This question is frequently asked by the critics of Islam. It comes in many forms, sometimes as a question and sometimes as a statement, like, "If only the muslim majority were not silent, we would trust them more."







It becomes even more painful to see academics, supposedly educated people, presenting the same kind of rhetoric. In an op-ed column in the New York Times, published on July 8, 2005, renowned and otherwise respected journalist Thomas Friedman declared in an article entitled, If it's a Muslim Problem, It Needs a Muslim Solution that, "The Muslim village has been derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks....To this day - to this day - no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden."







The reality is that Muslims have been condemning terrorism, individually and through organisations and even through so called 'Royal Decrees'.



However, the media does not want to pick up on these announcements and condemnations because it is simply not exciting for the reader. It would be counter productive for their sales and thus advertising revenue.







All you have to do is a quick search on Google, using the words, "Fatwa against terrorism" or "Muslims condemn extremism."











One of the most prominent islamic organisations in the USA, The Fiqh Council of North America, has issued the following religious decree/fatwa:







The Fiqh Council of North America wishes to reaffirm Islam's absolute condemnation of
terrorism and religious extremism.



Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives.
There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians’ life and
property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram – or forbidden -
and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not “martyrs.”







The Qur’an, Islam’s revealed text, states: "Whoever kills a person [unjustly]…it is as though
he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind."
- Al Qur’an (The Recitation/Revelation), Surat 5 Al Maaida(Chapter 5 The Table), Ayat 32 (Verse 32)







Prophet Muhammad said there is no excuse for committing unjust acts: "Do not be people
without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well, and
that if they do wrong you will do wrong to them. Instead, accustom yourselves to do good if
people do good and not to do wrong (even) if they do evil." (Al-Tirmidhi)







God mandates moderation in faith and in all aspects of life when He states in the Qur’an: “We
made you to be a community of the middle way, so that (with the example of your lives) you
might bear witness to the truth before all mankind.” - Surat Al Baqara (The Cow, in reference to The Cow that Moses ordered his followers to sacrifice) from The Qur’an (The Recitation) Chapter 2, Verse 143)







In another verse, God explains our duties as human beings when he says: “Let there arise
from among you a band of people who invite to righteousness, and enjoin good and forbid
evil.” - The Qur’an, The Family of Imran (Imran being the father of Mary, who is the mother of Jesus, peace be upon him), Chapter 3, Verse 104







Islam teaches us to act in a caring manner to all of God's creation.



In the light of the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah (way of the final prophet of god) we clearly and strongly state:



1. All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam.



2. It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act
of terrorism or violence.



3. It is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities toprotect the lives of all civilians.



We issue this fatwa following the guidance of our scripture, the Qur’an, and the teachings of
our Prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him. We urge all people to resolve all conflicts in just
and peaceful manners.



We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism. We pray for the safety and security of our
country, the United States, and its people. We pray for the safety and security of all
inhabitants of our planet. We pray that interfaith harmony and cooperation prevail both in the
United States and all around the globe.



FIQH COUNCIL OF NORTH AMERICA July 28, 2005







In fact, if you visit www.theamericanmuslim.org you will find lists of literally hundreds of Islam religious authorities condemning terrorism.







So, now that we have determined that Muslims have condemned terrorism, a question certainly remains; Why should muslims condemn terrorism so vocally?



The majority of muslims worldwide are law abiding and peaceful citizens.







Just because a lot of the American drug trade comes from 'Hispanic countreis' does not mean that every 'Hispanic' person should condemn the drug trade.







Should every White American apologise for the acts of the Ku Klux Klan?







The ADL (Anti Defamation League, an organisation primarily setup to stop the defamation of Jewish people) has the following to say about the KKK and domestic terrorism. The scale of their terrorism will shock you.



The first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan in the 19th century originated as a terrorist group and the Klan has had a high association with criminal activity ever since, with most of it centered on hate crimes and acts of domestic terrorism. In a Supreme Court dissent he authored in 2003, Justice Clarence Thomas characterized the Klan as a “terrorist organization, which, in its endeavor to intimidate, or even eliminate those it dislikes, uses the most brutal of methods.” The Klan is known for terrorism, murder, and assault, all stemming from its basic hate-based ideology, but Klansmen also commit a wide variety of non-hate-related crimes, largely because of the criminal milieu from which it draws portions of its membership.

Most Klan hate crimes tend to target African-Americans or multiracial families or couples. In April 2003, for example, five members of the American Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan were convicted in federal court in Louisiana on conspiracy and intimidation charges for burning a cross at the residence of three African-American men in Longville, Louisiana. The five men, who all pleaded guilty, had burned the cross in an attempt to coerce the victims into leaving the community. “Our general purpose was just to rid them from the neighborhood,” Fuselier explained in court. All three victims moved out.

At the sentencing in that case, U.S. District Judge Tucker Melancon emphasized the malevolent role that the Klan plays in the United States, saying that “while foreign terrorists would kill our bodies and destroy our buildings, the American Invisible Empire and the Ku Klux Klan and what they stand for and the type of conduct these defendants engaged in to rid themselves of their black neighbors, attacks our nation’s very soul.”

Klan members sometimes also engage in acts of domestic terrorism. In March 2006, for example, six members of the Nation’s Knights of the Ku Klux Klan pleaded guilty to a variety of weapons and conspiracy charges in connection with an illegal gun trading scheme in the early 2000s to finance a plan to blow up the Johnston County, North Carolina, courthouse.

In August 2005, North Georgia White Knights member Daniel James Schertz pleaded guilty to building pipe bombs designed to blow up buses carrying Mexican and Haitian migrant workers from Tennessee to Florida. In November 2005, he received a 170-month federal prison sentence.

Schertz was hardly alone. In 2003, Pennsylvania Klan leader David Hull was convicted of a variety of illegal weapons charges in connection with an alleged plot to use hand grenades to attack abortion clinics; he also allegedly told an informant that he had turned his car into a “suicide bomb on wheels.”

In 1997, in one of the more spectacular cases, three Klansmen and a Klanswoman—Edward Taylor, Jr., Shawn Dee Adams, Catherine Dee Adams, and Carl Waskom, Jr.—were arrested for plotting a series of terrorist acts in north Texas, including an attack on a natural gas processing plant. This would merely serve as a diversion for a $2 million armored car robbery designed to finance further acts. While surveilling the natural gas refinery, Klan members noticed children nearby and realized they would be likely victims of a blast. “But if it has to be,” Catherine Dee Adams said, in words caught on tape, “I hate to be that way, but if it has to be…” However, because another Klan member had reservations and alerted the police, the plot was foiled before it could be carried out. The four were arrested in April 1997 and eventually pleaded guilty to a variety of charges.

Klan members have also frequently been arrested for non-ideological crimes ranging from burglary to sex crimes to spousal assault. These arrests suggest that a number of Klan groups tend to attract people with violent or anti-social natures.















The innocent majority should not be held responsible for the crimes of the guilty (and mentally deranged) few. Together everyone should strive to this evil with action and not only by words.