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In Norway Muslims are Taking a Stand

This is What Rejecting Violence Looks Like

Almost every time a Muslim radical commits an act of violence in the name of their religion, critics of Islam ask why moderate Muslims aren’t lining up to denounce extremism.

But in Oslo, a few hundred miles from where 37-year-old Jewish security guard Dan Uzan was murdered in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week by a 22-year-old Palestinian suspect, moderate Muslims actually are. The Times of Israel reports that more than 600 people have signed up on Facebook to attend a rally and “peace ring” surrounding a synagogue on Bergstien Street in Norway’s capital planned for Saturday.

One group of Muslims in Norway plans to form a “ring of peace” around a synagogue in Oslo on Saturday. On a Facebook page promoting the event, the group explained its motivations. Here’s a translated version of the invite:

Islam is about protecting our brothers and sisters, regardless of which religion they belong to. Islam is about rising above hate and never sinking to the same level as the haters. Islam is about defending each other. Muslims want to show that we deeply deplore all types of hatred of Jews, and that we are there to support them. We will therefore create a human ring around the synagogue on Saturday 21 February. Encourage everyone to come!

It’s a brilliant response to people who paint all Muslims with the same brush. When Muslim radicals attempt to spread hate and terror through acts of violence, commentators like the New York Observer’s Nina Burleigh are quick to to denounce the “barbarism” of Islam and tar the faith’s 1.6 billion followers as either extremists or appeasers “as much a part of the problem as the men in the minarets, medieval termagants obsessed with maintaining power over sheeple’s minds and souls.”


Written by Other98 Team