You know, because Islam is the Religion of Peace™
In the days after the recent terror attack in New York City, Paterson mosques fielded death threats, and Muslim Americans were again called to explain the actions of one individual whose violent acts don’t reflect the tenets of their faith.
Having to denounce an act committed in the name of their faith is a double standard, say Muslim leaders, who reluctantly step into that role even as other groups aren’t asked to do the same.
“Every time one of these idiots does something they claim to be doing in whatever religion, our community is forced — there’s a sense of obligation — that we have to come out and condemn it, which I believe is unfair,” said Salah Mustafa, outreach director at the Islamic Center of Passaic County, a mosque in Paterson. “It’s not as if other communities have to condemn these acts.” […]
Some Muslim leaders publicly decried terrorism, including the imam of the Omar Mosque in Paterson, where some neighbors said Saipov had prayed. Other Muslim groups released statements against the attack, saying it was a distortion of their faith.
“If someone is saying ‘Allahu Akbar’ and doing this in the name of Islam, we have to remind people that the vast majority of Muslims regard this as a perversion of Islam,” said James Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, referring to the popular Arabic phrase meaning “God is the greatest.” “I can’t imagine any line of logic that supports the ideology that says killing innocent people is a good thing.”