Muslim
World Needs "Vociferous Moderates"
By Haider Mullick
Research Intern
Woodrow Wilson Center
Hudson Institute
Washington, DC:
Last year when Omar Brooks, front man for England's
Islamists, said that the killings of non-Muslims
were quid pro quo, because non-Muslims, especially
those in Europe and the United States, were directly
or indirectly responsible for the killings of
Muslims in Iraq and Palestine, he was lauded as
the hero of Militant Islam.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the recalcitrant imam of the
Red Mosque, educated at Pakistani's 'Ivey-League'
Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, went one step
ahead; he used young female Muslim students and
children as human shields to deter Pakistani Special
Forces from entering his underground bunker.
What happened to these men? Why were they and
hundreds of others pushed to such extreme rhetoric
and action? These are questions at the heart of
the war of ideas between the Muslim World and
the West. Fighting radicals by passive, half-hearted
measures will no longer work on the battlefield
of ideas.
Islam needs "vociferous moderates" to
win the war against Militant Islam. Such moderates
must openly market the true humanitarian values
of Islam without apology and with intellectual
vigor. A religion established on the rationale
of equality, justice and egalitarianism, Islam
has little to be embarrassed about. Reason and
higher moral ground can become the panacea for
injustice in today's world, and yet it is rarely
used. Assertiveness does not equal blind force;
the governments and civil society organizations
of the Muslim world must work together to address
the root causes of extremism by encouraging engagement
and pluralistic democratic discourse.
How do we do this? First, we must accept the reality
that not every terrorist is an eager, young, unemployed
18-year-old suicide bomber dreaming about 77 virgins.
The western-educated professionals are also a
small part of the mix as was the case in the terrorist
attacks of 7/7, and a week ago, in England, and
therefore they are the most problematic ones as
they are often articulate and seemingly rational.
However, simply profiling them without investigating
the reasons behind their violent rebellion against
the status quo paradigm is as dangerous as doing
nothing.
Consequently, the traditional profile of Muslim
terrorists is no longer valid; poor and affluent,
illiterate and educated individuals are combining
forces as Luke Skywalkers and Hans Solos against
what they consider to be an evil Empire of the
United States and its partners in crime. They
are willing to can work with large groups such
as Al-Qaeda or with smaller splinter cells in
Iraq. Should the governments of the Muslim World
simply kill them without understanding their motivations?
No. Understanding their motivations is the key
to any long-term solution to combating militant
Islam; just cutting off the head makes the Hydra
of their discontent stronger, and strengthens
their recruiting efforts.
Second, we must understand that intra-religious
dialogue is as important as inter-religious dialogue
because more Muslims have died in terrorist attacks
since 9/11 than non-Muslims. Sunnis and Shias
must try to find common ground under governments
in the Muslim World that both sects believe are
fair and representative. The moderates of both
sects should fight back radicals, whether the
battle of ideas is in Pakistan or Iraq, assertively,
publicly and effectively by promoting the values
of moderate Islam – mutual socio-economic
coexistence under the umbrella of tolerance. You
do not want to send a maniac to fight a maniac
but you make sure that Islamists are not the only
ones on the stage with a loudspeaker.
Third, Instead of an all-stick-approach the governments
should promote engagement. The militants should
be persuaded that their ideology is based on a
premise, establishing a global caliphate to fight
military and economic oppression of the developed
countries, is widely unpopular, flawed and unrealistic.
But the concerns of the militants, conditions
of Muslims in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, Iraq,
etc., are legitimate, but must be resolved diplomatically
by gaining a higher moral ground, and not through
violence. If such a dialectical approach is promoted
then the militants will have the incentive to
become willing partners to a mutually beneficial
solution.
Fourth, "vociferous moderates" inside
and outside the governments in the Muslim World
should work hard at exposing militant groups actively
engaged in criminal activity. Some of these groups
have raised money for terrorist activities against
Westerners and rival sects through kidnappings
and drug trafficking. Catching them red-handed
and parading them on TV like the director of the
Red Mosque and seminary who tried to run away
wearing a burqa – an enveloping outer garment
worn by some Muslim women – was perhaps
not the best, but yet still a necessary method
in fighting Islamist propaganda. The governments
and civil society organizations should effectively
market the ideas of moderate Islam by using the
latest web and TV-based technologies.
Do we want an Islam that promotes egalitarianism,
and an assertive drive for justice, or an Islam
that perverts a dogma to justify killings of innocent
people? The Muslim community must answer this
question sooner than later.
(Haider Mullick is a researcher at the Hudson
Institute's Center on Islam, Democracy and the
Future of the Muslim World.
haider.mullick@gmail.com)
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