The Real Muslim Moderates

BostonGlobe ^ | August 18, 2005 | Jeff Jacoby

[nuconvert]

The real Muslim moderates

By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist |

August 18, 2005

Last of two parts FOR YEARS, Muslims have been criticized for their seeming complacency about Islamic terrorism. Time and again, Islamist radicals have committed some savagery, and time and again non-Muslims have wondered why there was no outcry of condemnation from the Islamic world. Let a fictional TV show depict Muslims unflatteringly, and Muslim spokesmen thunder in outrage. Where is that outrage when real atrocities are being carried out by killers professing Islam?

Good news: Since 9/11 a growing number of Muslim moderates have been speaking out. They have denounced the jihadis' ideology as a perversion of Islam and a disgrace to Muslims everywhere. More important, they have emphasized that decent Muslims have an obligation to enlist in the war on terror -- not merely to denounce the fanatics from afar, but to delegitimize and defeat them at home.

As Anouar Boukhars, a Moroccan graduate student at Old Dominion University, has written, this war is ultimately ''not a clash between Islam and the West. The real battle is taking place within a Muslim civilization in severe internal crisis, and the stakes of that battle are high indeed."

Another moderate is Zuhdi Jasser, a doctor and US Navy veteran who launched the American Islamic Forum for Democracy in 2003. The forum's stated purpose: ''to take back the faith of Islam from the demagoguery of the Islamo-fascists." Writing after the London bombings last month, Jasser argued forcefully that it is not enough for well-meaning Muslims to issue ''empty condemnations" of the extremists.

''As Muslims we must help bring these barbaric Islamists to justice and assist in dismantling the systems that create them," he wrote. ''We can publicly embarrass radical imams and organizations,

[nuconvert]

"Another moderate is Zuhdi Jasser, a doctor and US Navy veteran who launched the American Islamic Forum for Democracy in 2003."

A number of Dr. Jasser's articles have been posted on FR

[darkwing104]

Glad they are out there. Wish there was more of them.

[samadams2000]

The real muslim what????????

[teenyelliott]

Doesn't change my opinion of them. If there is such a thing as a "Muslim moderate", I believe they are the minority.

Of course not all Muslims are terrorists. But I truly believe the majority of them are sympathetic to the cause.

[kellynla]

"Real Muslim Moderates"... D.O.A.

[conservativewasp]

There are really no moderate muslims. There are the radicals, a large middle ground who support the radicals, and a small group of infidel (moderate muslims) who violate their own Koran by opposing the radicals. Islam is a cult of death.

[blackie]

Actions speak louder than words!

[nuconvert]

I wish more of them speak out, too

[Nathan Zachary]

"War is deceit" - Muhammad.

They all follow the same Koran.

[mlbford2]

Muslim moderate??

What?,,, they just cut your head half off?

[frogjerk]

The Koran still teaches and preaches hate. Just because a very very small majority will not follow through on the teachings of death by Mohammed does not make Islam any less deadly.

[samadams2000]

man..they just so deserately want us to believe in such a thing. To me here in silicon valley..they havent proved a thing. They are silent..therefore complicit.

[American Quilter]

Very little, very late. I'm not yet convinced. I'll need to see a lot more action from these "moderates", and it will have to be effective.

[I see my hands]

---

You can wish for more of a certain type. I'll wish for fewer of all types.

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[teenyelliott]

There's a reason Islam is the religion of choice for inmates, you know.

[Nathan Zachary]

That's because they know that Americans are too lazy to actually pick up a Koran and learn how to read it. To read the Koran, you have to use the hadith (life of Muhammad) to put the koran in order. There is a reason the Koran is a jumbled disorganized mess and not in chronological order. it prevents anyone from getting through the first 2 pages.

If anyone wants to know, go here and start at chapter one and keep reading till you are done.

http://www.prophetofdoom.net/toc.html

[Paloma_55]

Oxymoron Alert!

Sorry, you are not allowed to use the word "moderates" and the term "effective" in the same sentence as the two words do not go together.

[evad]

heh..I like it.

Pretty much sums up the whole cult philosophy right outta de gate.

"Islam is a caustic blend of regurgitated paganism and twisted Bible stories"

[Arrowhead1952]

Muslim Moderates

Now there is an OXYMORON if I ever heard one.....