The Tolerance of Sen. John Kerry

A few days ago, the media informed us that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited America’s primary military base in Africa, located in Djibouti, on Wednesday, May 6. In a photograph published by the British newspaper, The Independent, John Kerry appears to be inside a Djiboutian mosque, giving a speech to a group of young men and women about the tolerance of moderate Islam, going on to discuss the situations in Yemen and Somalia.

Has our weakness as Muslims reached such a state that the imperialist leaders of the world come to teach us about our religion? Do we need the Islam that they teach about? They want to teach us an Islam that is limited to the mosque and does not go beyond the rules of ritual purity and ablution, guidelines for women during menstruation and the postpartum period, and funeral prayers — an Islam where no Muslim feels the concerns of his brother or mother. They want an American Islam that has their blessing, which they can promote to satisfy our Arab leaders and Muslims. But what emboldens the leaders of “the enemies of the nation” to enter our mosques and homes to attempt to teach us a new Islam?

These leaders have been emboldened enough to look down on Muslims and Islam, shaming humankind, weakening their souls, and deriding our religion. But the yoke is upon those who carry Islamic ideas, and we have insulted ourselves.

Even though there are many mosques and religious scholars in Arab countries, there is also al-Azhar sponsoring a demonstration by some delinquents who burn, tear and discard the hijab. Before this, al-Azhar sponsored a group of undesirables who burned a number of Islamic books in a mosque.

In other parts of the Arab world, mosques are being destroyed or turned into Shiite mosques, the preachers chased out and killed. In other countries, houses of Allah are bombed with explosive barrels, and religious scholars are chased, arrested and executed.

In other places, faithful preachers are prevented from attending Islamic conferences or Islamic activities, even if it is just a speaking event. The preacher does not direct even a word of blame toward a government official, lest he be accused of turning the grapes of our country into “holy wine” and be deported as a consequence.

These various acts committed against our Islam and against our religious scholars have emboldened John Kerry to enter our mosques and teach us about Islam, and it will embolden others to do even more. So, let us respect our religion, our religious scholars, and our people. God bless Umar bin al-Khattab who said: “We are a nation, which Allah honored with Islam, and if we abandon it, Allah will dishonor us.”