Update: Twitter have restated Hamed’s account. Thank you to all of you who supported him!
Today, Friday November 3rd (CET), Hamed Abdel Samad noted that his twitter account @hamed_samad was deleted without prior notice.
Egyptian-German author and scholar Hamed Abdel-Samad.
Coincidentally, the last post he had shared on Twitter was his Facebook message of
November 1:
If within just one year, hundreds of Christian terrorists carried out acts of terror in more than 50 states, invoking the Bible in doing so, then most media would speak of Christian terrorism without batting an eyelid – and rightfully so. Times Magazine spoke of Buddhist terror, referring to violence against Muslims in Burma. But when the terrorists are Muslims, invoking the Koran, then they refuse to see a connection to Islam.
We do not defame all Muslims when we speak of Islamic terrorism. Not all Muslims put everything into action that is written in the Koran. Some just put into action what feels similar to them. Peaceful humans will choose the peaceful passages, and say, this is the message of the Koran. We like these Muslims, and we do not call them “selective”, but “liberal”, or “moderate”. Violent people invoke the violent passages and say, this is what God expects from us. We do not like these Muslims, and we say they are radical and misunderstand the Koran.
The fact that most Muslims do not commit acts of violence is not thanks to Islam. Islam expects of Muslims to pray five times a day in the Mosque. Very few Muslims do that. Is it due to Islam that they neglect this obligation? Islam demands that Muslims work diligently, not lie at the court, and keep the streets clean. Do all Muslims do accordingly? Islam permits man to marry four women at the same time. Very few Muslims use this permission. Islam legitimizes violence against unbelievers, legitimizes discrimination of religious minorities, and beating of women. The fact that many Muslims do not do any of this is not thanks to Islam, but thanks to the pragmatism and reason of the people who don’t do these things.
It is correct to say that not each single decision and each single deed of a Muslim can be attributed to Islam only, but at the same time, we cannot say: cleanliness, diligence, honesty, polygamy, hatred for unbelievers, violence against women, discrimination of minorities and praying five times a day have nothing to do with Islam!
Terror has got many causes that need to come together so that a person will become a terrorist. The social situation, the political situation in the world, the structure of his personality all play a role in that. But the religion and what it says about Jihad and the unbelievers, and what it promises the martyr after death, are central causes. So why is it defamation to say what we can empirically prove?
Hamed Abdel Samad’s twitter profile, @hamed_samad, as of November 3rd, 2PM CDET.
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