Story highlights Some mainstream commentators have urged moderate Muslims to condemn terrorism, in particular the recent Paris killings

Caner Dagli says though that groups like ISIS and al Qaeda believe fanatically that most Muslims are misguided and hell-bound

For many, it's more comfortable to focus on Muslims than to ask if one's own country may have anything to "condemn," Dagli adds

Caner K. Dagli is associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.

(CNN) Why do Muslims "speak out" and "condemn" violent acts with which they have no connection, and why do others, across the political spectrum, expect it?

Caner Dagli

People should demand public statements like, "I condemn this act," from those who have some kind of accountability in connection with the act. There is always a crucial line between feeling revulsion at a crime and feeling it necessary to dissociate oneself from that crime. Did you benefit from a crime? Could you have stopped the crime? Did you contribute, even unwittingly, to the crime? If so, you may have to stand up and denounce it.

In connection with the recent Paris killings, some mainstream commentators such as New York Times columnist Roger Cohen ask why "moderate" Muslims cannot simply "come out and say" that "I do not support this." Former congressman Barney Frank writes that he wishes that Muslims would "speak out more strongly." Such liberal commentary is not substantially different from Rupert Murdoch's tweet that Muslims like myself "must be held responsible."

Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible. — Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 10, 2015

They should know that groups like ISIS and al Qaeda believe fanatically that most Muslims are misguided and hell-bound, and that only a small group (themselves) are members of an exclusive "saved sect," a belief that makes them immune to critique. Any condemnations they receive from the wayward Muslim majority only entrenches them in this belief.

Moreover, it is Muslims themselves who stand to lose the most when crimes are committed by these vigilantes. The vast majority of victims of jihadist groups are other Muslims, and when an attack takes place in the West it is the Muslim community that suffers the backlash from the societies in which they live.

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