February 8, 2006
Still Waiting For Moderate Muslims....
By Tom
Bevan
Six days after September
11, President Bush went to the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C.,
to deliver a message to a shocked, grieving nation: “These
acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets
of the Islamic faith.” “Islam,” the President
continued, “is peace.”
Five years later,
after bombings in Bali, Turkey, Madrid, London, Israel, Iraq,
and Amman (to name a few), the savage killing of Theo van Gogh,
the murdering of children in Beslan, the burning of thousands
of cars in Paris, and now a global conflagration over a few lame
cartoons published in a Danish newspaper months ago, it is more
than understandable the world is starting to question whether
President Bush’s proclamation was more wishful thinking
than fact.
The current crisis
over the Mohammed cartoons helps illuminate another threat that
is every bit as dangerous as terrorism: the cultural assertiveness
of Islamic fundamentalism. The people we see rioting in London
and around the world are not all willing to strap bombs to themselves
in the name of Allah. But they’re clearly demonstrating
a sympathy for the fundamentalist cause – whether manipulated
or not- and a willingness to use threats of violence as a form
of cultural intimidation. That is an ominous sign.
We keep hearing about
how the vast majority of the 1.4 billion Muslims in the world
practice the religion of Islam peacefully. That is certainly true,
though not terribly important. What is important is where the
trend is heading between the majority and the minority. This is
a process without stasis; every day each group within Islam is
either gaining or losing ground. One group is exerting more influence
and control and the other is exerting less. Few would dispute
that over the last five years, with few exceptions, the fundamentalist
minority within Islam has been the group making strides.
The problem, of course,
is that while the West is the target of Islamic fundamentalism
and terror, the West is not in control of the outcome of the battle.
Ultimately, that responsibility rests in the hands of moderate
Muslims. No amount of appeasement, or bombs, or isolation, or
troop withdrawals by the West is going to change the core dynamic
of the struggle between those who want a modern, tolerant version
of Islam and those who want to impose a 9th century version of
sharia.
Every religion has
its fundamentalists – Christianity no less than Islam. The
difference between the two (as well as other major religions)
is that over time and through much struggle Christians developed
an external, peaceful tolerance toward those who would offend
or insult their faith and, just as importantly, an internal discipline
and intolerance toward members who would commit heinous acts of
violence against innocent people in the name of their Lord. Islam,
for the most part, still has that equation backwards.
And so we wait and
continue to wonder: where are the moderate Muslims today? Where
have they been for the last five years? We saw protests against
terrorism in the streets of Amman last year – but only after
the horrendous suicide bombing of a wedding shocked the consciousness
of Jordanians. Aside from that, we’ve seen nothing demonstrating
the magnitude and seriousness one would expect from hundreds of
millions of people outraged over the fact their religion’s
good name has been hijacked and distorted by a small group of
fundamentalists.
There are only two
conclusions to be drawn: moderate, peace-loving Muslims are either
unable to win the battle against fundamentalism, or they are unwilling
to win it. We are fast approaching the day when the continued
lack of demonstrable effort on the part of moderate Muslims serves
to disabuse the West of the notion that Islam “is peace.”
That would be a terrible thing, and it would make the struggle
of moderate Muslims that much more difficult in the end. The time
for action is now.
Tom
Bevan is the co-founder and Executive Editor of RealClearPolitics.
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