A Little Tolerance, Please?

Imam Hassen Chalghoumi


The two below articles describe disturbing events in Egypt and Paris. In Egypt, Christians are being attacked, while in Paris, an imam who was trying to bring peace and good relations between Muslims and Jews has been attacked and threatened with death by co-religionists who don't share his ideas of peace and tolerance.

liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/01/26/christian-in-egypt-they-try-to-kill-us/

http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/26/1010340/islamic-extremists-threaten-jewish-friendly-imam

The Paris incident is of particular importance to me because in the US, there are many inter-faith events between Muslims, Jews and Christians. In the past two years, I have attended a couple of such events, mostly out of curiosity and also because I wanted to pose some hard questions to the imams representing Islam. While I applaud the idea and sentiment behind such events, I am a little suspicious of the motives of the Muslim contingents-not all certainly- but some-given the Islamic concept of taqqiya (deception). One of the aforementioned imams I encountered has a rather checkered profile when it comes to the idea of moderation. On both occasions, I was less than satisfied with the responses I got to my questions.

That being said, while I know nothing of the Paris imam in question, if he is truly interested in building bridges, then he deserves our support-especially when he is confronted with the hateful elements. This strikes me as similar to other Muslims-and ex-Muslims-who have spoken out against radicalism, terror and hate at great risk to their lives.

These two stories merit the attention of CAIR, that US-based group that is always ready to pounce on any anti-Muslim incident-real or manufactured. I have commented on a few such incidents in the US and expressed concern. One of them turned out to be a hoax, the second appears to be a hoax and the latest (in southern California) is unsolved (the defacement of an Islamic display during the recent holidays).

The fact of the matter is that in spite of everything that is going on, Americans have been remarkably tolerant toward our Muslim neighbors-with a few exceptions. We should continue to do so, but tolerance is a two-way street. It appears that there is a shortage of tolerance in Egypt and Paris.