Moderate Islam: A Definition
Reuel Marc Gerecht, as usual uncommonly intelligent, asks whether Imam Rauf is a "moderate Moslem" today in the New Republic. I agree entirely with his assessment:
If Mr. Rauf has collected monies from individuals or Muslim organizations overseas that preach contempt for infidels, have financially supported religiously militant organizations, or, worse, provided aide to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, then his project, which has been approved by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, ought to be cancelled. Any American non-profit organization can tell you exactly whence its money comes. By contrast, it appears that the Cordoba Initiative’s funding has not been cross-checked with financial counterterrorist information within the Treasury Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Central Intelligence Agency. (If it had been, we probably would have heard about it.)
And I note, again, that Imam Rauf's association with the Perdana Peace Initiative makes it hard to believe that this isn't the case. Gerecht continues to ask, "What might be an American definition of a “moderate Muslim?” and offers the following as a rough answer:
(i) a believer who unqualifiedly rejects terrorism against anyone. This is America’s Eleventh Commandment. If a Muslim cannot renounce terrorism against Israelis, that person should not be allowed to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero. Testing for unacceptable deviancy isn’t hard. Just borrow from the former al-Qa’ida philosopher, Abd al-Qadir bin Abd al-Aziz, aka “Dr. Fadl,” who sees Palestinian suicide bombers as destined for hell. Thus: “Do you, Feisal Abd ar-Rauf, believe that Allah damns eternally Palestinian suicide bombers?” “Do you believe that rockets launched at Israeli towns by Hamas and Hizbollah are acts of terrorism, which will bring down upon the perpetrators Allah’s wrath?” Mr. Rauf’s answers ought to be short.
(ii) a believer who embraces the doctrine of “neo-ijtihad,” which holds that Muslims today are not chained to the Qur’anic interpretations and legal decisions accepted centuries ago as canonical. Specifically, a “moderate Muslim American” is someone who unqualifiedly renounces the applicability of the Sharia, the Holy Law, in American society. The “Americanization of Islam” here means that the traditional Muslim understanding of orthodoxy as orthopraxy (it’s not what you believe in your heart—that is between you and God—but how you act, i.e., apply the Sharia, in the public square that matters) is null and void. Thus, women may veil or not veil as they please; a woman’s testimony is equal to a man’s; polygyny is verboten; marriage to a menstruating child is an abomination; accepted corporal punishments—amputations and stonings—are immoral; apostasy reflects bad judgment but isn’t criminal; and Jews and Christians should spiritually no longer be viewed as dhimmis, a properly subordinate species who really don’t deserve the same social status and legal rights as Muslims. Jewish and Christian power in America and Europe isn’t an offense against the divinely-sanctioned natural order; it’s just the product of a long, difficult, and tortuous evolution. The Sharia is a lengthy and complicated corpus that developed over centuries and often constrained the worst instincts of despots. A “moderate Muslim American” would see it in much the same way that a faithful “moderate Jewish American” views the Old Testament and the Talmud: documents of a certain time that contain considerable “divine” wisdom (as well as much looniness) and many imperatives for a good, healthy life.
I agree. An excellent definition. Gerecht concludes:
If Mr. Rauf can so define “moderate Islam,” he may not be as American as apple pie, but he would certainly be as American as much of New York City. Any mosque built by such a believer would honor us all.
I agree with that as well. I would add one more point, namely that Moslems who embrace Gerecht's definition surely do exist. They are not mythological. Assertions to the contrary are ridiculous and undermine the credibility of anyone who makes them. The distinction between radical and moderate Islam is well worth drawing and must be drawn if we are to avoid radicalizing moderates by confirming the propaganda of the Narrative.
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Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Claire, thanks for this. Here's the link to Gerecht's piece: http://www.tnr.com/blog/foreign-policy/76929/what-moderate-islam
There's an extraordinary piece in today's NY Times about how shocked the mosque's -- sorry, the community center's -- organizers are by the backlash. Whatever else these people may or may not be, they're not stupid. It beggars belief that no one seriously considered a reaction like the one they've provoked, even as a worst-case scenario. "Oops!" is a curious way to spin this mess.
If the Times article is to be believed, Rauf and his wife have done a number of commendable things (they "founded a Sufi organization advocating melding Islamic observance with women’s rights and modernity", for example). I can't figure them out, not least because the man most intimately involved has skipped town. Surely that in and of itself is worthy of comment -- why on earth has Rauf hightailed it to Malaysia, leaving his wife on the hot seat? If he really is so moderate, why won't he answer any direct questions?
