ramabriga

'A clash of perceptions, not civilisations'
By Imam Feisal Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative.

09/06/2008

Today in Malaysia, representatives from the West and the Muslim world will meet to discuss what
many consider the seminal issue of global concern – the supposed “Clash of Civilizations”.

We all see symptoms of the divide between the Muslim and Western worlds but many struggle to
understand it. Some say we are indeed locked in a “Clash of Civilizations”; others attribute
differences between societies to little more than a series of misunderstandings. How can we
make sense of problems that we observe so that we may try to solve them?

In Kuala Lumpur today and tomorrow, religious scholars, academics and government and business
leaders will try to do just that. By defining the breach in perceptions that exists on both
sides, they will lay the foundation for bridging the gap.

Some might ask: how can such a bridge be built when so much violence, protest and
misunderstanding seem to dominate headlines on both sides of the Muslim-West seam?

To start, let’s be clear in asserting that dialogue can take place. What we have today is much
less a “Clash of Civilizations” than a clash of perceptions. Little about our cultures,
religions or ways of life—though these are certainly different—suggests coexistence to be
impossible; rather, it is our perception of this impossibility that drives discord.

The greatest misunderstanding, therefore, is that we imagine the problems that separate the
Muslim and Western worlds to be larger and more formidable than they actually are.

Some in the Muslim World, for example, perceive Western military invention on their soil as a
vestige of a malignant narrative stretching from the Crusades to the era of colonialism,
whereas many Westerners view current events, such as the American invasion of Afghanistan,
strictly in terms of a struggle against international terrorism.

That militants often justify acts of violence with Islamic vocabulary only distances Muslims
and Westerners from mutual understanding.

It is the militant extremists of every creed, in fact, who bear the greatest responsibility for
exacerbating negative perceptions. The atrocities of Christian and Jewish extremism should be
on display alongside those perpetrated by their Muslim counterparts: from the Ku Klux Klan to
Baruch Goldstein to September 11th, religious fanatics of all faiths perpetrate violence that
aggravates intercultural tensions and widens the perception gap.

Incorrect perceptions in the West about Muslims need fixing too, including the oft-heard charge
that Muslims categorically practice violence and abuse women. As we know, however,
Muslim-majority countries are more tolerant and diverse than many in the West suppose.

The impressive plurality of ethnicities, languages, beliefs and opinions among today’s
population of more than 1.2 billion Muslims does more than validate the Prophet’s tradition
that “Differences of opinion in my community are a blessing”—it puts to rest the notion that
Muslims are a homogenous and insidious group, naturally opposed to dissent from within or without.

Issues of perception are key in debunking the sense that cultures are clashing. Lately, it has
become clear just how carefully religious scholars, politicians and commentators must choose
their language to avoid making the problem worse.

To illustrate, the current US Presidential election has seen both John McCain and Barack Obama
distance themselves from former spiritual guides—Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who famously blamed
the US for the September 11th terrorist attacks and Reverend Rod Parsley, the notorious defamer
of Islam.

Though both candidates have rightly disavowed such comments, they recognize that more work
still needs to be done, and have sent representatives to Kuala Lumpur to help repair the damage
to the public’s perception of the Muslim-West divide.

Yes, there is certainly a divide, a set of real problems that often fan the embers of
misunderstanding until they flame up into something far more sinister and threatening. But the
breach exists only because we have created it through government policies, academic discourses,
media relations and other interactions that feature pessimistic rhetoric. Regrettably, enough
leaders from all walks have spent so much time brooding on the factuality of the Muslim-West
divide that many no longer consider the gap bridgeable.

We can indeed bridge this gap. What we need first, however, is to measure its width so that our
engineering won’t go to waste. In Kuala Lumpur, for the first time ever, practical-minded
leaders will meet to begin this task by setting down a concrete definition for the divide, to
be encased in the “Kuala Lumpur Accord.”

Then will they will tackle the issue of how to construct positive policy, academic and media
initiatives that will help future leaders span the gulf of false perception.

