Here’s the sad truth: Mainstream Muslims have zero influence over extremists. In fact, if one of those guys had a single bullet in his gun and you and I were up against the wall, he would shoot me first. He hates me more because not only do I not follow his perverse vision of Islam, I also represent an alternative interpretation. He insists Islam requires domination; I suggest Islam inspires cooperation.
Extremists have a strategy. They want their terrorist acts to be front-page news, to stain a 1,400-year-old religion, to smear a community of 1.3 billion people.They want Americans to be suspicious of their Muslim neighbors. If we want to defeat extremists, we have to reject their world view and drown out their message. Indignantly asking, “Where are the moderate Muslims?”, as if there aren’t any, is allowing the extremists to set the terms, effectively aiding and abetting their agenda.
The truth is, mainstream Muslims are right in front of you, speaking all the time, advancing a Muslim vision of mercy and cooperation. It’s time people added their voices to ours, instead of amplifying the message of the extremists.
Yes, I can see all the Muslim hospitals, orphanages, homeless shelters, and soup kitchens dotting the landscape…oh, wait…
#1 Actually, world-wide there are a number of hospitals, orphanages etc. run by Muslims, unfortunately often extremists. For example Hamas has stuffed the ballot box in Palestine by running relief when they aren’t blowing themselves up.
I’m glad to hear from a moderate Muslim. My problem is not whether or not they exist, but more why aren’t they more vocally heard when terror is committed in their religion’s name?
Where are all the moderate Muslim [b]religious[/b] leaders decrying terrorism and extremism perpetrated in the name of their religion? Any time some wacko who happens to be portrayed as a Christian torches an abortion clinic, the mainstream Protestant clerical establishment is lined up waiting to get in front of any media so they can say “that person is no Christian and does not represent Christian values.”
So when was the last time you saw a group of imams on TV condemning shoe bombers, etc.? It’s going to take more than some patriotic, thoughtful Muslim citizens writing a letter to the editor of their newspaper to make a dent in this insanity.
They need to speak out during hajj from the hallowed ground of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, and issue fatwas against any who use Islam as an excuse for terrorist violence. Otherwise, they aren’t going to be heard.
Actions speak much, much more than mere words, so if these moderates want to truly have an influence on people’s perception of Islam, then they have to muster the courage to turn in those terrorists who plot to murder not only non-Muslims for their “unbelief,” but also their own people…..their fellow Muslims…..who dare to disobey them.
IMHO, there are moderate Muslims and some of them are losing their lives attempting to bring sanity and participative democracy to Iran. Why hasn’t the mainstream media been covering it?
I find several of the comments here (particularly #1) really disheartening. They just reinforce people’s predjudices and stereotypes rather than address the content of the article that Kendall posted.
As many of you know, I live and work in a Muslim country, and we have lately suffered greatly due to an increase in terrorist activity by Al-Qaeda here. One friend and colleague on another team was killed here in June. About half of the expat missionary community has left as a result. It is a hard time, and the poor here are suffering as tourism and investment has dried up, as NGOs have closed, etc.
I hear daily from Muslims here how much they hate what is happening, how it is against what they believe and stand for. I would say that 90-95% of the population here are totally against what the Al-Qaeda extremists are doing. There really ARE moderate and peace-loving Muslims, some are speaking up, but unfortunately the extremists’ actions get a lot more attention.
In the meantime, perhaps some of the commenters here could go out and try meeting some Muslims and forming friendships and sharing Christ with them rather than just spouting off here about how evil Muslims and Islam is. Many Muslims here think all Christians hate and stereotype Muslims. Unfortunately some do. Please help break the pattern and show Muslims you want them to know the love of Christ. Christ’s love WILL triumph over all evil.
Absoluely great comment Karen B. I think a lot of us would like to reach out to Muslims but are afraid of doing so because of what we see many Muslim clerics saying and doing, not because of what we see from Islamic laity. That being said, I must say that I well remember some of my coworkers, recently arrived in the U.S. to work, complaining that they had nowhere to pray. The company set aside space for prayer in conference rooms and said that supervisors had to excuse employees for prayer. The response from these coworkers was to further complain that they now did not have adequate facilities for ritual cleansing/washing. Less than one year later, the same company forbid several other coworkers from using an empty conference room during their lunch hour for a small Bible study.
