Trying To Find A `Moderate' Islam Is A Quixotic Quest

CNSNews.com ^ | May 20, 2002 | C.T. Rossi

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Once upon a time (in the 1930s), a young Secretary of Agriculture believed in a mystical land peopled by wise elders of a foreign faith, full of peace and enlightenment. So the man, Henry Wallace (destined to be FDR's vice-president), used federal money to fund an expedition to find the fabled lost city of Shambhala in central Asia. Needless to say, it was not found.

If history does repeat itself, the quest for "moderate Islam" might be an equally futile government endeavor. While kinder-and-gentler Mohammadism may never be found, we may at least gain apophatic knowledge of where it can't be found - that being in places where a Muslim majority prevails, even in a detention center Down Under.

Strange stories first came out of the Australian immigration facility at Woomera earlier this year when Islamic detainees launched a "peaceful protest." They claimed that the time the Australian government was taking to screen Middle Eastern immigrants before granting them admission to Aussie society was unjustly long. Their protest consisted of a hunger strike, facilitated by the sewing shut of hungry mouths. In the case of adult Moslems, it appeared to be of a voluntary nature; in the case of the children, less so. Now, even more stories are emerging about the antics of these refugees who fled from the Taliban.

The Moslem majority has taken to oppressing the non-Moslem segments of the detention camp population, most notably Christians and Mandaeans (Mandaeans are a monotheistic sect, mostly found in Iraq and Iran, who claim descent from the followers of St. John the Baptist). Whether making do with what they have or following a prescription from the Koran, the Moslems' chief weapon against the "infidels" is stoning.

In one stoning, Christians were ambushed upon leaving the dining mess - this resulted in the blinding of one man. Another blind man, this one a Mandaean, was held down and defecated upon by a Moslem mob. Various other attacks upon non-Moslems, both physical and scatological, have been reported - many perpetrated upon the unveiled "infidel women" who do not feel the need to conform to an Islamic law that is not their own. All of this speaks to the very hard fact that the majority of Afghani Moslems subscribe to a value system quite different from our own. This lesson is being taught concurrently in a classroom on the other side of the globe from Woomera.

With the deposal of the Taliban, some thought that nation-building in Afghanistan was the order of the day. But turning that rugged land, with its plethora of disparate tribes, into a democratic state may prove about as easy as readying the denizens of Woomera for "shrimp on the barbie," a night at the Sydney Opera House, and not killing those who hold a different creed. Already, the nation-building effort seems to be unraveling due to warlord factionalism.

Afghan warlordism is based on the same bully-of-the-schoolyard philosophy displayed at Woomera - the most notable difference being that instead of hurling stones (or bodily waste) at their enemies, warlords tend to use Stinger missiles. Former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is such a warlord. Critical of U.S. involvement on Afghani soil, Hekmatyar found himself the recipient of a CIA attack, for allegedly planning an assault on the U.S.-backed interim government. But the problem far transcends one man.

In Islamic culture, dissent means death. This is not an "extreme" or "radical" position if one accepts the underpinnings of Islam and their logical consequences. To believe that the supreme being and creator of all (Allah) has manifested his express and perfect will in a series of divine edicts (the Koran) is also to believe that all who deviate from these commands are evil and an effrontery to God. Because Allah is the great potentate of the universe, these edicts are unilateral and binding on all creatures - whether they like it or not. There is no differentiation between realms of church and state. This distinction is given in the words of Christ when he commanded different shares to God and Caesar, much to the benefit of Western world ever since.

In a cosmology where political disagreement is heresy, heresy is a capital offense, and infidels are the enemy of God, is the warlordism of Afghanistan and mob mentality of Woomera really that unexpected?

No, the real radicalism is from the secular intelligentsia and politicos of the West, in thinking that Moslems can adopt an attitude where their religious beliefs don't influence their actions - an attitude that has become all too prevalent in the West.

C.T. Rossi comments on contemporary culture for the Free Congress Foundation.
Free Congress Foundation

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[AppyPappy]

Two words: Salmon Rushdie.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Yes...You're right.

1 down and 1.12 BIL to review.

[crystalk]

Like Diogenes with his lantern looking for an honest man, Bush is bent over, peering into dark corners of the Mideast with his lasers, looking for a moderate Muslim.

All the while the IMmoderate ones are plotting to do him (and us) in.

[AppyPappy]

Of course, they wanted to kill him for dissenting.

[cgk]

BUMP.

[hang 'em]

Methinks this century will be even bloodier than the last.

[Stand Watch Listen]

Methinks this century will be even bloodier than the last.

Hmmmmmmmm....IMHO...that might be a too close to call.

The muslims and their aggressions in the Horn of African, the Balkans, the Middle-East, Southern Asia, Southeast Asia, Phillipines.

VERSUS

The Stalin/MAO/Castro communists of Soviet Union, China,Vietnam/Cambodia, Cuba/Angola, etc. And of course Hitler...but his evil/chaos were small compared to the 85 year legacy of communism.

[Stavka2]

Well, considering that Stalin killed 30 million in 30 years and Hitler is personally responsible for over 30 million in less then 10 years...you do the math.

[Stavka2]

At last everything I have ever said about the Musli as varvars that must be forced converted is becoming (ever so slowly for the nihilistic West) main stream thought.

[Michael Barnes]

Methinks this century will be even bloodier than the last.

I bet your right. Furthermore, I don't think it will take the entire centruy to prove that soon to be fact either.

[hang 'em]

I hope you are right.

[Restorer]

Methinks this century will be even bloodier than the last.

One VERY big difference.

Many Muslim extremists have the most destructive intentions towards us imaginable. Luckily, their capacity for wreaking this destruction falls far short of what they would wish it to be.

Compare that to WWI, where western or westernized armies fought all out for 4 years, or WWII where the same happened for 6 years, or the Cold War when the End of the World was literally less than an hour away for decades.

In each case, the dangerous part was not that the other side wanted to do bad things to us. It is that they had the potential to actually do those things.

Compare that to the laughable military/economic potential of the Arab/Muslim countries. They make none of their own weaponry. They can't even feed their own people. Their ability to project military power outside area is zero. They could not even stop a determined invasion.

The only thing keeping these regimes in power is the unwillingness of western powers (mostly the US) to unload on them. As they continue launching their terrorist attacks, which have zero military significance, look to see this unwillingness fade and the disappear, followed shortly by the present Arab regimes.

Can they kill a lot of people and cause a lot of suffering. Of course. Can they defeat the US? No way on earth.

[livius]

adopt an attitude where their religious beliefs don't influence their actions

Your beliefs should influence your life. The problem is that their beliefs are just plain wrong.

[Sonny M]

Moderate muslims are basically people who are either islamic in name only (i.e. the muslim guy who eats pork chops, drinks beers, and prays 5 times a month) or somone who picks and chooses what part of the religion they like, and what they don't like. Sort of like a christian fundamentalist who supports gay rights. There are no real muslims, who are religious who are moderate. The Quran makes it clear that you have to be an extremeist to this murderious ideology.