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December 3, 2007

On Moderate Muslims

Topics: Understanding Islam

For me, Lisa Schiffren's piece at NRO today is worthy of a link, if for no other reason, I love it's beginning: "While we are on the subject of the problems with Islam in today's world -- and when are we not, these days?" She goes on to point out ...

Even if we believe that only a relatively small percentage of Muslims are really fundies -- they seem to hold the balance of power in their societies. Since it seems clear enough that we cannot change things for them, we are going to have to wait and watch as they sort it out themselves. It is hard to imagine that happening peacefully.

It's a good read that opines on the question all of us are asking ourselves, "Just where did all the moderate Muslims go to."

Catch all of it here ...

Then read Mark Steyn's comments. Here's an enticing exerpt:

Lisa, your second post is really the answer to your first one (link added). What if we've already had the reformation of Islam and jihadism is it? It wasn't just Seventies Bryn Mawr Muslims who were "moderates". So were, comparatively, Muslims all over the world. The Sudan's always been a nutty joint but you'd have had a harder time convincing anyone to jail an English schoolmarm over a teddy bear 50 years ago: The Prophet's authoritative cuddly-toy suras date back all of 20 minutes. In 1950, a young Pakistani emigrating to Scotland or Canada would have received an education different only in degree, not (as now) wholly foreign in kind and ever more resistant even to the possibility of assimilation. One can detect similar trends in Indonesia, Singapore, the Central Asian stans, the Balkans - and among the de-assimilationist third generation Muslims in western Europe.

The Islamic "reformation" is, in a sense, the opposite of Christianity's. The Saudis have used their vast oil enrichment to promote themselves as a kind of Holy See for Muslims, and the Wahhabization of previously low-key syncretic localized Islams in almost every corner of the planet is testament to their success. I look at the gazillions of dollars tossed into the great sucking maw of US "intelligence" agencies and I wonder why somewhere in the budget we couldn't put something aside to promote a bit of covert ideological rollback in Chechnya or Bosnia or Pakistan. But we're not that savvy, and God knows what unintended consequences would blow up in our faces.

Posted by Richard at December 3, 2007 10:57 AM

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Comments

Posted by: Aysha at December 5, 2007 12:55 AM

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