o-called oppressed groups have mastered the art of dismissing criticisms.  They do so simply by calling “the other” who made the criticism an X-ist (racist or homophobe or Islamaphobe or antisemite or sexist, etc.).  So if the Xs in question are women, and “the other” is a man, then the women dismiss whatever he might have to say by calling him sexist.  Now, of course, there are indeed homophobes, and racists, and sexists, and antisemites, and Islamaphobes in the world.  But what is manifestly false is that every criticism made by “an other” against one of these groups is thereby an instance of X-ism.  The trick is to be mindful of the difference between an X-ist, on the one hand, and “an other” who in fact makes a genuine criticism of substance.  A criticism can be important and not X-ist in character even if, in the end, it can be met.  Unfortunately, you would not know that nowadays by the way in which the charge of X-ism is so freely invoked. 

For instance, a white who questions the moral and political legitimacy of affirmative action is automatically slammed by blacks as being racist; and it seems not to matter what the white says.  For all that I know the practice may be justified.  Yet, from this it hardly follows that valid questions concerning it cannot be raised.  Indeed, one way to insure that the practice is properly justified is to address valid questions.  And the truth of the matter is that anyone can ask a valid question.  Sometimes, alas, a child unwittingly does so. 

It is thus none other than moral arrogance to dismiss a person’s question as valid—as X-ist, even—simply because individual (a) the individual is not a member of the group in question and (b) the individual has raised a searching criticism.

On the other hand, it goes without saying that a non-member of a so-called oppressed group has an obligation to make herself or himself very, very informed about the issues in question.  And when a non-member has done this, then members of the group are morally obligated to acknowledge this, even when they can successfully meet the non-member’s criticisms.

When I claimed that the world Muslim population is 1 billion, various commentators to the blog-entry responded as if I were insane and had merely fabricated that number in order to argue against Muslims. 

Well, I have verified that claim; and I was right on point.  Here are two sites that confirm my claim:

http://www.islamicpopulation.com/

http://muslim-canada.org/muslimstats.html

Strikingly, the figure I gave was rather conservative.  The first site gives a figure of 1.84 billion; and the second site gives a figure of 1.2 billion in 1999.  However, at the site

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/,

my claim of 1 billion Muslims was viciously slammed. 

If the name of the blog is any indication, then the author is a Muslim Arab.  I, on the other hand, am neither Muslim nor Arabic.  From this it is supposed to follow that anything I say that is at odds with what the author of the site claims can be roundly dismissed. 

What “AngryArab” assumed is that I am a radically uninformed non-Arab and non-Muslim who is simply venting.  Indeed, I was criticized for failing to differentiate between Muslims and Arabs in the title of my blog entry.  But what shall we make of the blog title “AngryArab”?  For as we know, not all Arabs are Muslims. 

The argument, I think, goes like this: It is one thing for an Arab Muslim to pass over the distinction.  It is quite another for a non-Arab, non-Muslim to do so; for in this case what we have is none other than a display of ignorance.  Never mind that in the contents of the entry, I was very careful to talk about Muslims rather than Arabs. 

Let me turn, though, to a substantive point.  The very, very, deep point that I was making is that Islam is not as other regarding as Judaism is.

Here is proof par excellence of this point.  During the Civil Rights Movement, Jews gave mightily of themselves in order to help blacks.  The struggle could not have succeeded in the way that it did were it not for the support of Jews. 

Now, I do not think for a moment that Jews are without fault.  Indeed, it is very clear to me that they are too quick to privilege whiteness of skin color.  And I abhor this reality. 

Still, if I need your help and you give freely in order to help me, that counts, and it counts mightily.  Jews helped blacks without ever requiring that blacks convert to Judaism.  Quite the contrary, Jews are vehemently opposed to that sort of maneuver.  A non-Jew who wants to convert to Judaism is met with enormous resistance. 

Now, I have never seen a like form of support of blacks from Muslims, where this support is not tied to blacks converting to Islam.  Minimally, to be “other regarding” is to be willing to help the other without insisting that the other in turn swell one’s ranks.  It never occurred to blacks that they needed to convert to Judaism as a form of gratitude. 

This marks a substantive difference between Judaism and Islam.  The difference is there whether Muslims like or not and whether Jews like or not. 

Comparatively, there still are many blacks in the United States who are a very long ways from being well-off.  To date, I have seen no effort on the part of Muslims to help blacks except where this involved converting blacks to Islam.  Perhaps that shall change in the future.  However, the present is as I have described it.

I have not claimed that Muslims are evil.  I have not claimed that Jews are saints.  But I do claim that Jews have been far more other-regarding than Arabs. 

Another substantive point pertained to the hanging of the gay Muslim teenagers.  There ought to have been an outcry among Muslims all over the world.  And there was none. 

There are numerous Christian groups that oppose homosexuality.  But the killing of a gay teenager is unthinkable among all but the most fringe Christian groups.  And a fringe Christian group attempted to pull off such a thing, there would be an outcry from Christians loud enough to shake the heavens.  These remarks hold analogously for Judaism. 

I am grateful that at

http://brianberkey.blogspot.com/

there is at least the recognition my instincts are to be fair.  I am under no delusion that I get everything right.  But who does?  Muslim Arabs?

As I reflect upon the various comments and tracksbacks to my comments about Muslims, I am struck by the utter unwillingness to address any substantive point. 

Thus, we find the following site at the site below:

http://www.yamansalahi.com/2007/06/03/asides/the-illusions-of-academia/

The author of this site mocks me for not knowing that there is a difference between Arabs and Muslims.  I shall not go on about this, except to say this.  I have over the years taught some exceptional Arabic students.  Some of these have been Muslim; some of these have been Christian.  One of the Arabic Muslim students now teach mathematics; one of the Arabic Christian students has just completed graduate work at major university in New York City.  I count these two students among my beloved students; and that involves, among other things, being profoundly mindful of differences among Arabs. 

In any event, the move on the part of

http://www.yamansalahi.com/2007/06/03/asides/the-illusions-of-academia/

and

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/,

is very clear: If I am so uninformed as to not know that there are Arabs who are not Muslim, then any critical comment I make about Muslim Arabs can be dismissed. 

Well, let me just this.  I am black; I am non-Muslim.  I have had a very wonderful professional career that ranges over two continents, with a life in France and a life in the United States.  The French Muslim Arabic population is larger than the American Jewish population.  Thanks to my life in France, I have learnt much about Muslim Arabic traditions.  This is why I own and have read such works about Islam as Le licite et l’illicite en Islam by Youssef  Qaradhawi and L’Ethique du Musulman: Les fondements de la morale by Mohammad Al Ghazali.  This is why I own and have read Les Nouveaux Martyrs d'Allah by Farhad Khosrokhavar, as well as many books regarding the issue of the veil for Muslim Arabic women.  The first two books were originally written in Arabic; and I don't read Arabic.  But they were translated into French from for the French Muslim population.  I guess some of them don't read Arabic as well ! 

In contrast, I expect that my critics don’t know a damn thing about blacks except insofar as learning about black people supports the cause of Islam.  This is a difference between me and my Muslim Arabic critics, from the sites mentioned above, with which I can live.

A final comment: One of these days Muslim Arabs might acknowledge the role of Islam in black slavery on the continent of Africa centuries ago, well before the white enslavement of blacks.  Until Muslim Arabs are prepared to do that, then as far as I am concerned Muslim Arabs are being more than a little dishonest in making so much of the history of wrongs against them all the while remaining defeaningly silent about the egregious wrongs that they have committed against blacks.  And yes: I meant Muslim Arabs rather than Christian Arabs.  I think I have the distinction down now.