There are no moderate Muslims

Those of us who want to see an end to Islamic terrorism, yet know the terrorist bent of both the Koran and the Hadith, have struggled with whether or not Islam can be reformed.  As I have written, it certainly can't return to first principles (restoration), because it is in those that we find the blatant racism and violence.  Their only moderating approach will be one of liberalism, which has a better descriptor than "moderate,' which is nominal.  Similar to "nominal Christians," they don't follow the teachings very closely, and merely look for a positive moral structure and humanistic ethic dressed in faith.

In fact, this truth about the rotten root of Islam is why Muslim turned atheist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of the new book Infidel, has called term "moderate Muslim" an oxymoron.   With Islam, returning to first principles is to return to righteousness by the law, murder, deception, and control, in the name of Allah.   Others have recently written about the myth of the moderate Muslim, and although this is somewhat a semantic discussion, the point is that, theologically speaking, it is very difficult to formulate a "moderate" Muslim theology based on the Koran and Hadith.

This is what separates Christianity from Islam - a return to the first principles of Christ (a.k.a. the "fundamentals") is a return to personal piety, good works, love, and preaching righteousness, but not fear, coercion or compulsion (even though some Christian religionists may resort to such).  However, I can already predict that the liberal mindset, which can't distinguish between preaching righteousness and Islamic oppression, will not see this very significant and real distinction.  But I'll deal with that in my next post.

Comments

[Louis]

"Liberal mindset." You just can't resist. Everyone who may, for whatever reason, disagree with you is automatically an evil "liberal."

You don't know the meaning of the word because it has no meaning for you. In fact, it's just some vague epithet you can fling around promiscuously. I suppose it's a synonym for "evil" in what passes for your mind.

[Cineaste]

However, I can already predict that the liberal mindset, which can't distinguish between preaching righteousness and Islamic oppression, will not see this very significant and real distinction.

Saying this and using Ayaan Hirsi Ali to support it is a real head scratcher considering she is a liberal with a liberal mindset. Here is a video of Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Real time with Bill Maher speaking about this very subject!

Is Islam a religion of peace? Panel members Steven Weber, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) discuss terror, religion, and freedom in this clip.

Bill Maher, another liberal, agrees with her. Also Seeker, she distinguishes between Islam and Muslims. She makes the case that Muslims CAN be moderate but Islam cannot.

[Stewart]

"I suppose it's a synonym for 'evil' in what passes for your mind."

If his mind is not actually a mind, but merely passes for a mind, then what exactly do you suppose that it really is?

I agree with your point about his use of the word "liberal", but you're not helping your case by being guilty of meaningless statements yourself.

[Louis]

"...then what exactly do you suppose that it really is?"

A black hole? A vacuum? A coiled snake ready to strike?

Beats me.

[Cineaste]

More on Ayaan Hirsi Ali who has been accused of being an "enlightenment fundamentalist" (like me) by the European left wing! I get the impression that she is so far to the left that conservatives have the false impression she is in the right wing :)

Europe can't grasp Hirsi Ali, who has the gall to speak her mind

Clearly, there is something about Ayaan Hirsi Ali that annoys, rankles, irritates. I am speaking as one who does not know Hirsi Ali - the outspoken Dutch-Somali critic of Islam - but as one who, while living in Europe, cannot seem to avoid meeting her detractors. Most recently I met a Dutch diplomat who positively glowered when her name was mentioned. As a member of the Dutch parliament, Hirsi Ali had, he complained, switched parties, talked out of turn and refused to toe whatever was the proper political line. Above all, it irritated him that she did not share his Dutch faith in political consensus.

For those who haven't encountered her name yet, suffice it to say that Hirsi Ali is a European of African descent with an almost American rags-to-riches life story. As a young woman, she escaped from her Somali family while en route to an arranged marriage in Canada, made her way to Holland, learned Dutch, attended college and eventually won a seat in the Dutch parliament. Along the way, she also made an intellectual journey - beautifully described in her new book, Infidel - from tribal Somalia, through fundamentalism and into Western liberalism. After Sept. 11, 2001, horrified by some of the things Osama bin Laden was saying, she reached for the Quran to confirm a hunch: ''I hated to do it,'' she wrote, ''because I knew that I would find bin Laden's quotations in there.''

Partly as a result she lost her faith, concluding that the Quran spreads a culture that is ''brutal, bigoted, fixated on controlling women, and harsh in war,'' and that should not be tolerated by European liberals. The conclusion led her into a series of controversies - and to the murder of a Dutch filmmaker with whom she had co-produced a film about the mistreatment of Muslim women. The murderer was the son of Moroccan immigrants, born in Holland; he pinned a letter threatening Hirsi Ali onto his victim's chest. Ultimately, she left Holland for Washington, where she remains, ensconced at the American Enterprise Institute.

Yet even from that distance she continues to provoke Europeans, sometimes without saying anything at all. After a somewhat patronizing review of her first book - in which British writer Timothy Garton Ash called her a ''brave, outspoken, slightly simplistic Enlightenment fundamentalist'' - the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner came galloping to the defense of Hirsi Ali and the Enlightenment. Garton Ash counterattacked, and others joined what turned quickly into a wide-ranging debate (read the whole thing at www.signandsight.com) about reason, faith, multiculturalism and the integration of millions of Muslim immigrants into European culture.

Curiously, what seems to rankle Europeans most is the enthusiasm with which Hirsi Ali has adopted their own secularism and the fervor with which she has embraced their own Western values. Though this continent's intellectuals routinely disparage the pope as an irrelevant dinosaur, Hirsi Ali's rejection of religion in favor of reason, intellect and emancipation seems to make everyone nervous. Typical is the British feminist who complained that not only does Hirsi Ali paint ''the whole of the Islamic world with one black brush,'' she also ''paints the whole of the Western world with rosy tints,'' which is, of course, far more objectionable.

Others have compared her unfavorably to the Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who argues that Islam can be made compatible with modern European democracy. He, it is said, offers a way forward for millions of pious European Muslims. By contrast, Hirsi Ali's rejection of religion in favor of Western secularism is said to be a form of integration that works for no one but herself.

I suppose this latter charge might be true. On the other hand, it might not be: Maybe Infidel will inspire a generation of Muslim teenagers to study, work hard, join the mainstream - and then say what they think and spoil the political consensus. Either way, I'm not sure that the impulse to dismiss Hirsi Ali for her lack of utilitarian value reflects well on those who do it. Nor does the underlying assumption: that religious faith must be respected and defended on behalf of the dark-skinned immigrants who live among us, even though we natives no longer seem to require it.

But perhaps it is just a question of time. In America, the phenomenon of the flag-waving first-generation immigrant is familiar. In Europe, such a thing is unknown. Maybe once Europeans get used to the idea - a Muslim immigrant who embraces Western culture with the excitement of the convert! - they'll like Hirsi Ali better. And if they're lucky, others will follow in her footsteps.

[David]

It is an interesting post - how about spending half the time that is spent arguing about it praying for our muslim brothers and sisters. Paul clearly states that the war is NOT against flesh and blood. Do you think Paul would not have join the zealots in fighting the Romans if that would have achieved anything...
Islam is not something to fear - it is something that gives us opportunity to pray for people through.
As far as the comments about moderate muslims it is quite obvious that that person has never met a muslim or travelled in the middle east. A lot of them live more Christ like lives then "Christians" in the west. Showing love to strangers, helping their neighbour and being generous. Does that sound more like Jesus or by calling ourselves Christians does that quantify that we are Christ-like in our living?
Basically what I am saying is pray for our brothers and sisters whenever you think about them - that is what will effect change.