doesn't look fat when she is)

Muslims are NOT silent when terrorism happens. Worldwide Muslim leaders condemn terrorism. Loudly. All the time. For example, my community mosque puts out condemnation emails every time something minor happens. Muslims condemn terrorism all the time, we're not to blame if CNN ignores these speeches that are given and reported in Muslim news sources.

I'm kinda tired of people accusing Muslims of being silent, when we're not. Let me give you a better example, the world thinks Americans are silent about Abu Ghraib. Where were the Americans protesting in the streets? The general feeling was disgust at the acts, but it wasn't reported and the world thinks Americans are as bad as Muslims.

Here are a couple more for you:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/28/national /main712548.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4697365.stm
http://www.muhajabah.com/otherscondemn.php
http://www.cair-net.org/html/911statements.html

The leading moral authority for Sunnis is the rector or Grand Imam of the al-Azhar Seminary/ University in Cairo, Egypt. Al-Azhar is perhaps the world's oldest continuous university and has been since the time of Saladin a major center of Sunni religious authority. The current incumbent is Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi. So what about Tantawi and Bin Laden?

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar seminary, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, condemns Osamah Bin Laden. Here's another cached link from Washington Post reporting on the same condemnation.

What about Pakistan? Pakistani Cleric Tahir ul Qadri condemns Bin Laden.

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi is a TV preacher, and pretty popular with a wide Arabic audience on Al-Jazeera. He absolutely despises Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaradawi has repeatedly condemned Al-Qaeda. He even gave a fatwa that it was a duty of Muslims to fight alongside the US in Afghanistan against al-Qaeda! Yusuf Qaradawi Condemns Al Qaeda.

Hamza Yusuf is a sheikh, what about the Shi'ites? Most fatwas of that sort are in arabic, but here's one reported: Ayatollah Muhammad Husain Fadlallah of Lebanon condemns Osama Bin Laden

Don't forget the West!> There are 250,000 Muslims in Spain: Spanish Muslim Clerical authorities Issue Fatwa against Osamah Bin Laden. Russia is 15% Muslim, with 20 Million Muslims. High Mufti of Russian Muslims calls for Extradition of Bin Laden. And they're not saying that to please Putin or anything.

If you're looking for someone to make a fatwa that says so-and-so is in Hell right now, you're not going to find that, as Muslims aren't allowed to judge people, only God can. They can say that murder and suicide are both hell-worthy sins, and they all said that. This isn't like Catholicism where you can just excommunicate people either. You can label Bin Laden a sinner (and believe me, there's quite a lot of people who did), but in Islam you can't say whether he's an atheist or not. That's just semantics, everyone knows Bin Laden is a wrongdoer, and have said so.

Um... They're here. And here. And here and here and here and here and here and even here and, oh, there are a few hundred more here.

Muslim leaders around the world have issued fatwa after fatwa condemning terrorism and calling for an end to suicide bombings, car bombings, bus bombs, subway bombs, and every other bombing short of another Uwe Boll film. Just because Bill O'Reilly doesn't tell you about it doesn't mean that is never happened.

Um... They're here. And here. And here and here and here and here and here and even here and, oh, there are a few hundred more here.

Muslim leaders around the world have issued fatwa after fatwa condemning terrorism and calling for an end to suicide bombings, car bombings, bus bombs, subway bombs, and every other bombing short of another Uwe Boll film. Just because Bill O'Reilly doesn't tell you about it doesn't mean that is never happened.

Council of American-Islamic Relations condemns 9/11 in national full-page newspaper ad the next day.

Ayatollah Muhammad Husain Fadlallah of Lebanon condemns Osama Bin Laden.

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar seminary, Shaikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, condemns Osamah Bin Laden (Plus official text)

Prominent Pakistani Cleric Tahir ul Qadri condemns Bin Laden.

Television preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi condemns Al Qaeda

Spanish Muslim Clerical authorities Issue Fatwa against Osamah Bin Laden. There are on the order of 250,000 Muslims in Spain.

High Mufti of Russian Muslims calls for Extradition of Bin Laden. Russian Muslims are 15% of the population there, so this is not a pro forma thing.

