He with the loudest voice...

I often hear educated people in the United States excuse their anti-Muslim views by saying "if the majority of the world's Muslims don't support terrorism, why don't they step up to condemn it?" This argument is bigotry masquerading as reason. Plenty of Muslims condemn terrorism - today I picked up a copy of Al bayan, the newsletter for our university's Muslim Cultural Students Association. At the risk of being ridiculed by their peers, the editors write that they chose to distribute Al Bayan campuswide because they wanted "to give our voice a public position and the power to inform."

What about Asra Nomani, who went to the front of the mosque and for her trouble received threats against her life (in addition to a lucrative career as a writer).

What about Mukhtar Mai?

What about the Iraqi Muslims who hide their Jewish neighbors from state reprisal?

Is this not moral courage? In standing up to the doctrines that insist women belong in the back of the mosque, that Muslims should stay silent, that rape victims should kill themselves, and that Muslims should terrorize Jews, these people resist. In doing so they risk their lives. Men called Mukhtar in the middle of the night threatening to repeat the gang-rape that devastated her life. Others told Nomani they would slaughter her "halal-style."

Do these acts of moral courage count for nothing? In resisting the terrorism that controls their daily lives, aren't these people defying terrorism? Aren't they attempting to recreate a peaceful Islam in the modern world?

If all commentators who said "Muslims should speak up" got a midnight call threatening to slit their throats as thanks for expressing their beliefs, how many would still speak up?

By making those comments, we demean the bravery of Muslims all over the world, every day, who risk everything they have and more to make the world better for all of us.