http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=104964&d=26&m=12&y=2007&pix=opinion.jpg&category=Opinion
The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily
Wednesday 26 December 2007 (17 Dhul Hijjah 1428)
Be the Moderate Muslim You're Looking for
Kareem Elbayar, Arab News -
"O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to
God, though it may be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and
whether it be against rich or poor: for God can best protect both. Follow not
the lusts of your hearts, lest ye swerve, and if ye distort justice or decline
to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that ye do." (Qur'an
4:135)
In a Dec. 7 Op-Ed in The New York Times, Ayaan Hirsi Ali asked
where the moderate Muslims were, and concluded that the very notion of a
moderate Muslim majority was "wishful thinking". Ali's claims are echoed by
many prominent commentators on the American right, and judging by the comments
left on The New York Times website, by many average Americans as well. But the
popular idea that mainstream Muslims either do nothing to condemn (or worse,
secretly applaud) the outrages perpetrated in the name of our religion is not
only reductive and misinformed - it is dangerously wrong as well.
The vast majority of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims are indeed
moderate, peace-loving people who reject violent extremism and terror. Moderate
Muslims are all around us, from the attorney and husband of the rape victim
from Saudi Arabia; to the delegation of British Muslims who traveled to Sudan
and worked with Sudanese member of parliment Ghazi Suleiman to secure the
"teddy bear" teacher's release (and prove that the entire controversy was more
about distracting international attention from Darfur than it was about Islam);
to the literally hundreds of thousands of Muslim individuals and organizations
in the United States and around the world that expressed shock and disgust at
the events which Ali cites.
Ali conveniently omits these facts from her narrative - just as she
plucks a single verse from the Qur'an, devoid of any context - in order to
create a black-and-white fantasy world of Muslim radicals versus civilized
Westerners. Yes Ms. Ali, verse 24:2 of the Qur'an sets out a harsh punishment
for adultery - but verse 24:4 requires four eyewitnesses (an almost impossible
standard to meet) and, more importantly, verse 24:5 states that the punishment
should not be applied to those who sincerely repent. (So much for your argument
that the Qur'an orders believers to show no compassion).
Ali may make headlines by writing polemics condemning Islam as a
"backward religion" and "the new fascism", but in the meantime Muslim
organizations like the one I am a member of, Muslims for Progressive Values,
will continue to quietly but effectively do what we can to counteract the
hateful nonsense that regretfully is being taught as Islam in far too many
places. Moderate and even progressive Muslim organizations can be found all
over the world, but we are too busy working within our communities to promote a
message of reform and tolerance to do as Ali asks and "rise up in horror" every
time some lunatic commits a crime in the name of our faith. Nor should we be
expected to do so. It seems that Ali would like me and my co-religionists to go
about our lives constantly marching around the streets apologizing for the acts
of zealots - but I will not do so, for I bear no more responsibility for these
acts than she does.
Moderate and progressive Muslims are everywhere, but we are ignored
and marginalized by the media and by commentators like Ali. It seems that in
our modern age of sound bites and one-liners, strident if uninformed criticism
will always outperform calm and reasoned debate. If Ali is serious about
supporting tolerance among Muslims, perhaps she should spend less time penning
distracting and misleading screeds against Islam and more time reaching out to
groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Muslims for Progressive
Values, Al-Fatiha, and Sisters in Islam. The only way to prevent the "clash of
civilizations" from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy is to build bridges
between our communities. Promoting a black-and-white caricature of reality
serves no one - least of all the tolerant Muslims Ali can't seem to find
anywhere she looks.
- Kareem Elbayar is the vice-chair of Muslims for Progressive
Values. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service.
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