I originally wrote this article back in January 2014. It was as a result of reading an article about the folly of branding Islam or Muslims 'moderate'. I'm certainly guilty of that, but I do try not to use the term after reading what was written, and after giving this some thought.
I was promoted to dig it out, brush it up and republished after reading some very ordinary posts that are circulating on Twitter today. A question was asked, “what really is a moderate Muslim.” Someone who shall remain nameless posted this.
What stuns me is exactly who the people are who RT this crap. Very disappointing.
Back to the article I read, in 2014. It resonated with me at the time because of my loathing of being put into little boxes and labelled and the real reason why people do that; largely an attempt to control and bully. I guess when you think about it, it's the same as putting Muslims into 'boxes'. Carving up the Muslim world into either "good Muslims" or "bad Muslims". Until the collective "we" decides they are moderate which used to mean good, but that appears to have changed now. Or they good they remain bad and in mainly cases perceived as extreme. Granted, some certainly are extreme but the vast majority are not.
It's certainly true that people don't spend the same amount of time searching out "good" and "bad" Christians (like Westbro Baptists, the Lords Resistance Army and those other Christians slaughtering people in Central Africa) or Jews (like the Jewish Defence League and those slaughtering Palestinians) or Buddhists (like those murdering people in Burma and Sri Lanka). We can deny all we like but they certainly exist and when this is pointed out it is explained away by the deniers as they are aberrations. The usual answer is "there aren't many of them compared to Muslims". So in the heads of some it's OK because there's "not too many" and they don't threaten us. That is not only wrong, but unbelievable thinking in justifying wicked deeds.
Earlier in the week when I mentioned that all religions have extremists and those extremists carry out acts of aggression and terrorism, I was stunned when I received the reply, “But in the west they don’t.” That isn’t true but it also indicates that for some people cuts of terror are OK as long as they don’t happen on our doorstep.
The Muslims 'bashers' argue that 15-25 percent of world's Muslims are extremists and that the remaining so called "moderates" are irrelevant or it seems just waiting in the shadows letting the extremists do what they won’t. That’s ‘lint for brains, bigoted thinking’ in the extreme. That aside, if the assertion was correct (note no one knows what the number is) and based on the lower end of that range, that’s 240 million of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims that are extremists. That's the equivalent of every single Muslim in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, nearly six times the number of all Muslims on the entire continent of Europe. What utter rubbish. Where are the examples of such supposedly widespread extremism? Sure, there a trouble spots and there have been incidents reported outside of the Middle East and Central Africa, but even if a mere 1 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims are committed to violence, why is it that we haven’t seen 16 million individual violent attacks? Another minor detail which is glossed over or ignored.
As was pointed out in the article on the folly of labelling Muslims, moderate, and to quote, "Proving one’s “moderation” is a trap, anyway. The only way to do it is to meet the criteria set forth by the person making the demand." That is an almost impossible task because the only way any Muslim can do that is to give up their faith. That’s like asking all Catholics to give up their religion because of pedophiles within the priesthood. No one would ask a Catholic to do that, but many demand Muslims do.
So back to the problem of the “moderate Muslim”. The writer went on to say, "It empowers anti-Muslim activists by implying that the degree to which a Muslim digests their religious faith is indicative of their status as a potential terrorist. Thus, “moderately” subscribing to the teachings of the Quran is OK, but should they cross over into the world of daily prayers, Friday afternoons at the mosque, and, God forbid, Ramadan, they’re suddenly flirting with extremism. That way of thinking is predicated on the unfounded notion that pious religious orthodoxy necessarily entails Muslims behaving badly. It also implies that religious “moderation” involves swallowing up one particular political narrative." Hear, hear.
"Moderate Muslims” are continually berated for not condemning violence, or other abhorrent acts (when in fact many are including religious leaders if people bothered to look). Because most people don't look (preferring to rely on social media and right-wing media reports) those doing the attacking presume that every Muslim who doesn’t is a terrorist lying in wait. Those of us who do point out that Muslims speak up are equally berated. I can not tell you the number of times I've had "it's taqiyya" thrown back at me. I've been called naive and an apologist, I've been accused of being easily fooled and they are the soft accusations. It appears, therefore, that only those Muslims who jump to the beck and call of Islam’s so called 'experts' police are the peaceful ones. What an absurd position is that.
In order to create a more equitable and peaceful place in our world we have to stop pretending we are the authorities on the faith traditions of others and as such entitled to dictate how they must interpret their faith in order for them to be welcomed and accepted. This certainly applies to those whose only point of reference is internet Q & A's, or who are part of the massive get-rich-quick industry riding on the back of islamophobia. Make no mistake this industry is almost as profitable as the climate scam industry, it just has fewer players. But people like the Pamela Geller’s, Tommy Robinson’s (many aliases) do very nicely thank you. Putting Muslims (and other faith believers for that matter, into 'boxes') to fit with our idea of what they should be doing, how they should be acting (even what they should be wearing) is not going to solve anything. If anything, it only serves to create a bigger divide and provides those who do with the opportunity to harass and bully.
We really have to stop trying to put people into little boxes and stop dictating how others should react and respond.
“Judge me on what I do and how I treat you and not, on what I am or what I believe in” is a lesson a few people would do well to learn.
