Peaceful Muslims should raise voices

Peaceful Muslims should raise voices

According to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, as reported by the organization ACT, a group established to raise awareness in the U.S. about Islamic Jihad efforts here, Boko Haram, the organization which kidnapped 276 school girls in Nigeria in April, has become more widely known.

She states the translation of this name from the Hausa language is most accurately "non-Muslim Teaching is Forbidden." But the group's formal Arabic name is Jam'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-da'wa Wal-Jihad which roughly translates as "The Fellowship of the People of the Tradition for Preaching and Holy War." Hirsi Ali states that Boko Haram is not an aberration among Islamist terror groups but its goals and methods are all too representative of the militant terror groups the world over.

This group has been killing Nigerians in the northern part of that country at a truly alarming rate, most prominently Christians who have been forced to flee their homes if they will not convert to Islam. Why have the "peaceful" Mosques and student groups in our country been so silent? Why have they not even now condemned the atrocities Boko Haram is committing?

Please, if you are a peace-loving Muslim, raise your voice in opposition to this group and what it is doing. And all of us must pray that these girls and their families are safely reunited very soon.

P.J. Bertrand

Wood Dale