The Islam you don't hear about
Ramabriga
BY STEPHEN PROTHERO (World View)
25 June 2008
After the 9/11 attacks, Americans put out a call for moderate Islam. Many Muslims answered that
call, but few Americans heard them. Early this month, I travelled to Asia to see what Islam
looks like on the ground there, and to listen to what Muslims themselves have to say about
their religion, terrorism and the United States. What I found surprised me.
I went to Asia because Islam is by no means a Middle Eastern phenomenon. In fact, Asia is home
to most of the world's Muslims. I focused on Indonesia because there are more Muslims in
Indonesia than in any other country, roughly three times as many as in Saudi Arabia,
Afghanistan and Iraq combined.
But what makes Indonesia strategically important to the United States is not simply its huge
Muslim population (roughly 200 million) but the fact that Indonesian Muslims are by no means
anti-Western.
There are fundamentalists in Indonesia, to be sure, but they account for roughly one in every
10 citizens there. The overwhelming majority of Indonesia's Muslims are moderates, and about
one in five are progressives.
Fundamentalists typically want to see their countries follow the path of Saudi Arabia or Iran
in instituting an Islamic legal code referred to as Shariah.
Moderates and progressives typically favour the separation of mosque and state, and they
enthusiastically affirm democracy. Progressives distinguish themselves from moderates by
speaking out more forcefully for religious pluralism and equal rights for women, and by drawing
more generously on the thinking of intellectuals from Europe, Latin America and the USA.
Although scholars might quibble about these definitions and the portion of the Indonesian
public to assign to each, what is plain is that in Indonesia fundamentalism is fringe. A survey
released in May by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute observes that "Islamist parties
have failed to attract votes" in Indonesia, which "today has one of the world's most successful
track records in combating terrorism."
The Muslims I spoke with during my visit to Yogyakarta, a cultural and intellectual centre of
this vast island archipelago, came from both the moderate and progressive wings. All are
eagerly adapting Islam to local circumstances, mixing its ancient traditions with those of
their own. They see no conflict between Islam and civil society.
During my days in Indonesia, I did not see a single woman covered from head to foot in the
chador so characteristic of Iran, and in the rural areas I visited many women did not wear any
head covering at all. According to "Who Speaks for Islam?" a Gallup poll of Muslims worldwide
released earlier this year, 88 per cent of Indonesians believe that a woman should be allowed
to do any job for which she is qualified.
In Indonesia, I heard about female imams (prayer leaders) and about marriages between
Christians and Muslims. Repeatedly, I was told that Muslims reject any coercion in religion,
that they view not only Jews and Christians as fellow "people of the book" but Hindus and
Buddhists as well.
Religious pluralism, especially, seems a key concept here, where the influences of Buddhism,
Hinduism and Christianity have wafted across Indonesia's 17,000-plus islands for centuries. Why
did God create the world? According to the principle of an Islamic school in Yogyakarta, it's
because God prefers multiplicity to unity, because "difference is good."
The Muslims I encountered scoff at any notion of a "clash of civilizations" between Islam and
the West. Any clash of civilizations that exists, they tell me, is between fundamentalists of
all faiths and their liberal and moderate opponents. And in that clash, the vast majority of
Americans are in common cause with the vast majority of Indonesians.
During my visit to Indonesia, Muslims pointed out many important commonalities between our two
countries. Both are huge geographically. Both have ethnically and racially diverse populations.
Both provide constitutional guarantees for religious freedom.
Barack Obama clinched the Democratic Party nomination while I was in Indonesia, and everyone I
met wanted to talk about him. Indonesians are rooting for Obama not because he is some secret
Muslim (they know he is a Christian) but because he spent some of his formative years in their
capital city of Jakarta.
One of my Indonesian interviewees, citing a local tradition of how family networks can be
extended not only through marriage but also through political regimes, went so far as to
suggest that if Obama is elected, