Identifying Muslim moderates

DANIEL PIPES

If "militant Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution," as I often argue, how does one differentiate between these two forms of Islam?

To understand just how tough this question is, consider the case of Abdurahman Alamoudi, a prominent American figure associated with some 16 Muslim organizations.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter described one of those, the American Muslim Council, as "the most mainstream Muslim group in the United States." The Defense Department entrusted two of them to vet Islamic chaplains for the armed forces. The State Department thought so highly of Alamoudi, it six times hired him and sent him on all-expenses-paid trips to majority-Muslim countries to carry what it called "a message of religious tolerance."

But this image of moderation collapsed recently when an Alamoudi-endorsed chaplain was arrested and charged with mishandling classified material; when Alamoudi was arrested on charges of illegal commerce with Libya; and when his Palm Pilot was found to contain contact information of seven men designated by the U.S. government as global terrorists.

Distinguishing between real and phony moderation, obviously, is not a job for U.S. government officials.

The best way to discern moderation is by asking pointed questions.

Violence: Do you condone or condemn the Palestinians, Chechens, and Kashmiris who give up their lives to kill enemy civilians?
Modernity: Is jihad, meaning a form of warfare, acceptable in today's world? Do you accept the validity of other religions?
Secularism: Should non-Muslims enjoy completely equal civil rights with Muslims? When Islamic customs conflict with secular laws - covering the face for drivers' license pictures - which should give way?
Islamic pluralism: Are Sufis and Shiites fully legitimate Muslims? Do you see Muslims who disagree with you as having fallen into unbelief?
Self-criticism: Do you accept the legitimacy of scholarly inquiry into the origins of Islam? Who was responsible for the 9/11 suicide hijackings?
Defense against militant Islam: Do you agree that institutions accused of funding terrorism should be shut down, or do you see this a symptom of bias?
Goals in the West: Do you accept that Western countries are majority-Christian and secular or do you seek to transform them into majority-Muslim countries ruled by Islamic law?

It is ideal if these questions are posed publicly - in the media or in front of an audience - thereby reducing the scope for dissimulation.

No single reply establishes a militant Islamic disposition (plenty of non-Muslim Europeans believe the Bush administration itself carried out the 9/11 attacks); and pretence is always a possibility, but these questions offer a good start to the vexing issue of separating enemy from friend.

Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum.

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