There are Islamic moderates

Many people are dismayed at the seeming power and ubiquity of Islamic extremists, many of which are also fundamentalists. Sometimes one wonders if indeed there is a requirement in Islam to be extremist because one never seems to hear any other viewpoint. It was thus with surprise and delight I read the following in today's Sacramento Bee. I have met Mr. Azeez as he spoke to a forum of the Renaissance Society I attend every Friday. Very personable and reasonable man as you can see from his letter. He defend Islam well but has no tolerance for extremists.

A teddy bear crisis?

Re "Briton guilty of insulting Islam," Nov. 30: As a Muslim, and someone whose first name is Mohamed, I must admit to how dismayed I feel at the Sudanese government's ruling to imprison a British woman for having "allowed" her students to call a teddy bear "Mohamed."

Aside from the fact that there is nothing wrong with calling a toy Mohamed, or that it was the children that chose the name, not the teacher, I feel particularly disgusted that the Sudanese government would use such an insignificant incident as an instrument to ward off internal pressure and discontent at its failing policies that brought the "food basket of the Arab World" to historical records of poverty. Instead of exerting enough effort to put an end to the Darfur crisis, the Bashir government puts a teacher in jail for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohamed! No one insults the prophet of Islam more than Muslims who systematically fail to uphold his good example! Woe to those who keep giving us a bad name!

- Imam M. A. Azeez, Sacramento

SALAM Islamic Center

Cited from the Sacramento Bee, Sunday, Dec 2, 2007