A failed notion, false hope, and cynical deception should at last be discarded.
They’ve enjoyed media adulation and the uncritical admiration of hopeful non-Muslims for over a quarter of a century now. Yet self-styled “moderate Muslims” and “Muslim reformers” have not delivered on their promises or substantiated their vision of Islam, and it’s time that Americans recognized the entire “moderate Muslim” endeavor for what it really is: an effort to lull them into complacency and indifference regarding the advancing jihad threat.
These mediagenic moderates offered the glittering promise of an Islam that was not violent, oppressive, or the least bit incompatible with Western secular pluralism. Relying on the total ignorance of most Americans regarding Islam, and their eagerness to be reassured that the U.S. wasn’t facing the prospect of a war that would engulf the entire world, particularly after 9/11, these smooth-talking moderates, always gentle, soft-spoken, and polished before the cameras, assured the jittery public that properly understood, Islam was peaceful.
And peace was only one manifestation of Islam’s glory. The moderates told us that Islam had a glorious past, a Golden Age, in which it pioneered societal tolerance and multiculturalism, as well as respect for intellectual inquiry and scientific exploration. Today, they told us, a handful of terrorists had twisted and hijacked its teachings, but the true Islam would soon reassert itself, overwhelm, shame, and crowd out the terrorists, and revitalize our society, which had strayed so far from its Judeo-Christian foundations, with its unique virtues.
Innumerable people, including prominent talk show hosts, opinion makers, policymakers, legislators and philanthropists bought into this, and gave the moderate Muslims massive platforms upon which to proclaim the reassuring message that the vast majority of Muslims abhorred and repudiated terrorism, and soon, very soon, would rise up en masse to put a stop to it.
Twenty-five years after 9/11, we’re still waiting. The moderates are still out there, still enjoying their bully pulpits on major networks and even increasing their activities in the political sphere, but none of what they promised has come true. In fact, at this point, it can be stated definitively: the promise that “moderate Muslims” made of a “moderate Islam” was false and hollow. There never was a moderate Islam, or a vast majority of peaceful Muslims that would rise up and put a stop to Islamic terrorist activity.
This is not to say that there aren’t Muslims who are not terrorists. Obviously there are, and there are many. But these are simply Muslims who, either for lack of will, or because the time isn’t right, or simply because they aren’t really all that devout and have other interests and priorities, are not waging jihad. Some of these, in fact, although non-Muslims complacently assume that they’re moderate, are actually waging jihad of the pen, jihad of the tongue, or jihad of the pocketbook, rather than violent jihad. Others, for a variety of reasons, just aren’t interested and can’t be bothered.
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