The threat of the Islamists (to Muslims)

An article first published in Politiken by Danish Muslim, Ibrahim Ramadan. He points to the greatest threat to Muslims in the West as in the Middle East: the Islamists.

Much of the article is spent lamenting the silence of Muslims faced with the violence and intimidation of the Islamists among them. He remembers Cairo in the 80s when tentative reform and modernisation were blocked by beatings, nail-bombs and assassinations. He sees the same logic at work in Denmark and in the West, and

the same unwillingness to stand up and protest this abuse of the religion which I saw in the Egypt of my youth, is predominant among the majority of Moslems in Denmark today.

Some excepts. (The translation is a bit awkward)

It’s hard to explain to people who haven’t lived in the Middle East how liberating it is to live in a country such as Denmark. A country where you’re free to say whatever you like, read whatever you like, act however you like, believe whatever you like and join any organisation or party with no repercussions for your life, career or family. But some seem to want to deny us Moslems that right and therefore we must now stand together and denounce these Men of Darkness.

But its time for us Moslems to choose sides. Do we want to live in this country with all that that entails of Freedoms, opportunities and Rights - or do we really want that the intolerance, the dictatorship and the limitation of the personal freedom which we have left [behind] must also be part of our lives in the country we’ve come to?

To become accepted and integrated in this country first and foremost demands that we as Moslems must stop pretending we are victims.

To do well in Denmark has as a precondition that the rules of the land are supported - to educate yourself and play an active role in the community and the debate and to not only take from, but also give something back to society.

There’s only one solution for us Moslems — use the first words that were revealed by God to the Prophet: Read! Study, be critical and take exception to those who abuse Islam.