Story from Telegraph News:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2096913/%27A-clash-of-perceptions%2C-not-civilisations%27.html


** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

simple_language

Do not feed the Muslim troll. The troll (Faris Jawad) emigrated from
southern India to Hamilton, Canada, where he makes a living as a
computer programmer. The troll uses many names including: Ramabriga,
ourfreedomandliberty@lycos.com, Cosmic programmer,
visualseeplus@yahoo.com, LeBlanc, Islamaphobia, Yaako Warrior,
globalcheckup@yahoo.ca, whileyouslept@live.ca, Matt, Anti-Muslim
Bigots, V-for-Vendicar, fruitella, Zionism equal Racism, The Chemical
Oil Nazi, LORD RAMA RANTER, Muslim With Mission, Wayne, Ian Balchin,
Qahir Al-Ashrar, Venkataraman the Biiiig Hindu, Liu Yan, ISLAMOPHOBIA,
Möbius Pretzel, Buddy III, Mujahid, V i v a P a l e s t i n e!,
Burhan, Farid Ahmed, Kope, Death to Israel..Israel has no Right to
Exist, Franko Pizza, rick murphy, rich murphy, ISLAM - THE SOLUTION OF
MODERN PROBLEMS, Faris Jawad, Sabastawi, The Founding Church, Ilan
Ramon: Kike Lost in Space. Proudly serving Islam and al Quds, Katrina,
Ahura Mazda, TROLLS HUNTER, Kayid Al-Kuffar, Firnando, R Geovani,
Blondes Gaulloises, Zimbawi, Muslims Always Victorious, Islam Will
Replace Collapsing Amerikan Empire, Muslims Are Good Folks, Katucha,
katucha is the zionists worst nightmare, We are Muslims, and we are
extremely proud of it, Born To Serve Islam, All praise is due to Allah
Lord of the Worlds, the Owner of all of the creation, Ardalan
Keykavoussi, Tommy Davis, LORD RAMA. (The 19 terrorists who attacked
our nation on September 11, 2001 used a total of 364 aliases.)

In the Name of Allah Most Perverted and Vile, Lord of the wicked: May
the Blessings of Satan be upon His messenger, Muhammad (Piss be Upon
Him), his family, his companions, and his evil followers.

The word kuffar is as pejorative as the word nigger. It is the
favorite Muslim word to describe a non-Muslim. Muslims broke world
records of genocide (270 million victims), slavery, religiously
sanctioned ****, abuse of human rights, and prohibition of scientific
inquiry. Islam forbids Muslim emigration to the lands of the infidels
because a Muslim minority cannot enslave the infidel majority. Despite
this prohibition Muslims emigrate to the West, not as migrants, but as
conquerors. They live in sharia mini-states and expand these mini-
states by terrorizing infidel neighbors and driving them out. Any
society not willing to subjugate itself to Islamic authority is,
according to Muslims, in a state of war, or Dar Al-Harb, with Islam.
Arabic proverb says "first comes Saturday, then Sunday." It means that
Arabs are going to exterminate Jews before they exterminate
Christians. It also means that Israel is the first line of defense
against Islam. Islam, like cancer, has the sole purpose of making more
of itself. It will kill our civilization unless it is cut, poisoned,
and radiated into remission.

“I have been made victorious with terror.” - Muhammad (according to
Bukhari: 4.52.220)

In a poll taken for the Davos World Economic Forum, stunning numbers
of Europeans fear a "threat" from Muslims with whom they "interact":
79 percent of Danes, 67 percent of Italians, 68 percent of Spaniards,
65 percent of Swedes and 59 percent of Belgians. source:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0408/blankley042308.php3?printer_friendly

Europe’s Muslim population is set to increase from around 13% today to
between 22% and 37% of the population by 2025. source:
http://news.scotsman.com/europeanunion/CIA-gives-grim-warning-on.2595505.jp

The average European couple now has fewer than 1.4 babies, compared to
3.6 babies born to the average Muslim immigrant couple in Europe.
Across Western Europe 16 to 20 percent of babies are being born into
Muslim families… By 2025, one-third of all European children will be
born to Muslims… In Italy, 95% of all rapists are Muslims. Eighty-five
percent of all murderers are Muslims… France will have a Muslim
majority in less than 25 years! Another telling statistic is that
although the Muslims are 12% of France's population, 70 percent of a
total of 60,775 prisoners in France are Muslims! All of France's urban
suburbs are being roamed by Muslim black African or Arabic gangs… A
very high proportion of French Muslims are in the underclass, that
segment of the population that relies not so much on education and
work as on welfare and predatory activities. In fact, over one
thousand Muslim neighborhoods are under monitoring throughout France.
Seven hundred of those Muslim neighborhoods are listed as "violent"
and nearly 400 hundred are listed as "very violent." Violence ranges
from **** (95% of rapists are Muslim), murder (85% of murderers are
Muslim), theft and looting of cars (58% committed by Muslims) and
street fighting to assault on teachers and civil servants… source:
http://www.masada2000.org/islam.html

