CAIR Condemns 'Barbaric' London Terror Attacks

[Malikshah]

http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1647&theType=NR


(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/7/05) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today condemned this morning's bomb attacks in London as "barbaric crimes."

In its statement, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said:

"We join Americans of all faiths, and all people of conscience worldwide, in condemning these barbaric crimes that can never be justified or excused. American Muslims offer their sincere condolences to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured in today's attacks and call for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators."

The Muslim Council of Britain and other British Islamic groups issued similar condemnations of the attacks and urged Muslims to help in the recovery effort.

In 2004, CAIR launched an online petition drive, called "Not in the Name of Islam," designed to disassociate Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims. SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=169&page=AA

The "Not in the Name of Islam" petition states: "We, the undersigned Muslims, wish to state clearly that those who commit acts of terror, murder and cruelty in the name of Islam are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent. No injustice done to Muslims can ever justify the massacre of innocent people, and no act of terror will ever serve the cause of Islam. We repudiate and dissociate ourselves from any Muslim group or individual who commits such brutal and un-Islamic acts. We refuse to allow our faith to be held hostage by the criminal actions of a tiny minority acting outside the teachings of both the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him."



***Just so folks are clear***

[chelsea0011]

1. But doesn't the right always claim Muslim groups never speak out

against bombings? I guess they do.

[maddezmom]

2. 3 US-based Muslim groups condemn London terror attacks

WASHINGTON(AFP) - The three leading US-based Muslim groups roundly condemned the deadly terror attacks in London, expressing sympathy for the victims and criticizing the use of Islam in the attacks.

"We join Americans of all faiths, and all people of conscience worldwide, in condemning these barbaric crimes that can never be justified or excused," read a statement from the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which describes itself as the largest US-based Muslim civil liberties group.

~snip~

Another US-based group, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, issued a statement in which it "unequivocally condemns" the attacks.

"Islam considers the use of terrorism to be unacceptable for any purpose," the statement read. "Any individual or group that claims that these henious actions serve as a redress for legitimate grievances is dreadfully mistaken."

~snip~

A third group, the Burbank, California-based Islamic Relief relief and development group, "condemns categorically" the London terror attacks.
more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050707/ts_alt_afp/britainattacksreaxus_050707193419

[maddezmom]

10. UK- Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders condemn attacks

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1684313,00.html

[Garfield Goose]

3. I applaud him. It's a start.

There are billions of Muslims, and I wonder how many his organization claims to represent.

[eissa]

6. In reality

Numerous Muslim groups AND leaders continuously denounce these types of attacks, but they usually fall on deaf ears.

[Malikshah]

7. too true--- let's play a game--- what media outfits picked up and ran

with the CAIR press release????

hmmmm....

I got this off of their site--

[TahitiNut]

4. I cringe at the use of the word "barbaric"

The etymology of that word is "foreigner" ... and raises my anti-xenophobic hackles. The Barbars were people with very curly hair from northern Africa ... a non-Christian people regarded as (uncivilized) 'savages' by colonial/imperial Europeans.

Rhetorically, this choice of words tends to exacerbate global divisions, imho.

[Malikshah]

5. yup-- the berbers....indigenous to North Africa

The Greeks tended to use the term to refer to non-greeks...

alas...

[Igel]

8. The etymology of the word is purely Greek, IIRC.

Sort of a mockery that became a full-fledged word with full Greek morphology; non-Greek speakers were presented as saying bar-bar, i.e., gibberish. This predates Christianity; it was deeply ethnocentric, but that was hardly a crime in 300 BC. 'Foreigner' seems like a stretch.

The semantics have shifted so much that 'saying bar-bar' is completely out, as is the ethnocentric meaning, unless you're speaking a rather archaic form of Greek.

[TahitiNut]

9. Yes, it's Greek to me. Very ethnocentric.

Adopted by slave-trading nations to demean entire cultures from which slaves were 'liberated'.