Hamdi Zaqzouq Quotes
Extremists exist in every religion, thought and civilisation. Islam is no more inherently violent than Christianity or Judaism, and the fact that there are extremists in Islam does not justify holding Islam-the religion-hostage to distorted images and clichés. Didn't a Jewish extremist kill former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin? Did anyone call it Jewish extremism? When Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma, no one dared describe it as Christian terrorism. So why is it when a Muslim commits some foolish act, that his or her religious identity becomes the marker here?
Hamdi Zaqzouq, Egyptian Minister of Religious Affairs, Dean of the Usul Al- Deen (Islamic theology) School, Quoted in The New Nation (Bangladesh), October 13, 2003
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This quotation was used both by those illustrating “Islamaphobia” even in the United States Congress, but also by those illustrating the level of ignorance or some members of Congress. While it is true, that the majority of terrorists at the time of this erroneous remark were Muslims, there were many others in addition to McVeigh. In addition to McVeigh’s accomplice, in America alone, there were many terrorists in prison for various bombings, sniper attacks, and the like. In Sri Lanka, the Tamil Tigers (Hindus), the inventors of modern suicide bombing, have been terrorizing that region for years. And in Nepal, a rash of Buddhist terrorists had almost paralyzed the country when she made her statement. And in the past, Muslim terrorism was far less than when she uttered the quotation and the Irish Republican Army, the Stern Gang in Israel, and dozens of others have been Christian and Jewish.
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This quotation is one of history’s great examples of the classic problem of quotes taken out of context. The Blog was dealing with the potential reactions if Islamic terrorists set off a nuclear device or a radioactive dirty bomb in the United States. Lowry was reporting that in the event of a retaliation there was then a considerable amount of sentiment for attacking Mecca, the holy city of Islam. However, the Arab press picked up Lowry’s quote and Muslims throughout the world were told that the Editor of a prestigious American Journal admitted that there was much American public sentiment for a nuclear attack on Islam’s holiest city. By the time this “fact” was spread by word of mouth, a huge proportion of Muslims the world over truly believed that America was indeed out to destroy Islam. The fact that the “sentiment” was only in the context of a hypothetical retaliation for a first nuclear strike was totally lost by the time it reached most Muslims.
Most Americans and Europeans and their governments feel that Muslim leaders and organizations have not done very much in terms of “drawing the line” and publicly condemning terrorism. However many of the critics did not understand the intimidation that exists in most Islamic communities where the fascist fundamentalists target any Muslim public critics as heretics and apostates themselves. Many have been killed or injured in assassination attempts.
Nigeria was about equally divided into Muslims who dominated the North and Christians and Animists who dominated the South. The former were intent on making Sharia—Islamic Law—the law of the nation and the latter were equally passionate to avoid it. Muslim protests got very violent including murdering innocent civilians; the Christians threatened to retaliate.
