Moderate Islam

Here is an article of two parts, a press release from the B'nai Brith Anti-Defamation Commission, and a dissenting comment from ICJS,

Part 1: 

Moderate Muslims against terrorism

The B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) supports Prime Minister John Howard’s call for moderate Muslims to speak out more often against terrorism.

ADC executive officer, Manny Waks, commented: “The Prime Minister is absolutely justified in calling on the moderates in the Muslim community to take a public stand against terrorism more often. It is important for the wider community here in Australia to hear such condemnation of action which seeks to destroy our western democratic way of life.”

Mr Michael Lipshutz, ADC’s acting chairman, was unapologetic when asked to respond to Mr Howard’s recent remarks. Mr Lipshutz has emphasised that “the Prime Minister’s comments are in no way inflammatory. They simply speak the facts. Too often so-called moderate members of the Muslim community have excused acts of terrorism for their own political agenda. This is totally unacceptable.

“It is now five years post-September 11 and the continued role of Islamo-fascism has been consistently demonstrated in recent times from Bali and Mumbai to London and Madrid. It is therefore incumbent upon the overwhelmingly moderate majority of the Muslim community to genuinely condemn this wicked ideology which espouses terrorism. It is not enough for these individuals to condemn such barbarism but they should also take pro-active action, not just react with vague language” Mr Lipshutz added.

The ADC is still considering taking legal action against the Mufti of Australia, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly, for his antisemitic outbursts. Earlier in the year Sheik Hilaly was reported to have denied the Holocaust ever happened. “The Muslim community has had numerous opportunities to distance itself from the antisemitic Mufti but has consistently failed to do so. The Mufti has both denied the Holocaust and supports terrorism against Israel. Mr Howard’s recent comments are certainly most applicable in this instance” Mr Lipshutz concluded.

Ronit Fraid on behalf of the ICJS executive questions how the strategy articulated by the B'B Anti-Def can succeed  

Part 2

Two problems with Moderate Muslims:

They don't debate the issues.

Western society has a long tradition of debating ideas, beliefs and dialogue. We are constantly being challenged about our views by people who don't share them and something  within us (I suspect our culture) dictates that we defend our ideas even when we'd rather not.

For example, clients might ask why I charge so much money for my services. I must explain.  My family ask why I spend so much time on ICJS and I am forced to answer. A more pertinent example: A reporter wants Howard to reveal when he intends to hand power to Costello. Of course he welcomes the question if it's part of Howard's today agenda. But if it's not part of his agenda he will probably deflect the question and think the interviewer is a moron. Nevertheless he is obliged to answer the challenge somehow. You won't find him attacking the reporter.

Not so with moderate Muslims. Moderate Muslims respond to challenging questions by attacking the challenger. They are more concerned with the motive of the questioner than the content of the question. This degrades the level of debate, because:

1) it effectively intimidates the questioner. It forces the questioner to ask convoluted questions like: "Mr Howard says that all migrants should have to learn English. How do you respond to that?". This is OK for a junior reporter, but for an articulate interviewer (eg a Tony Jones) it is severely limiting. He just cannot ask the moderate Muslim directly for his attitude to any issue, thus...

2) while political conservatives articulate their concerns very well, moderate Muslims do not respond. Rather the responses usually come from non-Muslim liberals. Non- Muslim liberals don't actually know the true moderate Muslim response because there is none. Bleeding heart liberals observe firsthand how "outraged" Muslims become when challenged, and then answer on their behalf but they are making it up as they go. So we end up with a stupid debate where one side challenges and the other side makes up the answers they believe the moderate Muslims ought to give.

Moderate Muslims don't really understand what "rights" are.

Even moderate Muslim spokespeople don't seem to understand the universality of rights and how it's more about the "other" than about the "me".

What seems built into my psyche is (a) that I am more attuned to other people's lack of rights than my own, and (b) whenever I do concern myself with MY rights, I worry about how my rights impact on others. A small example: I want the right to take off Jewish Holy days from work, without losing my job. I am immediately beset with self doubts like: Am I asking for a special privilege? Could anyone else (from a different faith) ask for the same? Am I letting down my non-Jewish co-workers?

Also, there is a big distinction between an "equal right" and a "special privilege". Any advocacy group which openly seeks affirmative action to solve a problem is aware of this distinction. You can argue one way or the other about the merits of affirmative action but as long as it's discussed openly it's not a problem. However, when moderate Muslim spokespeople discuss their "rights", they don't seem to engage in discussion about the facts that others have rights too. They don't examine carefully whether they are asking for special privileges.

A prime manifestation of this total misunderstanding of what human rights are is the so-called "right of a Muslim to resist occupation". Moderate Muslims seem to think that they have a right to violate the rights of others when they believe they are being "occupied" that is, when they believe their own rights are being violated.

In conclusion, until moderate muslims share values with the West about (1) the importance proper debate to canvass issues, and (2) the universality of human rights, it is hard to see how any calls for the denunciation of terrorism by Moderate Muslims will succeed or be meaningful.