MANY JORDANIANS in Washington are furious about what they consider as “ a systematic distortion of our image, both as Arabs and as Moslems.” They admit that the Arab stereotype in the American mind has been negative for centuries, while the Islamic one has been worse since the Crusades. But late King Hussein tried to rectify that pitfall by an attempt to change attitudes to the Arabs , to eradicate misconceptions about Islam, and to project a new image of the Arab Moslems as a civilized society, adhering to the ethical values of the twenty first century, abiding by the moral criteria of a monotheistic religion that advocates the dictum of tolerance, humanity, and love for the Almighty who considers all peoples as his sons : should be protected, respected, feel the grace of mercy, and be taken care of. Huge efforts were exerted to find a remedy for the negative image of Arabs and Moslems in the American and European mind. Researchers were paid by tens of millions of dollars to find ways to create a new image, and to deconstruct the subliminal negative ones. But what happened to U. S. journalist James Wright Foley, a few days ago, and what will happen to his colleague Stevent Sotloff soon, will project the worst image about Arabs and Moslems. Such heinous acts will depict our peoples as blood thirsty barbarians, at war with the ethos of humanity and civilization, and living in a sub-animal code of values. The Islamic State of Baghdadi which beheaded in a heinous way the American journalist James Wright Foley is the same group which expelled on 19th of July 2014 twelve thousand Christians from their ancestral homes in Mosul, where they have been living for millennia of years. The savagery by which those Christians were treated by the IS was more brutal than the cruelty that Israel served the Arab Palestinians in 1948. Using as a cover the name of Islam, the IS managed to force 650.000 Iraqis of the Yazidi religious sect to flee their hometown in Nineveh, and other village communities. But the mullah of IS issued his order to keep one thousand of the Yazdi young girls, and sell them to his fighters for $145 each in a newly revived form of slavery. The name of our Islam was used to justify those abominable crimes against American journalists, Mosul Christians, and Iraqi Yazidis. I was surprised that none of our top five Islamic authorities in Jordan came out openly to condemn those acts of barbarism committed in Mosul, using the name of Islam. The Lebanese Cardinals took the first flight to Irbil, Kurdistan, to express solidarity and support to the expelled Christians. But the Islamic highest authorities in Jordan have not issued one statement of condemnation to the way the name of Islam is being used to justify crimes, barbarism and degradation. Jordanians in Washington have all legitimate reasons to feel aghast at the distortion of our image as Arabs and Muslims. And how many years are needed to convince the world that the Arab nation is still civilized even though it has its Baghdadis. END Greetings and my best personal regards to you, Musa. ---------------- Dr Musa A Keilani, Editor-in-Chief, Al Urdon Newspaper, Post Office Box : 815414/11180, Jebel Amman, Amman - Jordan. Telephone :(+9626) 5 624 655. Fax :(+9626) 5 624 707. Email Address musakeilani@gmail
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 06:57:44 +0000
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