Good article in the WPost on Amr Khaled, who is described as the top ranked televangelist in the Arab world. He recently appeared at an event in Crystal City, Virginia.
A brief sampling of his sermons:
"I feel what 9/11 has done to you. You are all crying aloud: 'This is not Islam. We reject this,' " he said at the appearance sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America. "At the same time, we don't agree with what is happening in Iraq. We feel confusion, pain. . . .
"You came to this country to provide for your families. Do we isolate ourselves from society? Or do we completely assimilate and forget our faith and our background? Do we hate the society we live in?" he asked. "No! The prophet Muhammad taught us kindness, justice, mercy, coexistence with others, that God created us different so that we can get to know one another."
Besides my immediate concerns about the casualties, the biggest fear I felt on 9/11 was not that America would collapse or the like, that was never a possibility. The fear was more that we would be in a situation like the movie "The Siege." The occasional massive attack plus regular ones on the scale of the bombings in Britain, Spain, or Indonesia. For those of us lucky enough to be in the developed world and not a failed state, that hasn't happened. There have not been more attacks on the scale of 9/11. Attempts to achieve that scale haven't been particularly credible. Far too many have been killed in smaller attacks, but governments seem to be increasingly effective in disrupting them.
Moreover, the American homeland haven't been hit again, although our troops certainly have. Some of the credit goes to American intelligence, customs and immigrations officials, and law enforcement. However, the various attacks on the homeland that have been disrupted all seem far more amateur than the equivalent attacks on Europe.
Why?
Because there is not a large population of radicalized American Muslims. As Paul Barrett describes in his book American Islam, the community of Muslims in America is quite diverse but also far less radicalized than the Muslim communities in Europe (for a good discussion of the topic, see Slate's book club). Amr Khaled isn't American, but his message is an example of the forces that have won the day. This is a momentous accomplishment, as even a small minority of radicals can do terrible damage.
Regardless of what the future holds, upholding six years of relative peace has done themselves and the rest of America a great service. For that, I'm quite grateful.
[Update: Redundant sentence trimmed.]
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