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MANCHESTER – HOW DO WE GRIEVE WITH YOU?
The recent horrific and murderous terrorist attack at Manchester Arena hits close to the heart as I am a mother and grandmother. Twelve children under the age of 16 were among the 59 casualties taken to hospital after the attack, according to David Ratcliffe, medical director of North West Ambulance Service in UK.
There is no way we can sleep at night knowing our children are now the targets of barbaric terrorists. Such horrendous attacks seem to have become a way of life in the West and while we are not surprised, the horror waves this particular attack sends through the world are unprecedented.
Obviously the families affected by this immense tragedy and ordinary citizens must be angry and frustrated with questions on their mind.
My question is: what is the Standard operating Procedure (SOP) for grieving?
The single most effective weapon the enemy uses is Islamophobia so if we ask tough questions, it’s not acceptable. If we want to know the reasons why Jihadists are killing our children, they call it Islamophobia. So essentially dialogue and discussion around the ideology surrounding a global jihadist insurgency are not welcome because we now live in a world where political correctness is the norm and word police are out to get you if you go over the prescribed limit on words usage.
Is this an effective way of dealing with an enemy who has declared war on our world and our values? Of course not!
In a statement our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was shocked. I fail to see what is shocking about this. One is shocked when something you are not expecting happens. Terrorist attacks are horrifying and barbaric but not shocking if you already know the subversive agenda of the enemy.
At an interfaith event this past weekend in Montreal, all speakers agreed that we must identify the evil in our midst (even if it happens to be within our own communities) and then try to eliminate it. Like a virus, it must be identified, isolated and then removed. We also agreed that it’s not enough to say we are for peace; we must identify and remove the barriers to peace.
It is now time to show Muslims some tough love. Every Muslim individual, Mosque and Islamic organization should be asked to condemn (not just ISIS because that’s easy):
1. Condemn the notion of armed Jihad as obsolete in our times
2. Condemn the ideologies that emanate from The Muslim Brotherhood, Salafis and Khomenists
and
3. To uphold the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
If they fail to do so, you know where they stand.
Today let’s pray for Manchester. Tomorrow let’s pray for our leaders to have enough courage to name and shame this ideology so together we can fight the radical Islamist agenda that has a mandate to destroy our freedoms.
6 Comments
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Thank you very much for the work you do. I will keep sharing your articles with the hope that more people will listen to your wisdom.
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Sharon Kates says:
Excellent! Agree wholeheartedly. Now, since we live in Canada, let’s make sure OUR leaders follow your advice. So far…..?????
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Excellent article !!! Lets go and fight political correctness. This is where the real problem lies.
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I agree with you also. I don’t think the issue is political correctness though. i think its people learning to have constructive goals and meaningful productive conversation. Merely condemning is not enough.
What is it like to grow up in Saudi Arabia? Do 17 year old children know anything else? What is it like to grow up where there are suicide bombings everyday? How about a generation of children growing up in refugee camps or being treated like rubbish when they attempted to find safety from war and extreme poverty?
When they came here, no one was prepared. There should have been a global effort to deal with the refugees. Now the bitterness on both sides. If I was a Muslim growing up in Europe, I would probably be very overwhelmed by the way people felt about Muslims, by the terrorist attacks.
I had high hopes and was very excited about Muslim Reform Movement when it started. I don’t agree though with the direction it went. It is not about Muslim Reform. It doesn’t share how Muslim can be reformed, teaching and guiding, helping the younger generations to learn a tolerant and compassionate path. It never speaks to people participating in the movement. What can they do? How do we come together as a community, organize so we can find strength in numbers.
Enough people are focusing on what’s wrong with Islam. We need someone to lead the people to the Islam of people who practice what your ideas about reform put forward. It will take strong leadership to lead Muslims from these times of tyranny, oppression and violence. To condemn is a requirement. So is the call out to the Muslim community for a mass effort to reject what is wrong with Islam and what needs to change…..for the sake of all people everywhere.
I decided to start blogs that show the positive side. That this Islam exists. I have a blog made of Muslims who live an Islam you call reformed. But I don’t think there is any reason to brand or label this. It is the Path of Mercy and Compassion. Many Muslims in Islam’s entire existence have walked this Path. Let Muslims meet these people.
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And now my condemnation. I feel sick thinking about the way they are attacking children. Attacking children …. innocent children who will forever be left with this horrific memory of the evil that humankind is capable of. It is haunting me so that I feel weighed down by it no matter what I do. These scum have ruined innocence, have tortured pure hearts only to create fear and to prove their point. Islam? No. I refuse to allow them to claim the religion as their own. Shame on them. Daesh!!!!
Violence against other Muslims and non-Muslims….its all evil. Its about the a darkness taking power, not Islam. I will cover all their evil deeds with a good deed. And I trust many Muslims are doing the same. They are rejecting the best they can. The violence that perpetrates more violence often silences the beautiful words of truly faithful Muslims. They are fighting back. I’ve seen that. Pakistan is losing the war.
How can we give Pakistan back to her people? How can we move the enemy out? Grow deeds of compassion and love and it can’t lose. Eventually it will snuff out the ugliness that has intentionally made blood stains where parks once were. Ya Allah! Help us!
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Welcome to Raheel Raza’s Official Website
Great article, Raheel! I agree completely with you
….Let’s start doing something instead of waiting for the next horrific attack on innocents!!