List of Muslim condemnations of Terrorist attacks. Also Scholars of Islam and the tragedy of 9/11 attacks

Expressions of grief and sympathy in the Arab world after 9/11. (Includes candlelight vigils in Tehran, anti-terrorism protests in Bangladesh)

Iraqi blogger Riverbend recalls the sympathy she felt on 9/11

You didn't hear any protests because it simply wasn't covered in American news. International news did pick up on these events. How about the people in Arab countries who donated blood after 9/11 because Qaradawi suggested it? What about the flower bouquets people sent in sympathy to the American embassy in Kuwait, so many that they ringed the fence?

MEMRI is selective and biased against the Arab press, and that it highlights pieces that cast Arabs, especially committed Muslims, in a negative light.

The organization cleverly cherry-picks the vast Arabic press, which serves 300 million people, for the most extreme and objectionable articles and editorials. It carefully does not translate the moderate articles. Juan Cole looked at newspapers that ran both tolerant and extremist opinion pieces on the same day, and checked MEMRI, to find that only the extremist one showed up. It would sort of be as though al-Jazeera published translations of Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Jerry Falwell on Islam and the Middle East, but never published opinion piences on the subject by William Beeman or Dick Bulliet.

People who read MEMRI are being given an unbalanced view of the region as a result. In some instances the translations are not very good, but the main objection is the selectiveness of the material. MEMRI is one of a number of public relations campaigns essentially on behalf of the far rightwing Likud Party in Israel that tries to shape American perceptions of Muslims and the Middle East in a negative direction.

It would be just as easy to set up a translation service that zeroed in on racist and "Greater Israel" statements in the Hebrew Israeli press and made the articles available in English, while ignoring more liberal newspapers like Haaretz. If most educated Americans heard the raving against "ha-aravim" (the Arabs) that goes on among West Bank settlers, they'd be completely taken aback by the bigotted terms of reference. Much of such Likudnik discourse is not different in kind from what one hears from the Ku Klux Klan about minorities in this country.

If you talk to someone who ACTUALLY READS Arab Press (like Dar Al-Hayat or As-Sharq Al-Awsat, you're not going to find extremist imams in the mainstream, contrary to what MEMRI is tricking you into believing. (BTW, no imam is going to say "Allah needs warriors." Allah needs nobody.)

"Religion is as its followers do: nonviolent Muslims need to wake up, Islam's soul is being murdered."

Of course nonviolent Muslims need to wake up, and they already did. They've been in a living nightmare for the past 3 years. All this profiling, questioning, hate crimes, attacks on their religion, etc. Muslims are WIDE awake and working on it. CAIR's membership is growing. Record numbers of Muslims voted in the last US election. Petition drives are popular, CAIR's "Not in the Name of Islam" petition now has 689,706 signatures since I last checked the front page. Look at the American Muslims' fatwa against terrorism. These worldwide condemnations stretch back to 9/11 and before. Terrorism is the most evil thing one can do to tarnish the image and honor of Islam, and Muslims don't stand for it. Indonesia had a demonstration against terrorism, and Palestinians had a massive demonstration Against suicide bombings. Iran had a candlelight vigil after 9/11, as did mosques in America.

Muslims are helping, they call the police on other Muslims. How do you think the "Lackawana Six" were apprehended? A Muslim neighbor called the police and said they were at a training camp. If you think Muslims aren't doing anything, you're mistaken, but I don't blame you. I didn't see CNN polling Muslims or MSNBC knocking on people's doors and asking their opinion of Osama Bin Laden. Muslims don't support Al Qaeda. Do you think Christians are quiet when abortion clinics are bombed or IRA blows something up? Everyone knows the religious leaders are against this stuff, I guess they won't print it as news.

You're just wrong.

The rest of the Arab world not only condemned the attacks, they held prayer vigils and sent condolences. Kuwait sent so many flowers to the US embassy that it ringed the entire compound. Iranian students burst into spontaneous (unplanned) peace demonstrations in support of the US. Egypt's Al-Azhar University, the highest Sunni authority by many, categorically condemned the attack, and reiterated their previous fatwa that suicide bombing was a major sin. The Organization of the Islamic Conference in Qatar that year condemned the attack. Sheikh Qaradawi, a notable figure appearing on Al Jazeera, condemned the attack as well.

You don't believe me? Go see some photos all over the Muslim world of solidarity with America on 9/11 and condemnations of the attack from the Arab and Muslim leaders and scholars.

Islam doesn't NEED instructions on how to act civilized.

