Linda Sarsour Quotes
We would never ask any other faith community to stand up and condemn acts of violence committed by people within their groups. The fact that this is only directed at the Muslim community is something that I personally can't accept.
Sarsour, Linda. We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance. Gallery Books, 2020.
The attitude of the non-Muslims at that time was based on the Muslim attacks in the Punjab on Sikhs where entire Sikh villages and neighborhoods in towns and cities were murdered—every man woman and child. In many cases women were first raped. The Muslims had been whipped up by the leaders of the Muslim League to put terrorist pressure on the Sikh, Hindu and British to meet the League's political and territorial demands for an Independent Pakistan. Soon there was retaliation in kind and there were many Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims engaged in internecine slaughter and behaving "little better than animals".
In this speech, and in {634756}, he argued against unification to a public that was mostly opposed. The leadership was interested because they were facing the Muslim Ottoman Turks who were getting more powerful each day. The Eastern Emperor, Constantine XI, more of a soldier and politician than a cleric, wanted the military strength of the Franks and other Western European Christian armies to help protect the Eastern Empire and Byzantium and were willing to reunite under the Pope to get it. Gennadios and his faction were not. They prevailed and the next year, the Muslims conquered Byzantium which had little help from the armies of the Western Roman Empire.
This quotation is used by many to illustrate the discrimination that Muslims face in America. The President and almost all other national leaders rejected ideas like this.
In his version of Islamic logic, since non-Muslims are heretics they should be subjected to capital punishment anyway so there is no such thing as an “innocent” Christian, Hindu, Bahai or Jew. This is an extreme position held by very few of the English Muslims but unfortunately held by radical Islamic extremists in many counties.
In the middle of 2010, this organization was running public utility bus ads in major American cities.
Both Puritans and Quakers were persecuted and physically abused in England by the Anglican Church. The Puritans as soon as they became dominant in part of the American colonies began persecuting Quakers. The Quakers who were the majority in the Pennsylvania colony, however were tolerant of other religions. This history was another of the many reasons the Founding Fathers wanted no established church. A “scorpion” was a type of whip that was particularly painful.
Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island had provided in its charter for freedom of conscience. See {624148}. However later the Colonial legislature withdrew the franchise from Roman Catholics. Despite this temporary restriction of religions freedom, Rhode Island and Connecticut were far ahead of the other New England colonies in freedom of conscience.
This is a noteworthy quotation for two reasons: First, it shows part of the motivation for his murderous acts. Second, it illustrates a unique characteristic of Islam. Most people in the world first view themselves nationally or tribally, then often locally or occupationally, and then religiously. Eg ‘I am a French, Parisian, attorney who is Christian. For many Muslims, they are first a Muslim and the other identities follow. Eg ‘I am a Muslim, Nigerian teacher.
Linda Sarsour (born 1980) is an American political activist. She was co-chair of the 2017 Women's March, the 2017 Day Without a Woman, and the 2019 Women's March. She is also a former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. She and her Women's March co-chairs were profiled in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2017.
