'Terrorist' Ramadan: 'We Muslims need to get out of our intellectual and social ghettos'

An interesting interview from a man who is supposedly 'the acceptable face of terror'. A few excerpts:

Too much of the internal conversation within the Muslim community at present nurtures a sense of guilt, inadequacy and alienation. "Young people are told: everything you do is wrong - you don't pray, you drink, you aren't modest, you don't behave. They are told that the only way to be a good Muslim is to live in an Islamic society. Since they can't do that, this magnifies their sense of inadequacy and creates an identity crisis. Such young people are easy prey for someone who comes along and says, 'there is a way to purify yourself'. Some of these figures even keep the young people drinking to increase their sense of guilt and make them easier to manipulate."

The alternative is to teach them to develop a critical mind. "On the arts, literature, the way we eat, our sense of humour, the second generation feel close to the non-Muslims they went to school with. That's right. That's the Islamic way. The universality of Islam is shown by the way you can integrate into the local culture. Our young people need to be told, you can dress in European clothes - so long as you respect the principle of modesty. Democracy and pluralism aren't against your Islamic principles. Anything in Western culture that does not contradict the message of Islam can be accepted and integrated."

Comments

[Yakoub]

Salaams

Fine, but there are perhaps one or two things that, to a greater, lesser or complete extent, contradict 'Islam' in the 'West', if Islam claims to stand for justice, that is. Like corporate capitalism and its brothers consumerism and individualism!

Wasalaam

The Muslim Anarchist