It is sad and shameful for the American ambassador to be killed and the US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi to be burnt down only 1.5 years after the U.S aviation forces prevented a massacre that the forces of Muammar Gaddafi were planning to execute against the city and its dwellers. It is also sad and shameful that the Egyptians would plant the Al-Qaeda flag on the wall of the American embassy in Cairo on the occasion of the September 11 attacks in response to a harmful movie produced by Copts in the Diaspora in cooperation with an Israeli director, while the American government had absolutely nothing to do with that movie. No one can even think of defending that movie or sympathizing with its producers. The movie calls for strong condemnation since it is based on a blind hatred for Islam and the Muslims. It provokes the Muslims' feelings and insults their sanctities. However, there is a major difference between the events that followed and what protests are supposed to be under whatever pretext. The events that took place in the two Libyan and Egyptian cities represent a purely barbaric action that falls outside the realm of true Islam and that is rejected by all religions and laws. This is a reflection of a sick, totalitarian mind, which assumes that anything taking place in a country is actually taking place under the authorities' direction and support. This was also the case of Denmark when a private Danish newspaper carried offensive caricatures of the Prophet (Peace be upon Him). Then, Danish embassies were attacked and burnt down as if the government was the party behind the publication of those caricatures. There is a major difference between – mainly the western - countries' understanding of public, personal and media freedoms and these countries' adoption of their radical citizens' positions. We must remember that the American government condemned the actions of the radical pastor, Terry Jones, who burnt copies of the Koran in his church. He was also prevented from doing so in public. The same goes for the radical groups who claim to follow Islam and who rely on violence as a means for making their voices heard and for imposing their ideas. Can the Muslims in general and the Arabs in particular accept to be held responsible for the deeds of Al-Qaeda and its likes? And can they accept to be placed in one basket with Osama Bin Laden, Anwar al-Zawahiri or any other radical? Then how can all the Americans and their government, which represents the greatest majority, be held responsible of the actions of the radical few? The harmful movie is based on the same totalitarian idea that represents the force behind the barbarism of Benghazi and Cairo. This film held all the Muslims responsible for the deeds of a few radical ones and tried to pin this radicalism to Islam and its holy book. Those who responded to the movie in Egypt and Libya also held all the Americans responsible for the production and airing of this movie. Even more seriously, the radicals who benefitted from the revolutions of the Arab Spring are trying to impose themselves as a decision making party in defining the directions of the new regimes in their countries. These radicals are ready to revert to the use of weapons and violence in order to consolidate their positions. Thus, they not only represent a threat to the “infidel foreigners" but also to their moderate Muslim compatriots and to the Christian minorities. Their radicalism and intolerance might push the greatest majority to regret their support of the change. During the past decade, Muslims made massive efforts in order to distance Islam from the epithet of terrorism that some people tried to pin on Islam following the Al-Qaeda 2001 crimes. Today, the new regimes in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia have the responsibility of removing that scary image that resulted of the actions of the radical ones. They also have the responsibility of controlling those who are trying to propagate radical and terrorist actions before these actions proliferate. These countries must also prove that they belong to the moderate and open Islam.
