Comments from the other side

Here is an item interest taken from Friday's Arab Times newspaper.

by Mansour Al-Ansari, Al-Dar Daily

"Nine years have passed for the atrocious terrorist attack of September 11. Nine years have passed and the details of the terrorist operation are still rooted in the minds of Americans and the world. Nine years have passed and still the West looks with suspicion and distrust at all that is connected with Islam as a religion and it's followers. Perhaps (as a Muslim) I find this gives them an excuse to do so.

The West still remembers the Allah Akbar (God is Greatest) of the mercenaries of al-Qaeda while flying the hijacked planes carrying innocent passengers to strike the twin towers of the World Trade Center which was filled with thousands of innocent people as well.

How can the West trust us as Muslims while they see individuals (Shame on Them) belong to the religion of Mohammad-peace be upon him-who was teaching tolerance and mercy to the world because those individuals were behind terrorist attacks in other places which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent people.

Those foolish acts committed by irresponsible ignorant fanatic people has undoubtedly harmed the Muslims and the image of Islam as a religion of tolerance and have made the Islamic world go back to the era of ignorance and backwardness. These acts have preoccupied the governments to fight extremism instead of thinking about progress and prosperity of their people.

Nine years after the "massacre of September", which shook the world, and after the word "terrorism" became synonymous with Islam and a disgrace which came to haunt every Muslim in the world, I wonder what we the Muslims, have offered to defend ourselves and correct the tarnished image of our religion.

What is the benefit of dozens of institutions and hundreds of mosques in the US so long as most of them have until this day failed to portray the real and original image of Islam?

I think the insistence to build a mosque in Manhattan is a wrong and irrational devision and will harm the Muslims than do good to increase the hatred and status of isolation felt by Muslims in the US.

They are in dire need of mergence in their communities and focus on media discourse and highlight the values and principles of true Islam which calls for respect for human rights and dialogue and co-existence with the other".