Posted on 06/05/2004 7:21:49 PM PDT by nuconvert
Taking Back Islam - Moderate Muslims say their faith is compatible with Freedom.
By Erick Stakelbeck & Nir Boms
June 03, 2004
There's an elephant in the room whenever the current U.S. operation in Iraq is discussed: Is Islam truly compatible with democracy? Or do the U.S.'s troubles in stabilizing Iraq signal that Muslims simply have no desire to live in a free, democratic society?
Right now the answers to these questions are unclear. For every modern Islamic "success story" like Turkey or Malaysia, there are Islamist nightmares like Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In the United States, too, there is reason for uncertainty. American Muslims with moderate views have been either unable or unwilling to engage in public discourse. As a result, militant groups with a moderate veneer have been able to set the tone.
A patriotic group of Arizona Muslims, however, is looking to change all that.
Earlier this spring in Phoenix, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) held a "Rally Against Terror" that gave moderate Muslims a platform on which to condemn terrorism and pledge support for the United States.
Identified by the Arizona Republic as "the nation's first Muslim rally against terrorism," the 50-minute event drew, according to various estimates, between 250 and 400 people, most of them non-Muslims.
Considering that the event was actively promoted within Phoenix's 50,000-strong Muslim community, that number is a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, AIFD Chairman Zuhdi Jasser says the rally was a positive first step for the group, which was founded in March 2003 by Muslim professionals in the Phoenix area.
"When the moderates stay silent, the radicals speak for everyone," says Jasser, a physician. "Up until now, moderates have not been articulating a moderate form of Islam which Americans can embrace. We want to take back our faith from the radicals and let them know that we are side-by-side with the U.S."
Listening to Jasser, the son of Syrian immigrants, is a breath of fresh air at a time when anti-American sentiment engulfs a large part of the Arab and Muslim world. A former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander who served as a Navy medical officer from 1988 to 1999, Jasser clearly loves his country and his faith, and sees no reason why the two cannot coexist.
"Our inspiration for this is two things," says Jasser. "Number one, at the core of the war on terror is a battle over ideology. World War II had fascism, the Cold War had Communism. Our present war has the targeting and killing of civilians in the name of religion: Islam. There needs to be a Muslim voice that speaks directly against that ideology. Secondly, there is a lack of any American Islamic institution that discusses the synergy of the U.S. Constitution with the Islamic faith. This makes it an obligation for us to be leaders in promoting a form of Islam that is tolerant and secular in nature."
Jasser is quick to clarify his use of the word "secular."
"Secularism as a term is almost associated with a lack of piety," he says. "What I'm trying to say is that in America, there are many devout people who are politically active. But we don't make decisions here based on theocracy or religious views."
The values that Jasser and AIFD are promoting are deeply rooted in the American experience. Jasser is confident that Muslims in the U.S. will eventually embrace his message and realize that, as he says, "Freedom brings you closer to God."
For now, though, Jasser realizes that views like the ones he expressed in a May 25 op-ed for azcentral.com aren't likely to endear him to the al-Jazeera crowd. In the piece, titled "Iraq is Your War," Jasser listed four reasons why the U.S. is currently fighting abroad:
It is impossible to keep America safe by just playing defense.
The Middle East is the epicenter of the terror network.
Despotic governments bring out the worst in religion.
Change the political environment in the Middle East and we change the associated religious pathology.
"Over half of the Muslim immigrants in the U.S. came here in the past 25 years," says Jasser. "And many of them bring with them the baggage that government coercion and autonomy are necessary, just as in their former countries. We want to educate them and let them know that is not the case."
It would help if U.S. government officials and the mainstream media took notice of AIFD's efforts, rather than continuing to promote the agendas of radical Muslims with anti-American views. AIFD is attempting to increase its visibility through its website and by holding future anti-terrorism rallies.
By supporting the endeavors of AIFD and other moderate Muslim organizations, the U.S. may yet be able to avert the clash of civilizations simmering in its own backyard.
— Nir Boms is a fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Council for Democracy and Tolerance. Erick Stakelbeck is senior writer for the Investigative Project, a Washington, D.C.-based counterterrorism research institute.
