Feeling under attack, Arabs turn to Islam for answers

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=8656&TagID=2

AMMAN, JORDAN – At the Al Kaluti Mosque in a middle-class neighborhood of the Jordanian capital, hundreds more worshipers than the building can hold spill into the streets, a testament to the rallying capacity of Islam in troubled times.
The crush of mostly young men at Friday's prayers could be explained by the fact that this is Muslim holy month of Ramadan. But in Jordan, as across the region, the Iraq war is the latest of many factors that have Muslims turning to their faith for solace and answers.

"The occupation of Iraq, Palestine, American rhetoric about Islam, and the so-called war on terrorism - the feeling it is a fabrication to facilitate the taking of resources by American companies - all of these things help explain a higher interest in Islam," says Abdullateef Arabiyat, former secretary general of Jordan's Islamic Action Front.

"People feel their identity is under attack and are afraid," says Mr. Arabiyat, now the party's minority parliamentary leader. "That is unfortunate, as Muslims need to open up and close the gap between Islam and the modern world, but right now the effect is people turning inward."

Reflecting the general sense of mounting wrongs, the rhetoric of the mosque has turned more strident and political.
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You know, maybe if we sent Jerry Falwell and Oral Roberts over there, I'm sure this would all change. Maybe drop crates of bibles from helicopters on the Islamic faithful as they leave the mosques? That would show them the power of the word.