Colombia is 95% Catholic, yet they have a massive, massive drug problem. And they have terrorism too. Should I blame Christianity? How come Cocaine comes from the Catholic countries anyway? You won't see Iran manufacturing it anytime soon.

The believers of Islam don't rape 72 virgins in heaven either. The virgins are only a minor perk of Paradise anyway.

Fatwas aren't issued to anyone who questions Islam, but the Ayatollah of Iran said Salman Rushdie should be killed for purposely insulting the religion. That was his view, and other countries didn't second him.

Female genital mutilation is not an Islamic thing. It's an African thing. African Pagans still do it, and so do some African and Egyptian Christians.

You remember people dancing in the street? Iran and many other Muslim countries held candlelight vigils for the 9/11 victims. There was TONS of condemnations of terrorism from all over the globe and Islamic groups issue condemnations very often.

Here are some links:
Muslim leaders condemn terrorist attacks
Muslims worldwide demonstrate against terror

I'll leave off the long list of condemnations of 9/11, from ordinary muslims, scholars, leaders, etc. I can also point you to fatwas condemning the mutilation of contractors in Fallujah, the bombings in Indonesia, etc. However, since I've seen lots of strawmen claims that Islam supports killing POW's (the whole Nick Berg issue), I should point out that the scholars have been unanimous and clear; it's forbidden.

Fatwa concerning POWs
Muslim authorities at Al-Azhar seminary condemn killing Radical Shi'ite Hizbullah condemns beheading
Iraqi Muslim leaders condemn beheading

Totally different culture there. Germans today deeply regret Nazism, and Japan wised up. Your "Feudalism" theory doesn't make sense, please elaborate because I don't understand what you mean.

Israel? Do you really want to open up a can of worms here? Fine, but I warn you, this will be lengthy.

But a bunch of farmers with a hodge-podge of weapons were too much for the surrounding muslim pussies to even imagine tolerating. So they attack the recently declared state. And predictably loose. Now Israel is this great evil because they've defended themselves and bought land from people who sold it to them.

You're reading this from the Zionist view? Did you know that the Jewish settlers carried out terrorism against the Palestinian people who were already there? David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, actually had a wanted poster with his name on it, for terrorism and attacks against the Arabs, in his effort to push for a "Jewish state." Israel didn't buy Palestinian land, instead it was stolen when people fled their homes during the war, and weren't allowed to return. There are eyewitness accounts of Israeli soldiers driving them out, killing a few even. I'm not going to get into blame, my point is that the Palestinians were driven out, not voluntarily as your post alleged. Israel demolished some homes, moved Jewish immigrants into others. The Palestinians are understandably upset, they don't get their homes back and don't get an apology or compensation either. This isn't like ancestors losing land, but people who are still living. This could evolve into a giant rant, but I'll cap it off here.

The arabs lost and blame the US for their own weaknesses

Really? Who has ever publicly blamed the US for Egypt losing the six-day war? Who has blamed the US for Israel's refusing to make peace? I recall Clinton leading a peace accord with Netanyahu and Arafat, both shaking hands. I've only heard criticism for the US' current support of Israel, not for "Arab weakness".

The only reason Israel has US support is because the muslims murder civilians specifically.

I think you are blind. You didn't know about AIPAC giving MILLIONS in campaign contributions? That every candidate for decades has sided with Israel to court the Jewish and evangelical votes? If that as you said is the sole reason, then why does nearly the entire UN condemn some Israeli military actions? Why does the UN complain that Israel is in violation of refugee laws? The UN has condemned terrorism on both sides.

Fuck the Muslims. Give them a taste of their own morality. It's ok to kill me because you don't like me, fuck you, eat hot thermonuclear death. Reciprocity is a bitch. Clearly if civilian populations are fair game, the civilian Muslims populations are NO exception.

Sheesh, you really have to strawman the issue here, don't you? First off, Islam does NOT condone murder, ok? Second, don't say Muslims when you only mean Arabs/Palestinians, of which I am neither. It's completely forbidden to murder anyone or attack civillians. The terrorist attacks have received worldwide condemnation from scholars, Imams, Mullahs, Maulanas, Muftis, Sheikhs, you name it. Terrorism is completely against Islam, are we clear on that? I am a Muslim, and I will help you hunt down any scum that kills children. It's not as easy as you think, Terrorists, Baathists, and the Taliban don't exactly walk around in broad daylight, despite what you think.

I'll never forget the CNN foot