[lit-ideas] In Search of the Moderate European Muslim
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Lit-Ideas" <Lit-Ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 09:19:01 -0700
On pages 68-69 of Anti-Americanism, Jean-Francois Revel (a Frenchman writing
from Paris) writes, "While the statistics are unreliable, it is thought that
between four and five million Muslims are living in France. This is the
largest such community in Europe, followed a long way behind by those in
Germany and Britain. If the 'immense majority' of these Muslims are
moderates, as the imams and muftis and their political and media parrots
claim, it seems to me that this moderation should be rather more apparent.
For example, after the bombings of 1986 and 1995 in Paris, which killed
several dozen people and wounded many more, it should have been easy to find
a few thousand 'moderates' out of 4.5 million Muslims, a good proportion of
whom have French nationality - enough at least for a demonstration march
from the Republique to the Bastille or along the Canebiere. There was never
even a hint of one.
"In Spain, there were several rallies of up to a hundred thousand people in
2001 to condemn the assassins of the Basque ETA terrorist organization.
These took place throughout the country and even in the Basque Country,
where protestors had reason to fear reprisals, although the terrorists'
partisans were actually very much in the minority (which was made
overwhelmingly evident by the regional elections of November 2000).
"In contrast, if moderate Muslims in France dare to protest publicly so
little, couldn't it be because they know that they, and not the extremists,
are minorities within their communities? This explains why they are so
moderate with their moderation. It's the same story in Britain, where in
1989 Muslims, for the most part Pakistani immigrants, erupted with anger
against Salman Rushdie and shouted for his death, with nary a protest
against such barbarity. And after September 11, a qualified spokesman for
British Muslims, a certain al-Misri, called the attacks on the World Trade
Center acts of 'legitimate defense.' Another spiritual authority, Omar
Bakri Mohammed, launched a fatwa commanding the assassination of the
president of Pakistan because the latter had sided with President Bush
against bin Laden. However attentively you might have listened, you would
never have heard the slightest whisper from moderate British Muslims
protesting against the calls for murder. There were no such protests, just
as there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim majority in France. The
notion that the 'immense majority' of Muslims settled in Europe were
peacefully inclined was, during the two months after September 11, starkly
revealed for what it was: a mirage."
Lawrence
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