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From a comment posted here by Mac of the Askew weblog:
An Iranian friend of mine who has left Islam and lives in the West now, says that there is no moderation in Islam. He says that there are those who truly study and understand the purpose of Islam, and they are radicals. Then there are those who don't really know the Qur'an and Islam's other holy books well; they buy into a sort of mythological "religion of peace". Finally there are those who know well that there is no moderation, but present a moderate face to the Westerners they encounter, in order to protect themselves and advance Islam's cause. (Taqiyya - deliberate deceit in the advancement of Islam is acceptable to Allah; Kitman - the withholding of part of the truth in advancement of Islam is acceptable.)
This matches up precisely with what Ayaan Hirsi Ali said on Hannity & Colmes a few days ago (video link here via HotAir):
Colmes: You say you renounced your faith after 9-11. Is that correct?
Ali: Yes.
Colmes: Why let those who misuse the faith, because they are radicals, and maybe not even observing the faith as it is meant to be observed, dictate your own faith?
Ali: I'm afraid that's not the truth. I'm afraid that the Islamic faith has not gone through the reformation and through enlightenment. And it is the faith that is as it is. After Bin Laden, after 9-11, I started to download the documents of Bin Laden, and I started to hold them up against the Koran and the Hadith -
Colmes: But is that true Islam?
Ali: Yes. I was shocked to discover that that was true Islam. But that doesn't have to mean the end of Islam. What Muslims can do, is not renounce Islam like I have done, that was just for private reasons - but what they can do is acknowledge that what Bin Laden is saying, is correct, but that that belongs to the 7th and 8th century, and not in the 21st century.
Colmes: There are 1.4 billion people, I mean depending on various estimates, but around that number, who practice Islam in the world today. Are you suggesting that all those people are radicals or believe what Bin Laden claims Islam is? Don't most of those people want a peaceful world?
Ali: I'm not saying that all of them are radicals. I'm saying Muslims are varied. But I'm saying Islam has as its basic tenets, elements that are not compatible with liberal Democracy. And that if you want to wage war, against non-Muslims, in this case the West, that you will find enough ammunition, within Islam. But Muslims are varied, and can be persuaded otherwise, yes.
It's very difficult for Westerners to hear this. But we need to listen.
#2Alan Colmes clings blindly and desperately to his assumption that any religion by definition must be peaceful. It hasn’t occurred to him yet that this basic assumption is just . . . incorrect.
Exactly. Westerners can't immediately grasp it that Islam is not a religion in the Western sense of the word; it's not about peace, love and understanding. To us, that's what religion is all about; but that does not appear to be the case with Islam. As commenter MacBrooks put it:
Looking over that link, I’d say Islam is one scary concept: not only is it OK to kill people under certain conditions, but one appears to be mandated to do so. Doesn’t really sound like a peaceful religion to me.
Wow, the one night I miss Hannity and Colmes and I missed that! Alan Colmes clings blindly and desperately to his assumption that any religion by definition must be peaceful. It hasn't occurred to him yet that this basic assumption is just . . . incorrect.
Mr. Ali makes an excellent point that muslims don't have to scrap Islam, but they do need to bring it into step with the rest of modern civilization - most of which has moved past imprisoning women, stoning to death, and cutting body parts off thieves.
The best Western muslim thinkers keep saying the same thing - that it is the radicals who are practicing Islam as it really is. That would greatly explain the reluctance of 'moderates' to denounce it. Here is another great article on the same subject, also from an ex-Muslim: http://askew.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/11/20/2514063.html