This may play into stereotypes, but it does point out that there is fear in both the political and corporate world to do anything that might offend a Muslim, while they feel perfectly O.K. to step on the rights of Christians. Non-muslims notice this type of behavior and I am afraid it breeds resentment.
Now that I’ve gotten my rant out of the way 😉 let *me* actually address some of what is written in the article.
I do agree with one of the author’s main premises that Muslim terrorists are specifically targeting “moderate Islam” as well as targeting westerners and western interests.
He writes:
[i]He hates me more because not only do I not follow his perverse vision of Islam, I also represent an alternative interpretation. He insists Islam requires domination; I suggest Islam inspires cooperation.[/i]
In fact, some of al Qaeda’s attacks against Westerners and Western interests here where I work has been with the stated goal of destabilizing the local government which has been perceived as too moderate, too cooperative with the West. So, yes, there is much truth to what Patel writes.
At the same time, I’d criticize him for being too naive, too quick to give Islam a pass, as if Islamic theology had nothing to do with the rise of Islamic terrorism and extremism. Islam was birthed in war and political and military conquest. “Jihad” (holy struggle, usually interpreted as holy war) is a central tenet of Islam. And this is one reason why those Muslims who truly love peace and wish to defeat Islamic terrorism face such a hard challenge. There is a consistent history of warfare and violence linked to Islam that cannot be denied, and it has deep theological roots.
Daniel, I hadn’t seen your #8 when I wrote my #9. It’s a very good comment. There are a lot of actions, statements and attitudes by and of Muslims that make fear of and frustration towards Muslims in the West hard to avoid. I am concerned by a lot of what I see especially by European governments (and even church leaders!) to bend over backwards to accommodate Muslims while marginalizing Christians. And even worse, I have friends in Britain who write of how huge segments of even the evangelical church there have withdrawn from any constructive engagement with Muslims out of prejudice or fear, or, out of belief that Muslims have their own religion and don’t need Jesus.
That attitude of disengagement and separation is what worries me, and I have even seen it among some conservative Anglicans in the States. For instance, although I have been very encouraged that CANA has made “engagement with Islam” a priority, (see here: http://www.canaconvocation.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=363&Itemid=50), I have been somewhat concerned that the form it has taken seems often to be quite a negative stance in terms of educating American Anglicans about the “dangers” and “agenda” of Islam and how we must resist Islam’s spread. See CANA’s “Church & Islam” website for an example: http://www.churchandislam.com/
When I last checked that site (a few months ago – perhaps things have changed, I can’t access that website today to check, unfortunately) the resources listed there seem to focus on the “exposing the lies about Islam” side of things and less about how to love and evangelize Muslims side of things. Canon Julian Dobbs who heads this project has been quoted as saying that CANA is [i]”committed to providing its members with honest and respectful information, while exposing the truth about so-called moderate Islam”[/i]
Perhaps the problem is a confusion between “moderate MUSLIMS” and “moderate ISLAM.” I can assure you that even if at its heart Islam may not be particularly a “peaceful” religion, millions of Muslims around the world are moderate and desire peace for their families and the world, including America, Britain, France, etc.
I would love to see our churches better to provide resources to educate American Anglicans about the Muslim worldview not to expose Islam’s “lies” but rather to promote ways that have been working in many contexts to build bridges and explain the Gospel to Muslims in a way they understand and help them to enter into a relationship with Christ? I don’t want to see us reinforcing the “us and them” mentality that breeds fear and causes us to treat Muslims as if they are impossible to reach for the Kingdom and somehow outside of Christ’s ability to save.
For folks who might be interested in learning about some good resources I could recommend about reaching out to Muslims, I’d be glad to respond to private messages on this topic.
By the way, while I don’t have too many of the details, I’ve just learned from a friend working in a Muslim country in West Africa that one of the leading imams in the country (who reportedly has the ear of many of the more radical Islamists there) just recently issued a “Fetwa” or religious decree as follows:
“It is formally forbidden by our holy religion to injure, attack, kidnap or expose foreigners to blackmail, whether man or woman.”
That’s very encouraging for me to hear, as Al Qaeda has been very active throughout West Africa in the past 2-3 years and many Christian workers in various parts of the region have chosen or been forced to leave the region for security reasons. I know the Southern Baptists have pulled out a lot of their workers in several countries. So I’m quite thankful some Muslim leaders ARE speaking out. Throughout several countries in West Africa as well, local political leaders are also taking ACTION – such as beefing up anti-terrorism laws and creating new military units to fight terrorism.