Muslims defended US, Europe

Eliminating DAESH requires determination

“THE American editor Edward Curtis of The Washington Post defends Muslims and says ‘Tens of thousands of Muslims serve in the US military including the US armed forces in Europe. During the Middle Ages Muslims and Christians in southern Italy and Turkey were fighting against a common enemy’. There was the Ottoman Hungary and Muslims fought bravely in the battle of Warsaw in 1656 for the sake of Poland,” columnist and former Kuwaiti Ambassador wrote for

daily. “In the Crimean War (1853 to 1856) the American Muslims participated in the American War of Independence — slaves or free men, they took part in the war within the Union Army.

“According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs the memorial records of about 5,470 people carry possible Muslim names — for example the word Muhammad is spelt in numerous ways — Muslim Americans who fought in World War I.

“In Europe, the numbers were much higher. Perhaps 400,000 Muslims from the British Empire fought alongside the Allied forces. Tens of thousands fought alongside the French army and in 1926 the Grand Mosque in Paris was dedicated in their honor.

“Muslims also served in the Allied forces during the World War II. One of them was John Omar, a US citizen from Massachusetts who served as a tank soldier in the Battle of Bulge. He received a military badge after being hit by shrapnel. After the war, Omar went to Makkah on a pilgrimage.

“Muslims also served in Vietnam, the Gulf War of 1991 and post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps the most decorated Muslim soldier in US military history was Major James Ahearn, who converted to Islam while serving in Iraq. He received Army Commendation Medals and several other honors. He was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad in 2007.

“Curtis added: ‘There are many Muslims willing to sacrifice their lives for the West, not to harm it.’

“The English writer Stuart Jeffries defends Muslims. He wrote for the Guardian: ‘Look, we will not mention here some of the things that Muslims did to America, because they are impressive. Muslims started with America’s inception. Under the leadership of US Army Chief General George Washington, there were also leaders B. Mohammad, and Yousuf bin Ali and the first president of the United States, Washington, did not oppose the presence of a Muslim in US Army.’

“The heroism of these Muslims was erased by Donald Trump. The Kingdom of Morocco was the first country to recognize America and the Muslims were credited with building America to look what it appears today from the architectural point of view. Thanks to Fazlur Rahman Khan, the American of Bangladeshi origin, who was known as the Einstein of construction engineering.

“It is well known that when President Reagan wanted to repel the Soviet expansion in the rest of the world (according to the Reagan doctrine), any attempt to weaken the Soviets did not find enough money and America was exhausted, it had just ended the Vietnam War. The US administration, along with CIA Director William Casey, studied how to find a way out and it was Saudi Arabia that helped and provided money.

“America benefited from allying with Saudi Arabia and during the reign of Reagan, Saudi Arabia played a major and influential role in the prevention of threats to the security of the peoples.”

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Al-Dawas

“We strongly condemn the cowardly terrorist act at one of the entrances of the 21,000-person capacity Manchester Arena at the end of the concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande, which killed at least 22 people, including children, and wounded 59 others,” columnist and attorney wrote for daily.

“According to newspaper reports the Islamic State or the so-called DAESH has claimed responsibility for the dastardly cowardly crime — the crime committed by a British citizen of Libyan origin. The suspect is in police custody. The terrorism that has shown its ugly face in Manchester, France, Belgium, Germany and Turkey in the past is only an extension of the extremist ideology promoted and practiced by DAESH which feeds on creating divisions and promoting methodical separation of people on religious and ethnical lines.

“The terrorist organizations spare no efforts to penetrate every family, society institutions and the nations with their radical ideology. However, the terrorists have until now been unable to snatch the rights and freedoms of peoples from peace-loving nations.

“The work of the terrorist organization is to feed fuel into the spirit of intellectual conflicts in the Fertile Crescent. The terrorists are prying on simple minded people with their ideology and later transfer them into human bombs.

“The problem here is lone terrorist attacks in Europe cannot be predicted. It is easy for a European, regardless of origin, to quench his/her thirst with extremist ideas broadcast by DAESH and others via the Internet and the social media means and knowingly or unknowingly become time bombs that threaten the security and stability of the world.

“Caution is the need of the hour because terrorists who are desperate will try to find a way to attack civilians and kill peace loving people irrespective of their age, belonging or nationality.

“No such behavior is found in history books, except during the time of the Crusaders and the fundamentalist Inquisition in medieval Europe that murder and destruction was carried out in the name of religion. Later this happened during the reign of the Taleban, DAESH and other extremist groups, which used religion as a platform to make money and promised paradise for the crazy and stupid people based on their narrow-minded religious beliefs.

“The psychological analysis classifies the terrorists as those who kill people because they cannot keep pace with the system, but often look drugged and abnormal preferring to escape from their madness through dirty means — bombing and murder.

