The immediate aftermath of the London terrorist bombings resulted in two rather predictable upshots.
The Brits made good on their reputation for indomitable spirit. That was a given. Muslims of real influence and impact weren’t heard from. That was a shame.
To be sure, there were Muslim expressions of outrage, both in Britain and around the globe, including here, but these tended to be from the glib, chamber-of-commerce types or via letters to the editor. From those who don’t speak for the impressionable, volatile Arab street.
What were needed were clerics with clout, megaphone – metaphorical or otherwise — in hand, demanding time on Al-Jazeera and CNN.
And then using it to denounce in the strongest possible language all Islamaniacs who can justify any atrocity against any “infidel” of their defining — and targeting. And condemn in the harshest tones those who obscenely regard innocent bystanders as so much strategic leverage. And zealously exhort Muslim communities to rat out their apostate, homicidal vermin in the name of Allah and Muhammad. And delegitimize the perverted, jihadi death-wish mindset that festers on.
And finally – and defiantly — issue a fatwa damning Osama bin Laden. If necessary, redirect the one previously aimed at Salman Rushdie.
And after saying all that to the world — i.e., the West – then saying it again where it really matters. In the mosque. From the Middle East to “Eurabia” to North America. Or is it asking too much for religious and moral leaders to deplore mass murder and unconscionable barbarity?