Talgat Tajuddin, the head of the Central Muslim Board of Russia, has cautioned against attacks on Muslims in retaliation for recent terrorist attacks... “Peaceful, good Muslims should not become the target of so-called 'acts of retaliation'. People who follow traditional Islam have no relation to extremists,” Tadzhuddin said on Monday. Tajuddin reiterated that Muslims “are trying to prevent the spread of extremism, radicalism and terrorism.” (Scroll down for full article.)
Fears over backlash and hate crimes against Muslims are also the immediate response here in the U.S. after every Muslim terrorist attack or foiled plot. Of course any hate crime or targeting of any person, Muslim or otherwise, is abhorrent. One crime is too many. But for the record, crimes against Muslims in the U.S. are a small percentage of all anti-religious crimes, as per this report:
With the annual release of the FBI’s hate crime numbers, statistical proof is once again available for those who are interested in the real answer as to which groups are subjected to the most attacks… Of the 1,340 incidents of anti-religious hate crimes reported, 674 or 62.4 percent were anti-Jewish in nature. Only 130 incidents or 11.6 percent involved Muslim victims. These figures are not much different from those assembled by the government for previous years. In virtually every year, the number of anti-Semitic incidents is a multiple of those involving Muslims.
The supreme mufti of Russia assures us that Muslims "are trying to prevent the spread of extremism, radicalism and terrorism," yet the extremists seem to have no difficulty gaining devout adherents, including among converts to Islam. Indeed, the two Muslim suicide bombers identified in the Volgograd attacks are recent converts to Islam. Why is that?
Extremist Muslims, or Islamists, always cite the Quran to support their actions. Suicide jihadists have often left videos behind where they make their confession of Islam and tell why they are going to perform an attack which will kill innocent people. Although there are peaceful Muslims who oppose this aspect of Islam (see The Clarion Project for profiles on and articles by such ‘moderate’ Muslims), it seems that the jihadists have Islamic scripture, tradition and teaching on their side. Jihad is mandated in the Quran, and Muhammad himself practiced and commanded jihad. Muhammad’s life and example is both a personal guide for Muslims (he is called “the most beautiful pattern of conduct” in the Quran), as well as the key to understanding the Quran and Islamic doctrine.
