The term needs defining

Submitted by Pat (United States), May 8, 2007 at 23:09

Ron,

I was also disappointed that there was no clear definition of "moderate Muslim", nor any indication that the people in Turkey and Pakistan deserved the title. Some people think not supporting al qaeda is enough to gain you the moderate label. As long as you don't support Usama bin Laden, you're a moderate in their eyes.

But what do they support? Freedom of religion? Freedom to leave Islam without fear of death? Freedom of non-Muslims to visit Mecca and Medina? (The list goes on.)

We are expected to take heart from the fact that Sunni Muslims in Iraq recently began opposing al Qaeda. But what did they oppose? Al Qaeda's killing of innocents or al Qaeda's killing of THEM? As long as al qaeda operates in another neighborhood, is that fine by them?

A clear definition of moderate must be arrived at and agreed to by all parties. Until then we can't accept anyone's claim to be a "moderate Muslim".

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