May '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
I agree essentially with Gerecht's argument. However, it seems that "moderate Islam" is but a thoroughly diluted version of what I like to call genuine Islam. Abiding stringently by the tenets of genuine Islam, particularly by the statements of its holy texts, appears to me to be incompatible with the practice of "moderate Islam."
Jun '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
I have said before in response to these discussions...we must outlaw sharia in the USA. Do we not have enough pride in our own cultural heritage to defend ourselves? There is no need to wait for "moderate" Muslims, whatever that definition may be, to denounce sharia. We denounce sharia as being totally incompatible with western values and laws. If there are, as Claire assures, moderates, let us show them the way. Let us make it easy for them to be western Muslims by making radical Islam illegal.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Perhaps, according to genuine Islam, no one has any right to define what genuine Islam is for someone else. Perhaps there are no intermediaries between God/Allah (yes, they are one and the same as in the "sole truth") and the individual, who has the sole right to interpret the Quran for him/herself only. And perhaps what has been sold to the world as genuine Islam is that of the Arabic despots as they have seen it fit for their despotic purposes and should be viewed as what it really is. Perhaps isolating this despotic interpretation in question in a manner not to impose it down the throats of all of 1.5 billion Muslims (approximately) would bring about the genuine Islam.
Imagine... What if the serial killer acting upon the seven deadly sins in the movie "Seven" had as much money as the Arab despots do and used it to spread his psychotic view around the world, buying out universities, the media, diplomats and political leaders and succeeding in redefining Christianity as the genuine Christianity. Perhaps that is what is going on today.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Having said this, I agree with Gerecht.
Claire will remember the time when a few years ago, I told her that moderate Muslims in Turkey were actually the people in her immediate vicinity, who did not have to wear their religion on their sleeves and pious or not, kept it in their personal spheres.
I believe this would be true for most Arabs as well, except that they are not free and forced by their despots to dress and act a certain way, which coincidentally ends up getting called "genuine Islam."
May '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Okan,
I am suspicious of appeals to differing interpretations when it comes to religious extremism. A proposition asserts a relation of terms. The Koran is replete with propositions, as well as commands, and it is public knowledge that a quick gander at Google will produce an array of unsettling examples. Surah 9:12 supposedly states the following:
"make war on the leaders of unbelief…Make war on them: God will chastise them at your hands and humble them. He will grant you victory over them…"
In the words of Christopher Hitchens, "don't tell me its a metaphor." What am I to make of this claim? How shall I interpret it? Is Islam that amorphous that its prone to such discrepant interpretations? If so, then there's an indictment to be made against the Koran's author(s) for lousy argumentation.
No. I'm believe that the above quote means what it says, that the all-too-common appeal to differing interpretations is but a method of whitewashing the more embarrassing, obviously less-than-modern bits of Islamic scripture. Islam is a thing, it has a nature, and objective conclusions about it can be inferred from its claims.
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Hey, Okan, nice to see you!
Michael, you said it yourself: When it comes to religious extremism, there's not much room for interpretation. When it comes to moderation, there is. I hardly need to point out that both Old and New Testaments, when literally interpreted, also give rise to some rather embarrassing policy prescriptions. I mean, not much enthusiasm for a literalist take on Deuteronomy 21:18 in the civilized world these days, is there?
May '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Okan,
Surely you would not argue that Islam is whatever an individual believes it is. Simple propositions (All men are mortal) don't require interpretation since simple propositions assert easily understandable relations of terms and claims that assert such relations don't require interpretation. The Koran offers many simple propositions, i.e., easily understandable relations of terms, itself.
With respect to my Surah quote, is it meant by "leaders of unbelief" real, physical pagan threats at the time or non-believers past and present? If the first, then the Koran should have been authored to anticipate possible future misinterpretations. If the second, then its a totalitarian text. Either way, the scripture is problematic.
May '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Claire,
Undoubtedly, the OT rules of social conduct were taken literally when they were first introduced to the Jews. Now they are treated as cultural relics of our barbaric past. Why should the literal interpretation be abandoned? I know why, but the question is best put a Jewish individual.
The OT rules came in the form of normative propositions ("One should do this"). The adherence to those rules indicated that the Jews considered those normative claims to be true ("One should stone those people," etc.). The lack of adherence to those rules by contemporary Jews indicates that they no longer consider those claims to be true. Why is it that the truth of those OT normative claims is now considered non-existent? Why are those claims considered embarrassing? Did they serve some purpose then that no longer exists today? Are those claims considered as contingently true?
