Every time some atrocity is committed by some individual or group “in the name of Islam”, you inevitably hear someone say: “why aren’t the moderate Muslims condemning this atrocity?”. I’m really tired of hearing this complaint over and over again. Here’s why:

1) There are “moderate Muslims” that condemn this atrocity. There are many who do so in English, and many more that do so in Arabic. The fact that you haven’t heard anyone condemning it (by virtue of you asking the question) reflects more on you than anyone else: you should either consider befriending more Muslims and/or learn Arabic. In fact, there is quite the vigorous debate within the Arab/Islamic world about whether Islam allows for the atrocious acts to be done in its name. So that we don’t hide behind our finger (like we say in Arabic), yes, there are fundamentalist schools of Islamic thought that have been adopted by some in the Muslim world, and yes, they do have access to funds. However, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of Islamic schools of thought and their scholars (and by extension, their adherents) do not condone these atrocities.

2) There is clearly a double standard when it comes to atrocities committed by some “in the name of Islam” vs. others committed in the name of some other religion. For example, take the state of Israel, an admittedly Jewish state that purports to speak on behalf of Jews world-wide. Does anyone ask “moderate Jews” to condemn the heinous atrocities and massacres committed by the State of Israel against Palestinians and other Arabs? Or what about Christian Zionists who provide invaluable financial, political and moral support to the State of Israel in committing these atrocities by virtue of their interpretation of the Bible? Does anyone ask “moderate Christians” to condemn the support provided by Christian Zionists to the State of Israel in committing these atrocities? Or what about the group of fundamentalist Buddhists of Myanmar who have no problem massacring the Rohingya Muslims? Does anyone ask “moderate Buddhists” to condemn these massacres? The list goes on and on.

3) Most importantly, Muslims shouldn’t be asked to condemn anything at all done in the name of Islam in the first place. I don’t tend to use the racist or bigot card very often, but the statement “why aren’t the moderate Muslims condemning this atrocity?” is actually a bigoted statement, and demonstrably so. The statement implies that the lack of explicit condemnation is (tacit) approval, for otherwise, why ask the question? To be clear, the implication here is that unless there is explicit condemnation by some (moderate) Muslims, then *all* Muslims (tacitly) approve of this atrocity. This follows logically, for if you believed that there were moderate Muslims that didn’t approve but chose to be quiet for instance, then you wouldn’t be asking for explicit condemnation (since you would already know that there were “moderate” Muslims that didn’t approve of this atrocity, but chose to be quiet). As such, anytime anyone claims that *all* members of a group are “fill in the blank”, he is clearly making a bigoted statement. This applies to any and all groups, whether Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists or anyone else.

In conclusion, just stop with the complaining, and examine your own assumptions.