Muslims must solve their own problem of terrorism

Aijaz Zaka Syed, opinion editor at Khaleej Times , Dubai, argues that Muslims must now act to weed out terrorism. If even Muslims themselves begin to get fed up with Arabs and Islam, you cannot blame non-Muslims for being negative about Islam, Aijaz says. He wrote this week in the Egyptian al-Ahram weekly.

Watching with me on television the terror nightmare unfold in Mumbai over the past three days, my children have repeatedly asked me: "Who are these terrorists and why are they doing this?" Every time I wished I could offer them a convincing answer.

What could I tell them? For one, I was equally clueless why these individuals had taken over India's financial and cultural capital and were targeting people who had nothing to do with them and had done nothing to harm them. Second, I was too ashamed to tell them these individuals were ostensibly Muslims and came from a country that was created in the name of Islam.

A distraught friend who has devoted her life to speaking and fighting on behalf of Arabs and Muslims wrote a few days ago, "I've had it with the Arabs and Muslims and Islamic militancy. Forgive me, but I am throwing in the towel."

I couldn't write back to her but understood her pain. She grew up in Mumbai and is understandably upset.

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