"Moderate Islam" is still dangerous

Submitted by Dale Baranowski (Israel), Mar 4, 2015 at 04:09

The problem with identifying only two strains of Islam and labeling one as "radical" and the other as "moderate" begs the question of how can "moderate Islam" be defined? So far no one that I'm aware of has even attempted to define it - other than claim that it's NOT radical Islam. If we want to encourage "moderate Islam" then we must define it to be able to indentify it.

Second, it must be noted that the term "moderate" is an adjective, not a noun. "Moderate" is not a thing but a description of a thing, a thing that is somehow in the middle of the road between two extremes. So if radical Islam wants to conquer the whole world and put it under shariah, then does "moderate Islam" want to conquer only half the world and put that half under shariah? Or does moderate Islam want to conquer the whole world and only have a moderate form of shariah - such as demanding that all women wear a hijab rather than a full bourkah? The radical Muslim strains of Hamas and Hezb'Allah declare their intent to slaughter all Jews everywhere. So if they would morph into a more moderate Islam, to a gentler, kinder form of Islam, it follows that they'd be happy with slaughtering only half the Jews in the world! Think of what a moderate-Nazi might be like.

And if there's the extreme radical position of Islam and a moderate form, it then follows that there must some form of "Islam-lite" where, perhaps, they might accept every other religion and do not want to impose anything about their religion on others. Perhaps such an Islam-lite would advise their devotees to sit around campfires and sing Kumbayah with Christians, Jews, atheists, Hindus and Buddhists. It would be like a watered-down form of non-aggressive Presbyterian-like Islam. Why don't we see this form of Islam? Why don't we see this opposite extreme from "radical Islam"? I suggest that the reason we don't see Islam-lite is becasue it doesn't exist, only the "moderate" and "radical" forms exist.

The real problem is that there even when anyone calls for "moderate Islam" to dominate it's still an enormous problem because a truly moderate form would not be quite as hideously dangerous as the radical form. What you may really want is not a moderate from of Islam but Islam-lite, because there's no way that the world can live even with a moderate form of Islam.

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