The parable of sheep and shepherds goes very well with moderate Muslims. However, a contemporary illustration will give details of their characteristics. In developed countries, shoppers use shopping carts (a device approximately three feet high with four small wheels) for their shopping. These carts are always left behind in the parking lot and seldom returned to the designated place. Employees collect these carts and bring them back inside of the store. It’s a long line of carts and quite impossible for a person to push them. They use a small-motorized vehicle at the end of the carts. The employee steers the front cart and uses a remote controller to run the motor at the back.  

In this scenario, the majority of Muslims (including moderates) are the lifeless carts, Islam is the motorized vehicle and Imam or Islamic scholars (conman Zakir Naik, Harun Yahia et al.) represent the employee of the store. They are not able to make the judgment call, nor do they have the ability to think. Think about all those protests in Malaysia , Indonesia , Pakistan , Bangladesh and the Middle East countries. A very few have access to the Internet and Danish newspapers, along with a bottle of a milk are not delivered in the morning. So, it’s highly unlikely that any of them have seen those cartoons, yet they have declared Jihad against Denmark .  

What about our Muslim intellectuals? They should understand the significance of freedom but they, too, are acting weird as if a raccoon is trapped in their underpants. Obviously, they are not honest and their talk about reforming Islam is only a smokescreen. They belong to ‘Ummah’, the universal Islamic association whose ultimate goal is: ‘Islam will rule the world’.  

Many Muslim countries have boycotted Danish products. How about the Muslims of Denmark ? Are they boycotting Denmark and leaving the country en masse?  

In the news, Palestinians have surrounded the EU office. It’s the same European Union who feeds Palestinians with chunks of money every year. Will these people ever wake up and see the danger of Islam?  

Despite many flaws, we can learn one valuable lesson from Islam. Hold on; don’t fall off of your chair!  

The cause of Islam is not just; more accurately, it’s evil but all Muslims are united when Islam is under attack despite their own conflicts and habitual killing of each other. Sunnis are killing Shiites, Shiites are chasing Ahmediyas, Ahmediyas are poking Bahais, yet they all scream when Islam is scrutinized. Yes, I am talking about unity. It’s sad that people of the free world cannot get together when their freedom is at stake.

Only a few newspapers in the US , such as New York Sun and Philadelphia Inquirer have supported the courageous effort of the Danish newspaper and put a link to those cartoons but the rest of the media went numb and were afraid to show their team spirit. One editor of a French paper was fired for publishing those cartoons. Is that how they will safeguard their freedom of expression?  

When asked about the unwarranted silence, Leonard Downie, Jr., the executive editor of The Washington Post reasoned, "They wouldn't meet our standards for what we publish in the paper." Should I be ashamed or proud of their standard? They did not mind publishing Abu-Gharib pictures, which was obscene compared to these cartoons.

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