The Search for Moderate Islam: Part I

Frontpagemag.com ^ | January 28, 2005 | Lawrence Auster

[rmlew]

Does it Exist?

A leading intellectual figure and stalwart fighter in America's confrontation with radical Islam, Daniel Pipes is perhaps best known for his idea that "radical Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution." As Pipes argues, radical Islam, though currently the dominant political force in the Muslim world, is supported by only 10 to 15 percent of Muslims worldwide, while moderate Islam represents the great, though so far mostly silent, majority of Muslims. He further points out that radical Islam, also known as militant Islam or Islamism, is a very recent phenomenon, having more in common with modern totalitarian ideologies than with true, historic Islam. While he warns that militant Islam aims to overthrow the West and regain lost Islamic glory, he insists with equal conviction that traditional, moderate Islam is fully capable of living at peace with the rest of the world.

Pipes's dual perspective on Islam leads him to advocate a dual-track strategy toward it. We must, he says, use all necessary political and military means to defeat the Islamists and secure our own safety, even as we seek out moderates and help them in the vital work of reforming Islamic beliefs and practices, isolating the extremists, and building an Islamic community that can be a normal and productive member of a democratic world community.

[rmlew]

In this article, Mr. Auster refutes the assertion that there currently is a moderate form of Islam. Specifically, he uses the work of Daniel Pipes to refute this idea proposed by Mr. Pipes.
In a follow up peace, Auster suggest that we take a different course in fighting a Clash of Civilizations. As, such it is an important peace. We are not fighting "terror", we are fighting Islamists, who are supported by traditional Islam.

[Gunrunner2]

So. . .10-15% are radical and the rest (85-90%) moderate?

Somehow I don't buy it. . if these numbers are true then are cowards to let the alleged small amount of radicals kowtow them into remaining silent over the hijacking of their religion and the forcing of them into mass celebrations of terrorist attacks and bombings. . .yeah right. . .small minority. . .

Piffle.

[JudyinCanada]

It is not a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between civilized and uncivilized.

[Sam Cree]

OK, read later

[oolatec]

One has to wonder however, of that "silent majority" that are apparently "moderate", just how many of them aren't moderate? They are silent after all...

[rmlew]

Ping

[Darkwolf377]

The search for Moderate Islam will take you to the same place as would the search for an informed comment by Ted Kennedy.

[FreeKeys]

Check out: The Minaret of Freedom
and:  New book says the Qur'an gives women the same rights as men
and:

[snip]

Yet much more is now required of the adherents of Islam: the reinvention of their religion. No longer can the words of the Koran be considered inerrant, infallible, those of Allah himself. The words must be read thoughtfully and critically, and the wisdom they contain extracted with reflection, not reflexively. 

Christianity emerged from its Dark Ages when its sacred texts were considered infallible and criticism condemned (often to death) as heresy, to subject itself to historical examination and rational discussion. It is stronger for it. For a religion's strength does not lie in fanatical belief, in an unquestioned assumption that disagreement or criticism of it is an incomprehensible perversion. A religion's strength lies in the goodness it does for people's souls.

As Al-Rawandi puts it: 

The claims of Islam do not depend on historical origins, but on an inner knowledge of God, the accompaniment and reward of piety. What makes Islam true is the spiritual life of Moslems, not religious history but religious experience. 
These are the teachings of a school of Islamic thought known as Sufism. How Islam must reinvent itself to emerge out of the Islamic Dark Ages it has inhabited for the last several hundred years, and join and flourish in the civilized world, is to combine the teachings of Sufism with those of Jadidism, the attempt by Central Asian Islamic scholars 100 years ago to make a revitalized Islam compatible with the modern world. 

While Jadidism was snuffed by the Soviets, its revival, combined with the inner peace and truths provided by Sufism, could reinvent an Islam prepared to participate and prosper in the 21st century.

The combined synergy of Sufism and Jadidism would be the salvation of Islam. Today it stands in dire need of being saved. I hope that dedicated Islamic scholars will appear on the scene to create such a salvatory synergy. In the meantime, none of us any longer needs to be afraid or intimidated by the Myth of Mecca.

-- Jack Wheeler, HERE

[rmlew]

Did you read the article?
Auster's arguement is that Islam is not moderat, that theyre are only individual moderate Muslims.

[Dark Skies]

It's a mistake to blame Islam, a religion fourteen centuries old, for the evil that should be ascribed to militant Islam, a totalitarian ideology less than a century old. Militant Islam is the problem, but moderate Islam is the solution.

We all hear what Dr. Pipes is saying but, if it is true (and at this point this is pure speculation), how do we reconcile this with the fact that, after 9/11, moderate Muslims around the world joined hardliners in rejoicing and cheering.

[kipita]

I respectfully agree with Mr. Pipes and would argue that Moderate Islam is the solution. Islam desperately needs a Reformation and such forces come from the common folk in society which account for 90+% of Islamic citizenry.

[TapTheSource]

Pipes is absolutely correct. I have felt this way for some time. Moreover, much of what we call "Radical Islam" might not be related to Islam at all. Might want to check out the following article for more...


http://www.worldthreats.com/russia_former_ussr/Terrorists%20In%20Muslim%20Diguise.htm

[Gunrunner2]

My post was in agreement, as constructed within the context of my own analysis.

[TapTheSource]

If your interested, read original post and then see link in post #12.

[rmlew]

The Search for Moderate Islam: Part II

[kipita]

Your tagline states the "real" problem with humanity and your post is the specific reality of Islam. Unfortunately, I don't think change will take affect for generations. Maybe 2050?

[Fiddlstix]

So. . .10-15% are radical and the rest (85-90%) moderate?

A moderate muslin is a sadist.
A radical muslim is an uber sadist.
imho

[Noachian]

...moderate Islam does not now exist. It must be created. Moreover, it can only be created by means of renouncing that which Islam has always been. But, on those terms, can the result still be Islam?

This is the crux of the problem.

Islam cannot remain Islam if it is changed into the "peaceful religion" Bush claims it is. If Islam cannot be changed into a more civilized religion then it will remain the anti-democratic, barbaric, religion it has always been.

[rmlew]

Islamism is a 20th century phenominon. Islamist and Maxist Arab groups did recieve aid in terrorist activities from the USSR. However, we face a far larger problem than fighting a few Islamist groups. They are the activists supported by a much larger population of traditional Muslims.

[JudyinCanada]

In addition to dancing in public after 9/11 (they did that up here in Canada, as well), do they not follow the same quran, the writings the militants are simply implementing?

There is no way to monitor who believes what and to what degree. If you follow the quran, you have the potential, at any point, to become a militant.