Why won't they apologize?
As I suspected, no apology for the insulting of Jordanian Christians seems to be forthcoming from the IAF. Obviously, this in itself is another statement to be added to the original. The IAF has decided that this is not needed. Why won't they apologize? I have no answer, but these are some potential candidates:
1- Nobody has made a fuss about it, and so maybe everybody will just forget about it. This is partially true, although Nahid Hattar today took them to task over the legitimization of overt bigotry. An apology without massive campaign would be a lot more face saving than an apology with such a campaign.
2- They do actually believe that Arab Christians don't deserve respect as citizens, and should be treated as ahl il dhima. Thus, their earlier suggestion that they would have Christians on their electoral slates was just a ploy, to hide their true intentions.
3- Since they are the self-proclaimed standard bearers of Islam, they believe that everything the say must be the TRUTH, and thus any admission of guilt would weaken Islam. This type of pathology exists in our culture, even when God is not invoked. This type of paradox is precisely why modernists (since the early establishment of the Islamic state) believe that religion has no place in politics.
These are the only reasons that I can think of. Whatever the answer is, it should provoke even more questions. Anybody care to comment?
Labels: Islamists
posted by Khalaf @ 5:09 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Hamzeh: I hope that is the case, although I read it differently. It is clear that Abu Fares is a bigot, both from his statement and from his behavior. The question is whether the rest of the IAF agree with him or are embarrassed by him. The fact that no explination is forthcoming, and that he has not been rebuked, suggests that they agree with him, I am afraid.
It is the silence that speaks volumes. Apart from the respectful folk at jp (most anyway), I don't think many Muslims have truly considered how difficult it is to live under those unspoken affirmations add to the unspoken acceptence of 'dhima'.
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