Militant Islam is not Islam

Submitted by Gabriel Grosso (Italy), Jan 3, 2003 at 16:31

A person asked the following question: "What is the difference between Islam and Militant Islam"? Here is an attempt to give a valid answer. Traditional Islam is the religion of 1.2 billion people and there is no way that we can make a generalisation about such a large number of people. In "Militant Islam reaches America" (book) , Daniel Pipes explains:"The problem at hand is not the religion of Islam but the totalitarian ideology of Militant Islam".

What Daniel Pipes wants to say is that we ought to respect ordinary Muslims. At the same time he is warning us that there is a totalitarian ideology called Militant Islam and that we need to fight it. Militant Islam is violent, expansionist, aggressive, militaristic. During the 1980s, Ayatollah Khomeini tried to build an alliance with the totalitarian Soviet Union. Today, Muslim Extremists follow a totalitarian ideology which is very close to fascism and communism. I live in Europe and I feel the threat of Militant Islam more than people might perceive it in the USA. However, whether you are in Europe, America, Asia, Africa or Australia, it doesn't really matter: we are all on the same boat. Either we stand up and fight against Muslim Extremists or we will be beaten into submission.

As a European, I feel closer to the Americans and the Israelis than to Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Having said that, I am not against traditional Muslims and I respect them. Ordinary Muslims are decent people who deserve respect. Muslim Extremists are totalitarian and must be fought with all means.

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