A Muslim Who Sides With Jack Bauer Against CAIR

Of course there are not many who would take sides against Jack Bauer--but M. Zuhdi Jasser, the chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, takes on CAIR. Contrary to the typical CAIR whining about negative stereotyping and persecution, Jasser writes that the show features Muslim characters, some of whom are positive while others are negative.

More to the point, he sees 24 Hours as an opportunity and as a potential call to action for Muslims. There have been some instances of discussion.

But the public face of American Muslim activity against terror — and the against the ideology that feeds it — has so far been inadequate. Other than press-release condemnations, there has been virtually no palpable public effort from the greater Muslim community in this regard. If that public movement against Islamism existed, 24’s writers would probably have included it in the story line.

It’s time for hundreds of thousands of Muslims to be not only private but public in their outrage — and to commit themselves to specific, verbal engagement of the militants and their Islamism.

At the same time, Jasser addresses not only individual Muslims but the Muslim organizations as well:

Condemnations by press release and vague fatwas are not enough. We need to create organizations — high-profile, well-funded national organizations and think tanks — which are not afraid to identify al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah by name, and by their mission as the enemies of America.

If Muslim organizations and the American Muslim leadership were seen publicly as creating a national, generational plan to fight Islamism — rather than searching for reasons to claim victimhood — then the issues and complaints surrounding such TV shows would disappear. The way to fight the realities of 24 is to create a Muslim CTU, a deep Muslim counterterrorism ideology and a national action plan for our security.

Mr. Jasser has taken a brave step forward against the current of CAIR of others who are satisfied with claiming the role of the victim. His message is one that is going to have to be repeated many times by different Muslim leaders before it will really sink in and have a result.

And there is not necessarily a lot of time.

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