Moderate and radical Muslim

Submitted by Vinodgupt (United States), Jan 20, 2006 at 16:48

The terms "moderate Muslim" and "radical Muslim" are used quite frequently in the media. I know who is a Muslim. This was defined by late Rafiq Zakaria -- an Islamic scholar from India in hs book The Struggle within Islam.

He says ""A Muslim is one who declares publicly: 'There is no God but God and Muhammad is His Prophet.' He must also accept that Muhammad is the last of God's prophets on this earth..... A Muslim must also accept the Quran as the word of God, immutable and unalterable; it contains guidelines which a Muslim must follow." (Rafiq Zakaria, "The Struggle within Islam" Penguin Books, 1988, pp.302)

I think this is a very good definition of who is a Muslim. Any thoughts on how we would define a "moderate" or a "radical" Muslim?

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