A Muslim, but not a foe

[ygalg]

Op-ed: Muslim citizen urges Israelis to refrain from generalizations, says not all Muslims are enemies
Aiman Sousha

I am a gentile, and a carrier of that cursed disease known as Islam, as radio and television personality Avri Gilad referred to it last week. Yet my community arrived in this land before the state was established and never showed anti-Israeli characteristics. For the most part, regardless of the reason, it stood by you. The crude generalizations whereby Muslims carry a disease hurt me too.

In third grade I met legendary songwriter Naomi Shemer, may she rest in peace. She arrived at our school for a visit and addressed our questions with great seriousness. I was so impressed that I started to love the Hebrew language.

Naomi Shemer passed away some years ago and currently rests in the Kinneret cemetery. Every few weeks, because of the proximity to my area of residence, I happen to drive through the Kinneret junction. Every time, the cemetery takes me back to third grade, to the meeting, and to the question I asked her (I don’t remember what it was.) She maintained such a serious facial expression, yet at the same time was lovely and charming in that innocent meeting with the children, all of them non-Jews.

I am a gentile among you, but I speak your language and swim well in the local swamp. I stand in line just like you, get annoyed, honk, and then relax. I am familiar with the smell of taxi fumes on a busy Tel Aviv street and would be able to drive you to any corner of this country. My mailbox gets filled every week with the same bills and taxes you pay, without a non-Jew discount.

I am a gentile among you, but alongside the many drawbacks, I possess a small advantage: I know you better than you know me, and possibly better than you know yourself. I read and absorb poems by Yona Wallach and by Mahmoud Darwish Saturday morning on my balcony, with coffee and a local chocolate spread, not the Swiss kind.

I never hurt anyone
The Broadcasting Authority’s collection department nags me too, and I too travel overseas on occasion, when the economic situation allows me to do so. I know your tanks and your jets, the Bible and the Passover Seder – not because of a “know thy enemy” attitude, heaven forbid, as you must suspect, but rather, because of the simple and innocent fact that I’ve been living among you and within you for many years now.

I am a gentile among you, yet a little different: I, just like the other members of the Circassian community in Israel, am Muslim. I was born this way and will remain this way. I never asked for a thing except for a normative life: I never sought a plot of land, or Jerusalem, or Jaffa. I most certainly never sought to drive you to the sea.

I have never hurt anyone, snitched, or fought against you. If one of our members stole, assaulted, or raped, he did it because of the lowly person he is, not because of his religion. I am not naïve and I know that you too, just like me, carry and die of the very same diseases we die of.

The difference between the words “generalization” and “acceptance” in Hebrew is a small one, only one letter (Hachlala and Hachala). Naomi Shemer, of blessed memory, was able to recognize it in a very humane way, regardless of her views. She knew how to spot innocence and appreciated it, while completely shunning the possibility of generalizing; because generalizing, Mr. Gilad, is the pseudo-mathematic approach of the fools and smartasses.

http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-4244572,00.html

[CuteCoot]

That's an interesting perspective, sobering to read.

[pr126]

Ah, makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

NO!

He is a Muslim by name only. His sentiments would not survive for long 10 miles east or west.

He is a carrier, but nothing stopping him to get "cured" from this "disease". Religion is a choice, not a genetic defect.

I have never hurt anyone, snitched, or fought against you. If one of our members stole, assaulted, or raped, he did it because of the lowly person he is, not because of his religion.

What nonsense! His religion commands him to fight, rape an steal from the Jew. Does he know what Islam teaches? Did he read the Quran 5:82?
He can speak for himself as an individual, but he is not qualified to speak on behalf of Islam, or Muslims.

Read Anecdotal Islam.

[piscohot]

I am a gentile, and a carrier of that cursed disease known as Islam

[enceladus]

(snip)
I was born this way and will remain this way.

That is a choice. No-one has to remain Muslim if they don't want to be.

If one of our members stole, assaulted, or raped, he did it because of the lowly person he is, not because of his religion.

I disagree very strongly. Islam encourages that kind of behaviour.

As far as I'm concerned, this article is just another bit of taqiyya.
- enceladus

[marduk]

From what I can find, Circassian means a person from the Caucasus region, ie: a
"Caucasian". So I must wonder what a Caucasian is doing following the disgusting Arab who called himself Muhammad (real name Qatham, the damaged one, ie; brain damaged). Oh, I get it. He wants to have the benefits of being able to mingle with all those Muslims he grew up with and knows very well that they will kill him the second he tells them he's quitting Islam. What a spineless weasel. "Oh, I'm not like the OTHER Muslims, I don't really do as Muhammad did because that would be evil but I still refuse to leave his made up religion and stop calling myself a Muslim". It's very simple, if you call yourself a Muslim then you are as bad as Muhammad himself, meaning you are worse than Hitler, who didn't bring God in to justify his evil deeds. Doesn't matter if you actually do what Muhammad told you to or not, by accepting him as a Prophet you have shown yourself to be as bad as him, because Prophets don't do any one of the horrible things he did and they damn sure don't say that God okayed it. Saying that Muhammad was a Prophet of God is in itself evil. Therefore, if you call yourself a Muslim you are evil, period, even if you don't kill even one itty-bitty Unbeliever or rape one itty-bitty widow of the Unbeliever you just killed or sell even one of their children into slavery. You are still a Muhammad loving piece of filth, possibly the lowest form of life on earth.

[Jimi]

Most Muslims are not threats but the ones that make the most noise are. And the non violent Muslims are involved in the violence by not condemning it.

[antineoETC]

Most Muslims are not threats but the ones that make the most noise are. And the non violent Muslims are involved in the violence by not condemning it.

Would you rather they denounced violence when they don't really mean it?

[ringmaster]

...............................

I disagree very strongly. Islam encourages that kind of behaviour.

As far as I'm concerned, this article is just another bit of taqiyya.
- enceladus

Exactly.

Game, set & match.

[ringmaster]

That's an interesting perspective, sobering to read.

There is nothing interesting about what that guy says. It's an attempt at deception......nothing more and nothing less.