To The President - Quit Condescending And Listen

According to The Wall Street Journal the summit our President should have sponsored was held in Mecca, Islam's most holy city.  Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb, a grand Imam from Cairo, gathered some 700 moderate Muslim clerics from several countries to appeal for combating the escalation of extremist violence.

He recognizes, as have other Egyptians including their President Al Sisi, that this interpretation is what is causing strained ties with the rest of the world.  To put it mildly.

It is an internal struggle for the heart and soul of Islam and if it is recognized and so stated by men such as these who our we to disagree?  The problem they must resolve is changing the mind set of their more radical members who look at their own people who don't believe as they do need to be destroyed.

Al-Tayeb even went so far as to say those who burned the Jordanian pilot alive are the ones who deserve the Quranic punishment of death or crucifixion for being enemies of God and the prophet. He even suggested there is a need for a joint Arab military force to combat the extremism.  He has an uphill battle considering the fear that grips the Muslim world.

To say that ISIS has nothing to do with Islam and that by calling them Islamic Extremists insults moderate Muslims is just not true. It does go to show that timidity creates vacuums that are filled by those seeking weakness for an opportunity to further their own agendas.

As as example as stated in another Journal article,  the latest issue of Daibiq, the Islamic State's online English magazine, has an article that explains Islam is not a religion of peace but rather a religion of the sword.  It boiled down to interpretation much as Christians of the world take different interpretations of the Bible yet still consider themselves Christian.

Yes, it is complex.  It is also Islam.   It is time to call it what it is and do what is necessary to help the moderate Islams with the task they face.  That is to arm those who are willing to fight and pick up the slack where it is needed to annihilate the barbarians who at this point are winning the psychological war with physical brutality.

This President is so sure of his superior knowledge of all things mortal I know he will not admit that those who are Islam just may know more about themselves than he does.  I also know he will do nothing to help, he will only appease those who will make matters worse.  The Iranians.  They who are more aligned with the thinking of ISIS than of the West.

 I can only take heart that some clerics and Arab leaders are beginning to find their voice.  I grieve, however, for all those who are yet to die in the most inhumane of manners. This President and those he would call allies, though many of them take issue with that, have no claim to moral clarity.  It is most un-American.