zaazzeefrazee has a point... to a point

Submitted by J.J. Surbeck (United States), Sep 25, 2006 at 02:08

zaazzeefrazee is right to point out that not enough light is shed on moderate Muslims who live in America and in the West in general. If anything - and interestingly enough - the best known ones are all Muslim women: he mentions Irshad Manji, but what about Nonie Darwish, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brigitte Gabriel (OK, she's not Muslim, but as a Christian Lebanese who has seen Muslim Jihadism up close, she has a compelling case to make).

Why this discrepancy? Where are the men? Are we to conclude that Muslim women are more courageous than Muslim men (or maybe they have more at stake)? And WHO are the moderate men if they exist? Besides Ibn Warraq, how many male Muslim voices have explicity distanced themselves from the Jihadists and the nefarious CAIR and others that claim to represent all Muslims? I'd like to know as much as zaazzeefrazee does.

zaazzeefrazee is also right to point out that if nothing is done to reassure Americans and Westerners in general that there ARE Muslim moderates in their midst, they will increasingly adopt the knee-jerk reaction of collective condemnation that he rightly denounces, and the proverbial baby will be thrown out with the water.

But the real, central question, which zaazzeefrazee does not address, is: whose responsibility is it to bolster the moderates? Is it ours (non-Muslims)? He makes it sound (and seems angry about it) that it should be this blog's responsibility to highlight the fact that the moderates are out there. But is that either realistic, and fair? I'd say it is neither.

The Muslims who consider themselves moderate and reject the Jihadists' agenda cannot afford to sit on the fence and watch other people fight their battle any more. They're in it up to their chin and they'd better stand up and be counted a lot more than they have until now. Whenever CAIR or the other jokes like it come out and make some outrageous statements (or try to justify terrorism) allegedly on behalf of all Muslims, it should be inundated with public protests from Muslim moderates. When I read the papers, I'd like to see letters to the editor with Arab names on them that don't automatically make me cringe because of their systematic pro-Jihadi arguments.

I'd like to be able to see letters from American (or British) citizens with such signatures who denounce the excesses of the Jihadists. When that happens, I and many others will be able to conclude that there is hope and that the Jihadists can be defeated. Until now, I have seen no such letters. In other words, the fate of the moderates is in their hands as much as it is in ours and things are only going to get worse if they don't step up to the plate and do their part.

As American (or British) citizens, they can expect the full support and cooperation of their fellow citizens when they stand up and declare their allegiance to the values of their country of adoption. If they say nothing, they run the risk of being lumped into a mass of Muslims who will be increasingly ostracized because of the exactions of a few among them. The stakes are as high for them as they are for the rest of us, but this is a collective effort and their contribution is already very late.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".