You Gotta Be Radical To Be Moderate
OPINION | By Keith Putbrese
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(Editor's note: the author is a resident of Natural Bridge, an attorney, and the former owner of several radio stations).
Is Islam moderate or immoderate, radical or orthodox, peaceful or violent? Various viewpoints follow.
(1) Clare M Lopez, former CIA official, currently Vice-President of the Center for Security Policy, advises that “Islam” in Arabic means “submission” and “Muslim” means “one who submits”. (Accuracy In Media)
(2) The Pew Research Center reports there were 2.75 million Muslims in the U.S. in 2011. Obama, in his 2009 Cairo speech, claimed 7 million. George W. Bush said that 95% of American Muslims are moderate, non-violent, hardworking American citizens (he failed to define the remaining 5%).
(3) Recep Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey (and advocate of Sharia law), finds such descriptions “offensive”. He maintains: “There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it”.
(4) Obama asserted in Cairo that violent extremism is incompatible with Islam. Referring to Chapter 5, Verse 32 of the Koran, Obama said: “The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent – it is as if he has killed all mankind”. He neglected to mention that Christians, Jews and non-believers do not qualify as “innocents” (see (5), below). Verse 33 applies to non-innocents who are to be “slain or crucified”. Or simply have “one hand and one foot cut off – on alternate sides”.
(5) Obama was never a law “Professor” but was a “Lecturer” at the University of Chicago law school where he perfected an ability to project a “professorial” mien while making risible pronouncements.
(6) Many Muslims believe the harsh mandates of Islam and Sharia law have retarded economic and cultural development in the Middle East. This view, reflected by the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, permits American Muslims to select from among the teachings of the Koran and Muhammad, accepting some doctrines and rejecting others.
(7) Dr. Stephen M. Kirby, author of the authoritative book “Let Islam Be Islam” (2012) delineates the conflicting view, that the Koran and “authoritative” Islamic scholars teach that the Koran and words of Muhammad are infallible and unchangeable. “The miraculous nature of the Koran cannot be imitated” (Ibn Kathir, 1323 - 1396). The words of the Koran “remain today as they were revealed that first day and have been preserved from alteration and modification” (Ahsanul-Bayan).
(8) If the Koran and the commentaries of “authoritative” scholars are infallible and unchanging, the orthodox doctrines they espouse command there be a permanent (violent) jihad against non-Muslims and require the killing or subjugation of non-believers. Bush’s “moderate” American Muslims actually represent a “radical” viewpoint. It is ISIS, al Qaeda and Boko Haram, et. al. – those of the orthodox viewpoint – that engage in violence. Obama’s disingenuous assertion that Islam rejects violent extremism is false. Orthodox Muslims are not non-violent as they carry out the mandate of “The Holy Koran”.
(9) Obama has regularly provided American support to orthodox Muslims. His 2009 speech in Cairo encouraged the “orthodox” Muslim Brotherhood. to action. Obama thereafter pushed for non-orthodox President Mubarak’s removal from office and, when ousted, the orthodox Muslim Brotherhood had him arrested and locked in a cage.
Such orthodox Koranic violence is a grave concern of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt. When el-Sisi ousted the murderous Muslim Brotherhood from the Egyptian government, he too delivered an address at the Grand Mosque in Cairo. In contrast to Obama, however, instead of providing favored seating to the Brotherhood; its leadership was placed under arrest for having ordered Egyptian citizens demonstrating against the Brotherhood to be fired upon. At the mosque, General el-Sisi directed his address to the Grand Imam of Al-Azar and the other leading clerics of “orthodox” Islam. His words were startling:
“It is inconceivable that the ideology we sanctify should
make our entire nation a source of concern, danger,
killing and destruction all over the world”.
(10) President el-Sisi then lectured the Imam and other clergy:
“You bear responsibility before Allah. The world in its
entirety awaits your words, because the Islamic nation
is being torn apart, destroyed, and is heading for perdition”.
(11) Perhaps someday that address, stating that Islam must undertake radical steps and open a path to moderation, will be accorded proper historical significance.
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