Arabs angry at impotence in face Koran desecration

[Haddad]

Muslim Arabs asking why their leaders keep mum on alleged 'desecration' of Koran by Americans at Guantanamo.

 

 

By Habib Trabelsi - DUBAI

 

Muslim Arabs on Friday expressed anger, both with Washington and their own leaders, over the alleged desecration of the Koran by Americans at Guantanamo Bay as Palestinians took to the streets in protest.

 

At the Jabaliya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, around 2,000 demonstrators held aloft copies of the Koran and Hamas flags as they marched through the streets in a protest organised by the radical Islamist group.

 

American and Israeli flags were burnt during the demonstration following the main weekly Muslim prayers, while 400 mounted a similar protest in the West Bank city of Hebron.

 

The United States has promised action against soldiers who allegedly defiled copies of the Koran by leaving them in toilet cubicles and even stuffing one down a lavatory to rattle Muslim prisoners being held in Cuba.

 

More than a dozen people have died in Pakistan and Afghanistan during three days of rioting over the alleged incident, with protests continuing Friday.

 

Nizar Rayan, a Hamas political leader, said Palestinian demonstrators were outraged by "the profanation of the Koran by the enemies of God at Guantanamo, and by the Zionist enemies in the prison of occupation".

 

Egypt's Islamist opposition condemned the reports and blamed Arab leaders' impotence for the fact that they arose at all.

 

"The Muslim Brotherhood has been shaken by news of the desecration of the Koran by American interrogators at Guantanamo," the movement's leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef said.

 

The banned but tolerated group "expresses its extreme anger, firmly condemns and deplores this odious and humiliating act, and calls on the American government to publicly apologise".

 

Calling for the toughest punishment to be meted out on the perpetrators, the Brotherhood blamed regional weakness for the disputed event.

 

"If it wasn't for Arabs' paralysis and impotence, these criminals would not have committed this act," it said.

 

One-time US foe Libya condemned the "irresponsible and immoral acts", saying they would likely nourish "terrorism".

 

In Iraq, Sunni and Shiite imams alike spoke out against the alleged desecration in their sermons.

 

"We condemn the desecrations of the Koran carried out by American soldiers at Guantanamo," said Sheikh Abdel Zahra Suyaidi, a follower of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

 

Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmed Abdel Ghafur al-Samarrai complained: "In Guantanamo, the Koran is torn up and thrown in toilets while Muslims don't lift a finger."

 

Saudi Arabia, a staunch US ally but guardian of Islam's holiest places, urged Washington to carry out a speedy investigation and punish those responsible.

 

"(Riyadh) calls on the competent authorities to implement a swift enquiry into the cases," a foreign ministry source said.

 

"If the cases turn out to be true, the Saudi government underlines the necessity of taking dissuasive measures... against those responsible (for the desecration) to prevent its repetition and to respect Muslims' feelings around the world."

 

An editorial in the London-based daily Al-Quds al-Arabi complained that "the Arab world is totally submissive to the United States".

 

"Authorities, clerics and official media only react once they have the green light from Washington. From now on, the Arabs are like a corpse. They will not react, even if Mecca is occupied," the paper said.

 

The director of the London-based Islamic Observatory, self-proclaimed defender of Muslim rights around the world, poured scorn on Arab leaders.

 

"Arab and Muslim rulers are apostates. Their people are scorned, frustrated and tied up," Yasser Serri said.

 

A number of Arab Internet surfers also asked themselves why there had not been a more angry response to the allegations, originally made in US-based magazine Newsweek, outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

 

Saying that similar allegations had been made by Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera last year, a surfer calling himself Osama Amin asked: "Do we think that American media are more credible than the others?"

 

"The Abu Ghraib prison scandal only got widespread attention after American media broadcast the images (of Iraqi prisoners being abused by US troops), while numerous reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross and human rights organisations had already mentioned the violations.

 

"Does the idea of credibility and neutrality always have to be connected with American media and the image of freedom with America?"

 

Source

[Haddad]

I don't know why SomaliaOnline members are mum about this issue. This is serious stuff. This calls for an outrage.

[Xoogsade]

What an embarrassment for all responsible Muslims who are in a position to influence views. Fox News channel was making a mockery of Pakis and Afghans demonstrating when the rest of the muslim world was blase about this. Leaders are important as they represent their people. Once you got leaders like the ones we have today or the aspiring losers who want to be in leadership, we are basically screwed as Muslims.

[Haddad]

Originally posted by Xoogsade:

Leaders are important as they represent their people. Once you got leaders like the ones we have today or the aspiring losers who want to be in leadership, we are basically screwed as Muslims.

Well said.

[Modesty]

Every dog has his day, and we'll get our day, insha'Allah( even though we aren't dogs).

[Haddad]

Originally posted by Modesty:

(even though we aren't dogs).

Of course. I don't believe desecrating the Bible or other holy books could cross a Muslim's mind.