repudiation required

Submitted by rw (Australia), Jan 13, 2016 at 03:06

In his book Son of Hamas, Mosab Hassan Yousef says that the most dangerous muslims are the moderate ones; the reason he gives is that they feel guilty that they are not more active, and as this guilt eats away they are liable to suddenly become violent; it is this liability to sudden change which he says makes such people particularly dangerous.

Much as I enjoy listening to and reading Daniel's often prescient comments, I find it hard to credit the faith he places in the moderate/islamist distinction. The root problem lies in the text of the Koran and allegiance to the highly unsatisfactory person of Mohammed. People who have not repudiated these violent sources will remain dangerous. Perhaps it is pragmatic to appeal to 'moderates', but ultimately they need to reject the sources, and this is less practical - unless we offer a credible alternative.

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