Moderate Muslims: A Loud Whisper

Since September 11, 2001, many have asked where the moderate muslim voices are, why there seemed to be none raising their voices against the terrorists - the ones who are adherents to a radical, fanatic, twisted version of Islam. There are actually many muslims speaking out against Islamic fanaticism. Sadly, however, many are either ignored by the mainstream press or driven to hiding by threats and ostracization. But there are increasing reasons to be optimistic. John at Marathon Pundit has a good one today, with links and excerpts from a powerful piece by Daniel Pipes piece, "A Million Moderate Muslims on the March" (May 8). Pipes excerpt: Recent events in Pakistan and Turkey, however, prove that moderate Muslims are no myth. In Pakistan, an estimated 100,000 people demonstrated on April 15 in Karachi, the country's largest city, to protest the plans of a powerful mosque in Islamabad, the Lal Masjid, to establish a parallel court system based on Islamic law, the Shari‘a. "No to extremism," roared the crowd. "We will strongly resist religious terrorism and religious extremism," exhorted Altaf Hussain, leader of the Mutahida Qaumi Movement, at the rally. The RPB International Research Department looked into the growing surge of moderate muslims speaking out worldwide. Some of the more interesting items found: Denmark: Moderate Muslims Oppose Imams In Copenhagen, too, moderate Muslims are speaking out. Hadi Kahn, an IT consultant and the chairman of the Organization of Pakistani Students in Denmark (OPSA), describes himself as a modern Muslim living in a Western society. He says that he does not feel he is being represented by the Muslim groups. When he goes to the mosque for Friday prayers he says the imam does not say much that is useful for him. “We have no need for imams in Denmark. They do not do anything for us,” he says. According to Mr Kahn the imams are not in touch with Danish society. He says too few of them speak Danish and too few of them are opposed to stoning as a punishment. RELATED: Moderate Muslims fear fundamentalist backlash from war csmonitor.com Turkey, Pakistan crowds protest larger role for Islam Moderate Muslims Speak Out, But Not on PBS -- 04/25/2007 American Thinker: The Missing Moderate Muslims Identifying Moderate Muslims - article by Daniel Pipes Moderate Muslims' citizenship duty csmonitor.com More and More Moderate Muslims Speak Out in Denmark The Brussels ... Moderate Islam In Turkey - Reader comments at DanielPipes.org