"Like children playing with dynamite, Western intellectuals,
journalists, and diplomats fantasize that they are achieving results
in the Middle East with their words, promises, apologies, money, and
concessions. Yet how can such innocents cope… with polities and
societies whose basic ruling ethos is that of the serial killer?… Can
anyone really expect a stable society capable of progress in Pakistan
when a large majority of the population expresses admiration for Usama
bin Ladin? And what about the Saudi system where, as one local writer
put it, the big Usama put into practice what the little Usama learned
in a Saudi school?… The radical forces in the region are not expecting
to retain or gain power by negotiating, compromising, or being better
understood. They believe they are going to shoot their way into power
or, just as good, accept the surrender of those they have intimidated.
That is why so much of the Western ****ysis and strategies for dealing
with the region are a bad joke." - Barry Rubin, source:
http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3952&cid=6&sid=20

"Europe is being targeted for deliberate colonization by Muslim
states, and with coordinated efforts aimed at our Islamization and the
elimination of our freedoms. We are being subject to a foreign
invasion, and aiding and abetting a foreign invasion in any way
constitutes treason. If non-Europeans have the right to resist
colonization and desire self-determination then Europeans have that
right, too. And we intend to exercise it." - "Fjordman" source:
http://www.islam-watch.org/Fjordman/European-Declaration-Independence.htm

It is Islamic violence which threatens Holland and all of Europe.
Exactly as in the 1930s, it is the weakness of European leaders which
allows the threat to grow. Just as the League of Nations refused to
stand up to fascism in pre-WW2 Europe, the United Nations grovels
before Islam today. source: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2414

"There does not exist an identifiable body of Muslims, substantive in
number or an outright majority, who could be described as "moderate"
by their repudiation of Muslim extremists. Violence has been an
integral part of Muslim history, irrespective of whether it is
sanctioned by Islam, and Muslims who unhesitatingly use violence to
advance their political ambitions have created a climate within their
faith culture that any Muslim who questions such practice is then
deemed apostate and subject to harm. Consequently, what might pass for
"moderate" Muslims, the large number of Muslims unaccounted for as to
what they think, in practical terms constitute a forest within which
extremists are incubated, nurtured, given ideological and material
support, and to which they return for sanctuary." - Salim Mansur

"Terrorism is not the enemy. The enemy is Islam… For example, if
someone is throwing rotten eggs at you, it is not the “rotten eggs”
but rather the “person” throwing them who is the enemy… Take an atomic
bomb, write the letters R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N on it, and we, gullible
Americans, will welcome it as a religion… The militant Muslim is the
person cutting the head off the infidel while the moderate Muslim
holds the victim's feet… History proves that both militant and
moderate Muslims are invaders working as a team to conquer America…
The war cannot be won unless we clearly identify the enemy as Islam,
and the American government makes a formal declaration of war against
the Religion of Islam." - "Martel Sobieskey" source:
http://www.news.faithfreedom.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1646

"A Muslim apostate once suggested to me a litmus test for Westerners
who believe that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance: try
making that point on a street corner in Ramallah, or Riyadh, or
Islamabad, or anywhere in the Muslim world. He assured me you wouldn't
live five minutes." source: http://citizenwarrior2.blogspot.com/2007/10/taqiyya-religious-deception.html

Young Talib beheads Ghulam Nabi: http://tinyurl.com/2rb2e3

Latest offerings from the religion of peace: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

fustigator

Vitae forma vocatur Ramabriga <Ramabriga@gmail.com>, die Sun, 08 Jun
2008 22:02:04 -0500, in littera
<4e0a4$484c9d2c$19413@news.teranews.com> in foro
soc.culture.netherlands(et aliis) vere scripsit quod sequitur:

[....]
Keep <soc.culture.netherlands> out of this discussion since it has
nothing to do with the Netherlands
--
Fusti

cory bhreckan

Killfile him like the rest of us. Spamming s.c.s won't help your cause.


--
"For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed." - William Topaz McGonagall

conwaycaine

The Dutch sure are a grumpy lot.