Muslims mad at Franklin Graham
Heir apparent to Billy Graham says Muslims cleric should apologize

During a tour promoting his new book, "The Name," Billy Graham's son Franklin drew the ire of Muslims and some Christians by remarking that "Muslim clerics should apologize in the name of their for the massacre of September 11, and rebuke their radicals who preach Islamist jihad," according to the Washington Times.

Others, including Christian churchmen and secular pundits, have applauded his remarks, made in newspaper and television interviews.

Muslim spokesmen say there will never be an apology because their religion was not to blame for the September 11 attacks, in which more than 3,000 persons died.

Faiz Rehman of the American Muslim Council says 400 to 500 Muslims died at the World Trade Center and notes that many Muslims attended prayer services and vigils near ground zero.

"But most of the media didn't show us going there," he said. "Apologizing means owning it. Why would we apologize? Why do our American fellow citizens expect us to apologize for the acts of a few criminals? Most of the Muslims in this country felt terrible about it. Mr. Graham comes up with this stuff whenever he wants to promote a book. Since he claims to be on a higher moral ground, let him apologize for slavery and Ku Klux Klan crimes and the Crusades and for the crimes against Jews in the Holocaust and other things done in the name of Christianity. Then we'll think about it."

That is a non sequitur, because prominent Christian leaders and organizations have indeed apologized for sins done by long-dead people. Graham's own denomination, the Southern Baptists, apologized a few years ago for Baptists' role in slavery. Pope John Paul II apologized to the Jews for the church's acquiescence to the Holocaust, and two years ago he apologized "for all wrongs done by Catholics, including participation in the Crusades, a bloody attempt to seize the Holy Land between the 11th and 14th centuries."

I wrote a little bit about the responsibility of Muslims toward this issue in my post, "Islam is what Muslims do: Non-violent Muslims need to wake up; Islam's soul is being murdered."

But the unfortunate ethic of Arab Islam is summed up in the Middle East saying, "Me against my brother. My brother and I against our cousin. The three of us against the world."

The number of Muslims, especially prominent Muslims, who will publicly and repeatedly condemn Islamic terrorism is very, very small.