Something’s been getting fairly annoying lately. The Terrorism Conversation. Makes me want to give up. As a Muslim, people constantly engage me in either an accusatory or inquisitive manner—or worse, both. Here’s a typical conversation all too familiar to countless Muslims living in the West:

BOB: But you have to admit, you Moslems

are pretty prone to violence.

ABDUL: No, no. You don’t understand.

Muslims are peaceful people. Of the

billion and a half Muslims worldwide,

only a small percentage are hell-bent on

using violence.

BOB:Yeah, but they kill innocent people.

And they call themselves “Moslems.”

They carry out their aggression in the

name of “Islam.” How could you not feel

some responsibility?

ABDUL:Why should I feel responsible for

the crimes of some whackos just because

they claim the same faith as me? They’ve

twisted the teachings of Islam. They’ve

sold out the vision and spirit of a great

religion—that’s not my fault!

BOB:Well, you and your leaders should at

least condemn the violence; condemn the

aggression; condemn the terrorism.

ABDUL: What do you think we’ve all been

doing—especially since 9/11? Every

major Muslim organization, every big

Muslim leader and scholar … heck, even

every single Muslim country on earth has

done nothing but condemn terrorism! Yet

you continue to blame ISLAM and ALL

Muslims for the actions of a radical fringe

element. That’s just not fair.

BOB: Really? Well, why haven’t I ever

heard of all these condemnations?

ABDUL: Gee, that’s a good question …

And so on. But recently I overheard a very interesting conversation along similar lines. It felt like quasi-déjà vu; very familiar, but not quite right. Two guys were talking in the row behind me on an airplane (of all places):

ABDUL: But you have to admit, you

Americans are pretty prone to violence.

BOB: No, no. You don’t understand.

Americans are a peace-loving people. Of

the nearly 300 million people in my

country, only a small percentage is hellbent

on using violence.

ABDUL: Yeah, but that small percentage is

running your government. They invade

countries without the right to do so, and

they end up killing innocent people.

They’re American leaders, and they

carry out their aggression in the name of

“America” and “Freedom and Democracy”—

how could you not feel some

responsibility?

BOB: Why should I feel responsible for

the crimes of my government? I didn’t

vote for Bush. In fact, the majority of

American voters didn’t vote for Bush in

2000, and in 2004 nearly half of them

didn’t support him—and that’s with a

pathetic voter turnout anyway! These

warmongers have twisted the meaning of

Freedom and Democracy; they’ve sold

out the vision and spirit of a great

nation—that’s not my fault!

ABDUL: Well you and like-minded

Americans should at least condemn the

violence, condemn the aggression,

condemn the ridiculous, counterproductive

“War on Terror.”