veiled4allah: quote of the day

But even if you are right and it doesn't make any difference to the enemy one way or the other, why shouldn't we take the high road even if we do it unilaterally? It's who we are. It's who we have been, or strived to be, for generations. The United States has been a strong, unwavering advocate for human rights and the rule of law for as long as you and I have been alive. I'm not ready to throw in the towel on that just because we are in a battle with some terrible people. In fact, in a war like this, when we are tempted to respond in kind, we must hold ever more dearly to the values that make us Americans. Torture, or "cruel, inhuman or degrading" conduct, are not part of our national character.

It makes me depressed and angry when I see Muslims who commit wrongs to further their causes. They should remember that any victory they might gain in the world that was not by means that God has allowed will be made void by God on Judgment Day, and that is no victory at all but the ultimate loss. The only way to gain true victory is to obey the limits that God has set. Even if a people have been wronged, they need to seek restitution in the right way and not commit further wrongs themselves.

Whenever a Muslim complains about things like this, the common reaction is "Muslims did such-and-such thing that's even worse". First, this attitude doesn't really make sense. It's OK to do something wrong, because other people do worse things? That's the standard we judge by now, "at least we're not worse than those people we hate"? No, if we aim to be a good people, we should have certain objective standards that we hold to, no matter what other people are doing. If disrespecting someone's place of worship is wrong, then it's always wrong, it doesn't become OK because it's Americans doing it, or because some other people are doing something worse. If it's wrong, we shouldn't be doing it, period.