There’s no such thing as a ‘’moderate Muslim’’ anymore than there were moderate Nazis. If the bloody religion were so ‘’peaceful’’, why then the need for ‘’moderation’? Wouldn’t that make the argument Islam isn’t peaceful?
You’re partly right.
There is no such thing as moderate ISLAM. Practising Muslims can’t be moderates if they still embrace Islam and are welcome in mosque. Ergo, an islamist who claims to be a moderate, is a liar.
However, it gets a bit tricky when talking about Apostates (who’ve rejected parts of the Islamic creed) who still call themselves Muslims.
It’s not easy to distinguish between the two unless you’ve got access to a mosque.
A university buddy of mine has been a devout catholic for thirteen years now and helps run a homeless shelter with the priest, but some people still assume he’s a Muslim because of his name and appearance.
He was born and raised a Muslim, but they declared him apostate. I think being spotted having a bacon and brie buttie and a pint of Guiness, while talking to a Catholic priest about converting, was the tipping point (I think he did that deliberately; he’d been talking to the priest for over a year and had previously got a bollocking for being at the Catholic Church on a Friday afternoon instead of at the mosque!)
But right up to the point where he was officially cast out from the Islamic community, he still called himself a Muslim.
The vast majority of people in the UK who claim to be Christian, rarely come into contact with a vicar except at weddings or funerals. But they’re still brought up as Christians, and welcome in a Christian church, and they’re still ALLOWED to say “I am a Christian”.
There are plenty of people I know who’re agnostic but feel an affinity for Christianity which you don’t lose simply by questioning your faith. They still say they’re Christian even though deep down they know they aren’t.
It doesn’t work that way in Islam.
Islam doesn’t *allow* apostates to call themselves Muslims in the presence of the devout.
If an apostate Muslim calls himself a Muslim after the Islamic community has disowned him, he’s technically guilty of blasphemy and there can be serious consequences.
Apostate Muslims can even get arrested in Pakistan for using the Muslim greeting “Salaam Alaykum”.