1 00:00:02,320 --> 00:00:07,820 I am an American Muslim. And I, along with my mainstream Muslim brethren, in America 2 00:00:07,830 --> 00:00:13,590 and abroad, must come to terms with an ever more apparent truth: that we are the only 3 00:00:13,590 --> 00:00:19,290 ones who can lead a winning fight against the radicalism crippling our faith. 4 00:00:19,290 --> 00:00:23,700 If there was ever any doubt of this, just look at the nature of the terrorist attack 5 00:00:23,710 --> 00:00:29,640 in San Bernardino, California in December of 2015. What’s most troubling about the 6 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:35,420 San Bernardino massacre is that Syed Farook, the husband half of the terrorist couple, 7 00:00:35,420 --> 00:00:41,240 seems to have been, by almost all accounts, an ordinary American. His was not a crime 8 00:00:41,250 --> 00:00:47,270 born of poverty or lack of opportunity, or an inability to integrate into American society. 9 00:00:47,270 --> 00:00:48,690 Just the opposite. 10 00:00:48,690 --> 00:00:54,410 He was raised in a middle class environment by first generation Pakistani immigrant parents. 11 00:00:54,410 --> 00:01:00,210 He was educated and earned a good living. I too, like many American Muslims, 12 00:01:00,210 --> 00:01:05,840 come from a background that is very similar, as the son of Pakistani immigrants, which makes the 13 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:12,329 attack all the more concerning. It seems unthinkable that someone in such a position could be susceptible 14 00:01:12,329 --> 00:01:18,229 to radicalization. Yet we have seen it happen time and again among younger Muslims in the 15 00:01:18,229 --> 00:01:22,029 Middle East, Europe and now America. 16 00:01:22,029 --> 00:01:27,920 Attacks like San Bernardino underscore the importance of countering extremist propaganda. 17 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:33,460 While sophisticated attacks by terrorist groups can be effectively prevented by law enforcement 18 00:01:33,460 --> 00:01:37,920 and national-security measures, the truth is there isn't much that can be done by any 19 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:43,729 government—not even stricter gun-control laws—to eliminate the possibility of a radicalized 20 00:01:43,729 --> 00:01:50,700 lone wolf wreaking havoc. Only defeating the ideology that inspires these attacks can do that. 21 00:01:50,700 --> 00:01:56,219 A propaganda war must be waged against this radicalism and American Muslims have to be 22 00:01:56,219 --> 00:02:02,299 on the front lines for it to be credible. Merely condemning Islamist terror is not enough. 23 00:02:02,299 --> 00:02:06,139 We must actively engage in counter-extremism messaging. 24 00:02:06,140 --> 00:02:10,920 We must build an intellectual and theological case against radical Islam. Our religious 25 00:02:10,920 --> 00:02:15,890 leaders have to educate and warn our youth about the dangers of searching for spiritual 26 00:02:15,890 --> 00:02:21,580 guidance on the Internet. They must make it perfectly clear that anyone who engages in 27 00:02:21,580 --> 00:02:27,700 any act of terrorism is not doing God's work, they're doing the work of the devil. 28 00:02:27,700 --> 00:02:33,340 And we in the Muslim community have to continue to be vigilant. If someone who regularly attends 29 00:02:33,340 --> 00:02:40,060 mosque stops coming and disappears abruptly after marrying a Pakistani woman in Saudi Arabia 30 00:02:40,060 --> 00:02:45,400 whom he met online, it shouldn't take two years and 36 Americans getting shot 31 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:49,620 (including one from that very mosque) before we notice. 32 00:02:49,620 --> 00:02:54,659 We have the benefit of living in a nation that protects freedom of speech and association, 33 00:02:54,659 --> 00:03:00,219 a nation that values the marketplace of ideas, a nation that allows us all to practice our faith, 34 00:03:00,220 --> 00:03:06,460 no matter our religion.We have the opportunity to speak out and challenge radicalism 35 00:03:06,460 --> 00:03:09,260 in a way others abroad cannot. 36 00:03:09,260 --> 00:03:13,879 There is a war going on that extends beyond Syria, and American Muslims are under siege 37 00:03:13,879 --> 00:03:19,080 – not by a fringe group of bigoted Americans, but by a fringe group of Muslims abroad who 38 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:23,909 seek to tear our communities apart and take away the freedom that we all cherish. 39 00:03:23,909 --> 00:03:29,120 They are trying to target the disaffected among us, hijack the mosque pulpit, and convince 40 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,740 us that we're unwelcome in our own country. 41 00:03:32,740 --> 00:03:37,760 But if we're serious about leading this fight with unified support, certain things will 42 00:03:37,769 --> 00:03:43,629 have to change. We can't call out prejudice against our own faith without also calling 43 00:03:43,629 --> 00:03:48,809 out the gender inequality and homophobia that we find in some of our own Muslim communities. 44 00:03:48,809 --> 00:03:53,580 We can't be champions of our own religious freedom without also championing the freedom 45 00:03:53,580 --> 00:04:00,020 of people of all religious traditions, including other Muslim denominations that we may disagree with. 46 00:04:00,180 --> 00:04:04,739 We have to change the way we think about Islamic law and vilify the medieval judicial 47 00:04:04,739 --> 00:04:10,110 practices that persist in the Middle East. And we must have the uncomfortable but necessary 48 00:04:10,110 --> 00:04:14,030 conversations about where much of the funding for this cancerous 49 00:04:14,030 --> 00:04:18,660 supremacist ideology is coming from—Saudi Arabia. 50 00:04:18,670 --> 00:04:25,140 We carry with us a responsibility to our country, our faith and our children. The majority of 51 00:04:25,140 --> 00:04:31,520 us are here because our parents or grandparents emigrated from oppressive and illiberal nations 52 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:36,640 for the promise of a better life in America. But the way things are heading, our children 53 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:41,640 may grow up with less opportunity and freedom than we did. I can think of no greater defeat 54 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,200 and surrender to radicalism than that. 55 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,280 I'm Khurram Dara for Prager University.