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.
Sure, but that will NEVER happen as long as the "holy" Koran exists to say otherwise.
When Islam takes the last city, you will be given the sweet choice of a prayer rug or a coffin.
The tribal cultures were there before Islam. The decline of tribalism of the west is relativly new & it's not totally eradicated.
Get some 3rd generation Serbs & Croats in the same room with each other some time. I knew nothing about any despute between the two heritages, til after I saw some 3rd/4th generation Americans verbally bashing each other. Pollacks were a "them", until I married one. Then I learned many of my "German" ancestors came from areas now in Poland & they were Prussians, not Germans. :o) Many Prussians feel just as cheated out of a homeland as many Kurds.
Prove it.
Iranians are not Arabs & neither are Kurds.
It all hinges on the existance of medina and mecca.
conceeded
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Matthew 7:1
Still, you judge. How do you reconcile that within your beliefs?
It's a pattern that's being displayed all over Europe and SE Asia. Your head is in the sand.
I like your reasoning. Well put.
Excellent post. The answer to the question hanging at the end seems to be - that people are desperate to hang on to the PC relativism that fills our world today.
Desperate, I think, because to say that others are "wrong" leads to the idea of moral absolutes, and we can't have that.
Dr. Jasser also reports getting a lot of flak from CAIR, an organization which is supposed to represent Islam in the US.
Well said! IMO, there has to be a total reformation in the Moslim religion - the Quran and as they have this covered already - it's not going to happen. Our so-called elitists are peddling this crapola but they're only fooling themselves and unfortunately perhaps brainwashing our kids with it. No, we're being very naive if we think this will happen - wishful thinking. They'll widdle their way though using our Judeo/Christian law against us to get them what the Quran tells them - a total Islamic world!
I'm not ready for dimmitude and that's what we'll become - look at the Sudan - the history and what's happening now look at all the other counties they're in - killing, raping, pillaging and torturing - their Quran tells them that's okay. memri.org has great translations of what these imans tell them in the mosques about Jews, Christians, Securalists etc.
None survive when freedom fails;
Good men rot in filthy jails,
While those who cried, "Appease! Appease!"
Are hanged by those they tried to please.
The craven appeasers and starry-eyed liberal well-wishing fools are going to get us all killed! Islam wants you on a prayer mat or DEAD! It will tolerate NO dissent. NONE! It is on the march and coming for you.
In other words, wishful thinking.
Western society, in spite of all the protestations to the contrary, is based on a Judeo-Christian worldview. An important aspect of this worldview is the use of persuasion, or argument, rather than force. Individual freedom is an accepted fact. Those instances we think of where force was used (Salem witch trials, inquisition) are aberrations, which is why we condemn them.
Islamic society is based on force, rather than persuasion. Violence and force are the historical norm, not an aberration. The islamic nations are almost exclusively dictatorships. Islamic attempts at reasoned argument often seem childish or irrational to us. Their history is one of centuries of warfare and forced conversions.
The crusades, which are often brought up at this juncture, are a case in point. The crusades were a response to the violent spread of islam across the known world. The fact that people - even atheists - in the West condemn them is just more evidence of the Judeo-Christian ethic that pervades our society.
At the same time, no one in islamic society condemns the violent islamic conquests that led to the crusades. No one would. The idea of violent conquest is an integral part of the islamic worldview.
The Judeo-Christian worldview lends itself to Democracy. The Islamic worldview does not. The choices are 1. Reject Democracy. 2. Reject islam 3. Change islam - which muslims see as equal to #2. No one needed to drop their Christianity to accept Democracy.
I'm sure Dr Jasser is a nice man but the whole Muslim religion must show us how they'll change - prove to us they're serious through action - thusfar they're not even talking about any changes!!!! Beware of lambs in wolves clothing.
It looks like we've got an uninformed newbie on the thread. Nothing wrong with giving the muslims the benefit of the doubt - until they remove all doubt.
I think he'll get the picture in a few threads.
Exactly! We must not be taken in - we are too gullible. Read some of the European papers and see what's happening - not good. Look at Canada they've now brought in the Sharia law. They say it's just for local scrabbles but wait and see what happens when it gets to the REAL ISSUES... Canada has opened a door they'll wish they didn't just wait 'til they get to some issue that's against the Judeo-Christian laws of the country and they yell racist or discrimination that they can't follow through with their law...
Matthew 18:16-17
15“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
KNOW THINE ENEMY!!!!!!!!!!
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