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Claire, with due respect, we're not talking about the Pentateuch; that's arguing besides the point. And to indulge that point, no one takes that passage literally.
Michael is speaking directly about the Koran. And this is one isolated passage that thousands, if not millions of Muslims believe literally.
To further this point, if Jews or Christians took that passage in Deuteronomy literally, they would be punished by the full force of law in civilized countries. They would be chastened and shunned by "moderate" Jewish or Christian communities.
Why does no such thing exist in Islam?
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Michael, two questions:
1) Does moderate Islam exist. Answer: Yes.
2) Are there nonetheless way too many radical Moslems? Answer: Yes.
My point is that there are no grounds to oppose the GZM simply because the project is Islamic. It is possible to be Islamic and moderate. The relevant question is--is it? And the reason the question must be asked with real seriousness is because of the answer to question number two.
Jul '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
The unwillingness of "moderate" Muslims to decry the extremist factions of their religion makes the whole enterprise suspect, confirmation of the "moderateness" of founders of the proposed Pier 51 mosque notwithstanding.
I would say the evidence points thus far to the founders being sympathetic to the violent factions of the religion.
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Me too. No argument from me there, as you know. But if this is the case, they're not moderates. Moderates do, nonetheless, exist.
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Yes, this is a key point, and to ignore it would be "ridiculous." Are there outspoken "moderate" leaders who would agree with Gerecht? If so, who? I don't read many papers, much less international papers, are they writing columns? Organizing protests? Where are the Muslims who are furious at Rauf's proposal of a mosque at Ground Zero? ... And who demand a change of location? ... And who threaten to boycott it? ... And who agree it's a hideous provocation? Where are the Muslims who say Rauf and his kind are *not* the kind of Muslims we should be working with, because of their association with shady/evil characters? Where are the Muslims working to "take back Islam" from its radical elements?
Jun '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Radical Muslims subjugate non-Muslims by physical force. Moderate Muslims subjugate non-Muslims by demographic force. The only difference that historians will notice, a millennium from now, is the time period needed to accomplish the result.
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Actually, Emily Esfahani Smith, our colleague, wrote a great WSJ article a week or so ago about some women in Virginia and West Virginina (I think, is that right Emily?) who are fighting against the more radical elements within their own mosques with slim success. Emily, are you out there? How are these women faring? Why are they not more vocal? Or, perhaps, they are and I don't see it? I am a bit hamstrung technology wise (for searching and linking purposes, etc.) since I am in New Hampshire on a dinosaur of a computer, but I'm curious ... and hope to catch up later.
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
Ursula--
http://www.therightscoop.com/muslim-raheel-raza-speaks-out-against-ground-zero-mosque-on-oreilly
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/08/muslims_speak_out_against_the.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/06/AR2010080603006.html
http://www.hudson-ny.org/1389/ground-zero-mosque-stop-imam
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/an-american-muslim-speaks-out-against-ground-zero-mosque/blog-331019/
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/14/plan-build-mosque-near-ground-zero-riles-families-victims/
"They are not using it to lead the war like Americans need to see us do and they are wasting our resources, not to mention that being close to the hallowed ground that is so sensitive in the souls of the families of 9/11. I think it is extremely poor judgment."
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Mischief+Manhattan/3370303/story.html#ixzz0w4TscDTW
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
The latest:
Park51 @ClaireBerlinski I can't speak for Imam Feisal, you'd have to ask @cordobainit
Hi @Cordobainit, I'm an Istanbul-based American journalist with a few questions. Wonder if you could help me out.
@Cordobainit, I understand that Imam Rauf is a key figure in the Perdana Peace Org., key sponsor of Gaza Flotilla.
@Cordobainit, I'd like to know if there are financial links between Park 51 and the Gaza Flotilla, particularly to the IHH
@Cordobainit, I've spent a lot of time interviewing the IHH, and they're not my idea of moderates.@Cordobainit The IHH was behind the Mavi Marmara, and as you know the IHH has been declared a terrorist group in France and Germany
In fact, @Cordobainit, they nearly brought Turkey and Israel to the brink of a naval war--in my neighborhood. So I view them dimly.
So @Cordobainit, I'd really welcome the chance to look at your financial records vis-a-vis Perdana. Can you help with that?
May '10
Re: Moderate Islam: A Definition
I understand that it is a tenet of Islam that, while it is a sin to lie to another Muslim, it is not a sin to lie to an infidel. If this is the case, then how can we trust anyone who speaks to the public of the Great Satan?
Contrast that to, "Thou shalt not bear false witness." Period.