What some Muslims say about terror

THREE WEEKS AFTER two Muslim terrorists murdered 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., a national Muslim organization held its previously scheduled annual convention there.

After condemning the terrorism, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, U.S.A. seized the opportunity to launch a campaign called "True Islam and the Extremists." It is composed of online endorsements (at www.TrueIslam.com), fliers, public meetings, open mosque events, and outreach to interfaith groups.

Ahmadi Muslims have about 70 mosques and 20,000 adherents in the U.S., and are so devoted to nonviolence and accepting other religions that I think of them as the Quakers of Islam.

Right now (thank you, Donald Trump), a blanket of suspicion has been thrown over all Muslims, even American Muslims, partly because of growing Islamic terrorism here and partly because our government won't speak plainly about it.

President Obama banned the term "radical Islam," and Mayor Kenney, in an alternate universe, argued with the suspect in a police shooting about what motivated him.

Some Americans complain that they don't hear Muslims condemning extremism within their own ranks. They are doing it now.

At its December convention, which is always held in San Bernardino, the Ahmadiyya community launched the national campaign, "True Islam and the Extremists."

The campaign, I was told by Salaam Bhatti, a lawyer who is a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya community, seeks to clarify "11 misconceptions" about Islam.

To highlight a few: "True Islam" rejects terrorism and believes in religious freedom and free speech, equality for women, loyalty to country, human rights, and separation of "mosque and state."

That states almost every American value, except maybe free WiFi.

Bhatti said it is a misconception that Muslims haven't spoken out in the past. They have, he said, but they don't get much coverage because they are nonviolent.

Near Times Square on New Year's Eve, a group of Ahmadi distributed the "True Islam" flier and got a friendly reception.

If the Ahmadi campaign is "True Islam and the Extremists," I asked Bhatti cautiously, "Who are the extremists?"

Bhatti was ready. "Those who claim to be Muslim," his intonation suggesting they are not really Muslims.

Here's the problem: The Internet is flooded with Muslim clerics calling for death to the West, to Americans, to Jews.

The Ahmadi say that is not "true Islam." It certainly is not their liberal interpretation of Islam, an interpretation that is only 126 years old and might be considered Islam 2.0.

But we can't deny that the "bad" kind of Muslims, citing the same Quran, have fire in their eyes and suicide vests on their chests.

When Israeli religious extremist Baruch Goldstein murdered 13 worshipers in a West Bank mosque in 1994, he was quickly and loudly condemned by Israeli and American Jews as a terrorist. No mincing of words.

I respect Muslims enough to treat them as adults and to say that what is done by one of them does not reflect all of them - but it still was done by one of them.

That brings us to the attempted assassination of Officer James Hartnett by a suspect who says he did it for Islam and pledged his allegiance to ISIS.

Bhatti quickly offered prayers for the officer's recovery, then cited some reported "mental-health issues" suffered by the suspect. If he's not mentally ill, Bhatti called for "swift justice," insisting that "what ISIS stands for is not Islamic in any way, shape or form."

Even though they call themselves the Islamic State?

"I could call myself the president of the United States of America, but that doesn't make me the president," replied Bhatti, but then he added: "ISIS and other Muslim extremist groups use religion as a recruiting tool."

Yes, they do. And, yes, they are Muslim.

There are competing versions of Islam - a jihad, if you will. We should be on the right side.

We must not deny the obvious: Murderers use their pernicious interpretation of Islam to justify, even sanctify, their evil.

All of us - Muslim and non-Muslim alike - should support any effort by Muslims to destroy the Islamist cancer.

Here I'll revive an idea floated by former CBS News correspondent Bernard Goldberg in 2009: a Million Muslim March on Washington to publicly denounce terrorism and endorse democracy and pluralism. All Americans, not only Muslims, would be invited.

The best people to defeat the worst people are American Muslims. The Ahmadi deserve our support, because, simply, they are us.

Email: stubyko@phillynews.com

Phone: 215-854-5977

On Twitter: @StuBykofsky

Blog: ph.ly/BykoColumns: ph.ly/StuBykofsky