Double standard, indeed

Muslims have been censured for their double standards in handling criticism; specifically, a Duke facebook.com group called "Campus Jihad for Allah" (a spoof of another college religious organization, Campus Crusade for Christ) was cited ("Double standards," March 20). The group has been used to rant against Muslims on a variety of global and even local events. If critics spend more time talking to Muslims instead of "researching" on facebook.com, they might learn why Muslim sensibilities might be offended by cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist or how Mohammed Taheri-Azar's rampage through UNC was the act of a deranged individual, not some fanatical group. They might also learn that there were Muslims, many of them Americans, with families of their own who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. But even with facebook.com stalking, they could easily discover that the "Campus Jihad for Allah" group was founded by a non-Muslim and almost all of its members are non-Muslims, as well. If anything, Muslims should be the ones most offended by this and should be pointing fingers at others while berating "Christian/Jewish" double standards.

If you want to continue to listen to ill-informed diatribes from people who rely on facebook.com as a platform to discuss religious communities and global politics, listen to such critics. If you want to actually learn about Islam and what it's followers believe and how they feel about meaningful issues, then talk to Muslims themselves. The Duke Muslim Student Association is open to anyone who wishes to learn more about Islam and Muslims.

Those critics have my personal invitation.

Yousef Mian

Trinity '06