“It is obvious they carry out their despicable actions when people are happy celebrating, be it during festivals, Christmas season or New Year. They steal people’s happiness through treachery, treason and guerrilla warfare.

“Those who have lost the sense of happiness can only hate and strive to prevent others from enjoying it. A terrorist is the one who is looking for death in laughter and the singing of an innocent child and the perfect example is what happened in Manchester.

“Just statements from nations denouncing and condemning the terrorist attack will not heal those injured or give them solace because it will take a long time for them to overcome the shock.

“The loss of a dear one is the biggest pain, so the speeches, angry or sympathetic words will not suffice, because the soldiers of Satan on earth (DAESH members) will continue to wipe off the smiles from faces of happy people and work to destabilize the security of nations across the world.

“It is better to build a global coalition to fight DAESH to wipe it from the face of the earth. In my opinion, this requires an agreement between the NATO, Russia and the Arab countries to eliminate this menace through a comprehensive ground war.

“Although fighting terrorism in general as an anarchist and extremist thought that needs to be reformed in books and curricula in the long run, eliminating DAESH requires determination and a firm resolve built around a common decision-making process.”

“(The US President Donald) Trump took care of our feelings during his visit to Riyadh (in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to such an extent we even restricted ourselves to only looking at the face of Trump and the faces of leaders of Muslim nations who were taking instructions from him,” columnist, Dean of Technological Studies College at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAAET) and the Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Heritage Revival Society (IHRS) wrote for

daily. “It is glaring fact that the man is an orator who has an unbelievable power of conviction. We also heard how some leaders from Muslim countries told of their experiences in waging war against terrorism!

“It will not be wrong to ask a question here: ‘If truly Trump and those leaders are this serious about fighting terrorism, why have we failed to curtail incessant attacks by our enemies on our soil?’

“Imagine the president of the most powerful nation in the world standing in front of over fifty leaders from Muslim countries. They were all complaining about a small country devastated by economic embargo a few decades ago, while they stood confused on how to tackle and curb its excesses.

“Definitely, there is a secret behind all this, but the question is what that secret is. It is either those leaders are liars who did not have the intention to face that country or that some of them were conspiring and supporting that country while it attacked us. The truth is both assumptions are correct.”

“In a few days time, thousands of students with dreams and aspirations for an academic future “as they wish and want it to be” will graduate from public secondary education. They are at the threshold of a new stage in their lives, and a crossroad to the future, each one taking the course he/she aspires to. This is the assumption and what is supposed to happen,” wrote for

daily. “However, reality tells otherwise. A student is no longer the one who chooses his/her academic and professional specialization, but the spatial capacity is imposed on the student in any college he enrolls into, even if it was contrary to his aspirations and interests. This is the sad reality that high school graduates have been confronting since a few years.

“The university every year increases the admission rates for some important disciplines for the labor market, forcing our children to join foreign universities, incur all the financial burdens, and travel difficulties and suffer from the weakness of some overseas universities. This has created the phenomenon of “certificate holders” and not “holders of skills.”

“We have edifices in the huge university project under construction which sometimes faces demolition and sometimes fire incidents. That “university city” project is taking forever to finish; they say progress has not exceeded seventy percent so far.

“As for the private universities, they are out of the reach for the children of many low-income earners. Their doors have been opened for internal scholarships to drain the budget of Ministry of Education. And if the doors are shut for the ambitious high school graduates, they turn to the military colleges only to find rules based on “wasta.” Admission seats there are distributed among the quotas of MPs and quotas for the children of senior officers and other senior influential individuals. There is no solace for the graduates who fulfill all the requirements. “This is the sad reality — university students study what they do not want to study, and then years later, we find them working in other specializations with the sole goal of getting a salaried job, where productivity, achievement, and development are not taken into consideration.”

“What happened in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh affirms that the GCC countries are in the forefront in the Middle East. It proves that Saudi Arabia is the focal point of the Islamic world, and the official envoy that can negotiate on behalf of others with strength,” wrote for

daily. “This is especially instructive with the existence of a great leader like King Salman, considering his experience, strength and ability for dialogue in a manner that will ensure accomplishment of the desires of the Arabian Gulf, Arab and Islamic nations. Those countries were all focused on the Riyadh Summit with hopes for a brighter future. This is because the president of the most powerful country in the world might have perfected his plans by making Saudi Arabia his first point of call in his maiden official overseas trip. “This is a proof that Saudi Arabia plays a significant role among the Arabian Gulf, Arab and Islamic nations. The presence of the Two Holy Mosques in that country represents all Muslims on the surface of the earth!

“The new America under the Republicans may be more understanding of the situation in the Arabian Gulf region and its leadership after the woeful failure of the Democrats and the proclaimed Arab Spring.”

— Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli