No amount of vociferous condemnations of terrorist acts, and statuses that highlight ‘our thoughts and prayers’ will help solve terrorism.
Not that we should not do them, but understand why we do. We condemn terrorism because it is the right thing to do, because that is what every decent human being would do, not because it would magically eliminate terrorism.
After our condemnations, we should then discuss the multiple paths to radicalization, and try as far as possible to address those issues. If we stop at condemnations, without ever seriously discussing the complex factors surrounding extremism – of which religious misguidance is undoubtedly (but) one – i wonder what we are truly trying to achieve.
And for those who somehow still feel Muslims should ‘own’ the problem or be apologetic, in spite of the dastardly acts in Bangladesh, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi, where victims are mostly Muslims, please stop masking your Islamophobia.
Source: Walid J. Abdullah
