(Washington Post) - Jim Hoagland On July 4, Islamic suicide attackers slaughtered 53 people in a mosque in Quetta, Pakistan. This was no jihad against Zionist oppressors, no blow against American crusaders. These victims were poor Shiite Muslims. This involved Muslims killing Muslims in the name of religion, part and parcel of an expanding civil war within Islam. Those who hate in this way hate much more than us. Historian Bernard Lewis in his book, The Crisis in Islam, points out that the radicals have an entire world to destroy before their apocalyptic design of restoring the Islamic caliphate can be realized. The key to winning the battle for the soul of Islam lies in the mobilization of a revitalized Islamic mainstream that will reassert and protect itself from the extremists.
2003-07-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive