Moderate Muslims, Nigerians protest Abdullmutallab

Separate groups of Muslims and Nigerians of different faiths gathered outside the federal courthouse in Detroit today as Umar Farouk Abdullmutallab — the now-infamous underwear bomber — was arraigned inside. They were there to send a message to the world and take a strong stand against terrorism and for the United States of America. The Detroit Free Press reports:

“Nigerians are against terrorism,” read a sign held by Ogunyinka Ogunleye, 59, of Detroit, a native of Nigeria standing outside the federal courthouse in Detroit.

“We all support America,” Ogunleye said. “God bless America…we are ready to go against anyone who does” terrorism acts…

Down the block were about a dozen Muslim protesters led by Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni. They held up signs that read, “Not in the Name of Islam,” “We are Americans,” and “Islam is Against Terrorism.”

“We are here to send a message,” Moughni said. “We won’t let anyone hijack our religion.”

These kinds of protests are very, very important. They serve as a reminder that mutual religious or ethnic identification does not mean a shared ideology. The religion of Islam is vast and varied, so much so that one might reasonably say that there is not one Islam but many Islams (just as there are many Christianities, I would argue).

The Islam of Osama Bin Laden is not the same as the Islam of Muqtedar Khan, who used to teach at Adrian University, or Louay Safi, who taught at Wayne State University. There are voices for reform and enlightenment in Islam, just as there are hundreds of thousands of loyal American Muslims all over the country — including right here in Michigan, where we have the nation’s largest Arab and Muslim population.

Radical Islam is indeed a barbaric ideology. But it is good to remember that radical Islam is considered radical precisely because it is not mainstream thought in the Muslim world. The more often we are reminded of that, especially from within the Muslim community itself, the better equipped we will be to make the important distinctions necessary to fighting against radical Islam without pushing more people in its direction.