[lit-ideas] Re: Moderate Muslims
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:16:20 -0400
Robert: This is a paradigm of the sort of reasoning ('Harris
says...') Lawrence dismissed . . .Of course, this may not
have been meant as an argument.
Eric: It's not meant as an argument; it's an attempt to
present a topic for discussion. The topic is whether there
is ... "every reason to believe that a terrifying number of
the world's Muslims now view all political and moral
questions in terms of their affiliation with Islam. This
leads them to rally to the cause of other Muslims no matter
how sociopathic their behavior."
Canadian author Irshad Manji has noticed this trend and
written _The Trouble with Islam Today_ to address it. The
problem as she sees it is that
http://www.muslim-refusenik.com/thebook.html#troublewithislamis
"only in Islam is literalism mainstream. Which means that
when abuse happens under the banner of Islam, most Muslims
have no clue how to dissent, debate, revise or reform."
Manji has started Project Ijtihad, which she describes as
"our foundation to spur a reform in Islam — a reform that
enables the emerging generation of Muslims, especially young
women, to challenge authoritarianism and restore Islam’s
tradition of critical thinking."
In "A Moderate Muslim view of Islamic Terrorism, "
http://www.crescentlife.com/heal%20the%20world/moderate_muslim_view_of_islamic_terrorism.htm
Kamal Nawash writes that "Fundamentalist Islamic terror
represents one of the most lethal threats to the stability
of the civilized world . . . ."
"So far, the few Muslims who choose to speak up against
militant extremist Islam have faced threats of violence and
accusations of being anti-Islam. In effect, the message
disseminated by radical Muslims is that merely discussing
Islamic terrorism is to be construed as an attack on Islam."
Simon's polling information, which I haven't yet looked at,
doesn't seem to directly address this issue. It identifies
some self-identified moderate Muslim opinion in Britain, but
doesn't indicate to what extent that data is reliable. For
example, see:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1548786,00.html
Radical links of UK's 'moderate' Muslim group
The Muslim Council of Britain has been courted by the
government and lauded by the Foreign Office but critics tell
a different and more disturbing story.
or
http://www.muslim-refusenik.com/news/newyorktimes-2006-08-16.html
In the wake of the London bombings on July 7, 2005, Iqbal
Sacranie, then the head of the influential Muslim Council of
Britain, insisted that economic discrimination lay at the
root of Islamist radicalism in his country. When it came to
light that some of the suspects enjoyed middle-class
upbringings, university educations, jobs and cars, Mr.
Sacranie found a new culprit: foreign policy. In so doing,
he boarded the groupthink express steered by Muslim elites
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