It's hard to get people to speak out or to actually show up at rallies, that doesn't mean that they don't agree with him. It's going to take a lot of courage over the coming years because people who are normally shy are going to need to step up (or at least show up). If they do this, they can take back their religion from those who tarnish it.
History and the qu'ran are against your opinion. On what do you base it?
It's not original with me. It's a plan that has been used off and on for 14 centuries.
True but because the Arabs were the ones who spread Islam their tribal culture has infected all Muslim societies to some degree. I think that there is something about the nuclear family being a higher priority than the extended family that explains much of our advantage over the Arab World. The nuclear family is focused through marriage on the present and through kids on the future. Tribalism focuses on your ancestors and the past.
Sort of, as it's writings are in Arabic. Still, it does not exist in any kind Arabic bubble, with an Aribization of all who follow it's teachings.
If you take a look at Christianity, you might say adherents are tied to Hebrews, to some Israli tribes. You might also say it has greater basis in Roman or Greek beliefs, specifically those beliefs which existed during the times their empires were on the rise. If you follow Eastern Christianity, you might say your religion is based on the culture of the Assyrians. Last, but not least, with the King James version of the Bible being a long standing & the most commonly used translation of the original teachings, you might say Christianity is stuck in the time of one of the English civil wars, the civil war fought specifically about the soul of western Christianity.
Is Christianity responsible for creating any paternalistic society? Does Christianity create me, a woman as a secondary, voiceless entity in society? Do any of the core teachings demand extermination of indigenous populations of all who fail to sufficiently "convert", such as portions of some tribes of native Americans?
Much of the bad attributed to Islam *should* be attributed to cultural traditions & those traditions existed in the societies long before Islam entered the picture.
Any list of terrorists around the world will show that the vast majority are muslims.
As seen in the article at the top of this thread, the vast majority of muslims are not interested in condemning terrorism.
Terrorism is bound up in both the history and the teachings of islam. Denial of such is merely wishful thinking, or islamic propaganda.
With all due respect, I disagree with this. Islam is not compatible with neither freedom nor democracy.
The Quran itself instructs the followers to Islam to judge unlike Christianity who's prophet tells us 'not to judge lest we be judged'. The Quran is many things including a war manual that explains how infidels are to be dealt with.
Every Muslim on the planet will tell you that Islam is not only a religion, but rather a 'way of life'. The Quran is the manual on how to live that life. Everything is adressed on every aspect of one's life.
Unlike the bible, Muslims beleive that the Quran is the word of Allah. It is this one thing that many Westerners tend to overlook when making an assessment of Islam.
Imagine if you will that Christianity had instead of 10 commandments direct from God but rather 10,000 commandments that addressed each and every aspect of your life.
Moderate Muslims? Are they like Unicorns and Griffins?
Western Society tried and failed at variations on representative democracy a few times, Islam is just starting to try.
I wrote that earlier but I think the interpretation will allow Islam to adapt to the 21st century.
That's a ridiculous statement.
It is an accuaret statement. Islam is a religion which is 100% about domination of all other theologies, and 0% about love, care or a supreme diety (except the moon god as a figurehead to endow the pedophile coward snak-oil salesman muhammed (may he roast in hell forever).
Islam cannot be redeemed anymore than communism. The soomer Americans READ THE QUARAN (or Koran or Q'aran) the sooner they will see this a political fight with a very thin veneer of religion.
HA! Thanks for bringing me up to speed on the terminology broadsword! LOL!!!
That is an interesting theory, still those in and around Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran rule Islam today.
Prove it. We're waiting (Jeopardy waiting theme)
I wont hold my breath.
Uh, btw, we're still waiting for the 9/11 condemnations and apologies.
As William F. Buckley would say, "It is c-c-considered an --- essential element in-in-in any debate, for the debaters t-t-to define their terms in order that the debate might go forth in-in-in an orderly manner."
Get rid of the haj nonsense, the shoving your ass in the air 5 times a day, and all the stuff the koran says and go back to the Jewish/Christian sources and islam can survive ok.
Oh, OK. All right.You betcha! Religion of peace and all that. (wink) OK.
Allahu AkhBarbarian!
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