Being a blogger and getting my news from the Internet, I rarely see or read a MSM newspaper. So when I do visit either coast it’s very entertaining to read what the NYT or LA Times has to say about world events. Last weekend I was in LA and the hotel I stayed at offered free issue of the Sunday LA Times.
So, over my breakfast, I decided to wade into the 3 pounds of pulpwood and immerse my self in some left coast MSM thinking. It wasn’t long before the front page of the California Los Angeles addition, what ever that may be, caught my eye. The headlines read “Defining Today's Moderate Muslim”. This I had to read.
The article was mainly about the recent news of a humanitarian award for a noted Muslim leader that had the right side of the bloggospher all in a huff. The Muslim recipient of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission humanitarian award was to be Maher Hathout, the Los Angeles Muslim leader who has promoted interfaith relations and women's equality but denounced Israel as a brutal apartheid regime.
That was their idea of a moderate Muslim.
On the other hand, the American Jewish Congress plans to honor Tashbih Sayyed, a journalist based in Alta Loma, Calif., who praises Israel's behavior toward Palestinians as tolerant and criticizes Muslims for corrupting Islam and four others for what it sees as their friendly attitudes toward Israel and courageous efforts to reform Islam.
The swords came out and the battle was thus engaged.
“Hathout's critics argue that his controversial statements supporting Hezbollah and denouncing Israel have exposed him as an extremist. The Egyptian native and retired cardiologist, saying his opponents have twisted his record, asserts that he has long condemned terrorism, launched interfaith dialogues and promoted an American Islamic identity that celebrates pluralism, democracy and women's rights.”
And out came the usual apologists for Islam.
"It's un-American," said John Esposito, Georgetown University professor of religion and international affairs and well known apologist for Islam. "Your principal and only obligation in terms of loyalty as an American is to America. You can have a variety of positions regarding foreign policy."
But here’s where the left wing’s definition of the moderate Muslim goes wrong and shows their continuous attempts at moral equivalency.
Since 9/11, Esposito and others said, the quest for moderate Muslims has become widespread as policymakers, journalists, terrorism experts and religious leaders seek to understand Islam and assess who is "safe" and who is extremist. Often, those seeking moderate Muslims are looking for people to affirm their own values, "When we say we want moderate Muslims, what we are really saying is that we want Westernized Muslims who have the same kinds of sensibilities we have," said Reuven Firestone, a professor of medieval Jewish and Islamic studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. "But that's not realistic. It's a false but human assumption that moderates must agree with us on most issues."
Umm, excuse me? We want anyone - Muslims, Christians, Jews, Buddhists or any other religion’s belief - to hold the basic Western value system that we have in the world today. That value system if responsible for the epidemie of human rights and personal freedoms unknown in the world just a few hundred years before.
But Firestone doesn’t just settle with the moral equivalency argument. Your morals are equivalent only if you agree with him. Among the Jewish Congress honorees are Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie, a self-described atheist, and two women who say they left the faith years ago, Wafa Sultan and Nonie Darwish.
"By honoring Muslims who are not practicing Muslims, the given message, even if unintentional, is that these people are good because they left the faith," said Firestone, who recently returned from a six-month sabbatical in Cairo. "But there are hundreds of millions of moral, deeply believing Muslims."
And of course, our friends at CAIR could not resist either.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Jewish groups have long tried to promote alternative Islamic leaders who may be friendly to Israel but in fact have little following among Muslims. "It's a slap in the face," he said.
So, let me see if I have this right. Muslims who hold western have left the faith and have little following in the Muslim world.
Yeah, that’s about right. And it proves my point again about culling out a true Muslim.
In a post I wrote back in May – How to Speak to Muslim (If Your Really Must) I stated that if you were a true Muslim – moderate or otherwise – you would answer ‘Yes’ to the following two questions:
- Which nation do you owe allegiance to? The country you live in of the ummah?
- Do you adhere to the Sharia Law or the secular laws of your country?
If their answers are:
- The ummah
- Yes
You are talking to a real Muslim. I was brought to task by some of my liberal friends saying I was simplifying the problem too much and any moderate Muslim would not admit to such answers.
Well ….Guess what? The New York Times spilled the beans when they reported an interview which they claim are two true Muslim moderates. You know, the law-abiding, deeply religion, good neighbor that lives next door. They seek a ‘middle ground’ of moderation – with us and our freedoms in the middle.
Here’s one of the moderate’s answer to the question I pose.
"Every Muslim who is honest would say, I would like to see America become a Muslim country," he said. "I think it would help people, and if I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be a Muslim.
Need I say more?
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