Why Were There Armed Guards There?

When I was in Istanbul, Turkey we toured the major sights.  Within short walks are the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi.  The Topkapi is the former Sultan’s palace.  It’s a pretty cool place in both its visual sights, and also the way it is structured.  As I went there, I tried to envision myself as a visiting businessman or statesman, trying to get a deal.  What would it have been like?

Turkey still has churches, turned into museums, with Christian mosaics left over from the 6th through 12th century. As our guide said, “tolerant, but not equal”.

As you enter Topkapi, there are two armed guards.  They have small submachine guns.  I am used to seeing guards with guns in public areas, especially when I travel.  I recall my first trip to Paris in the 1990’s and seeing armed guards on Metro stops.

I wondered why there were armed guards in this very touristy location.  Now I know.  A couple of days ago, a muslim terrorist threw some grenades there.  Yesterday, there was another attack.  There is a governmental prime minister office there.

Also last night, there was a shooting in France carried out by Muslim terrorists.

Muslim terrorism is nothing new.  My own views on the religion are pretty skewed, since the only thing I seem to read about is Muslim extremism.  On my trip through Istanbul, our guide took us on a walking tour.  We started in a very very ultra conservative neighborhood and finished in one that looked like it could be in any fashionable chic city in the world.  In the very conservative neighborhood, women were dressed in burquas, and men were not extremely warm.  The local mosque in this neighborhood is a radical sect, and there is plenty of graffiti around saying so.

In other Muslim neighborhoods, there were Christian churches, sometimes even a Jewish synagogue.  We could walk into the local mosque and were welcomed.

A few days ago, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made a speech that has not been covered well in mainstream news.  I think the speech is worth reading, and it hopefully will change the way you think about the religion.  I am hoping this is a historic moment where other leaders in the muslim world follow Sisi’s lead.  It would be awesome to see other leaders echo the speech.

Is it possible that 1.6 billion people [Muslims] should want to kill the rest of the world’s inhabitants—that is 7 billion—so that they themselves may live? Impossible!

I am saying these words here at Al Azhar, before this assembly of scholars and ulema—Allah Almighty be witness to your truth on Judgment Day concerning that which I’m talking about now.

All this that I am telling you, you cannot feel it if you remain trapped within this mindset. You need to step outside of yourselves to be able to observe it and reflect on it from a more enlightened perspective.

I say and repeat again that we are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world, I say it again, the entire world is waiting for your next move… because this umma is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost—and it is being lost by our own hands.

This is a great first step. My hope is that the world can rally behind it and heed Sisi’s advice. No matter what religion is practiced, there will always be a radical fringe that no one will convince otherwise. Ultra-orthodox Jews. Hyper radical Christians. Fortunately, they are very slim minorities and as long as they don’t undertake violent means to get their goals, we can marginalize them.

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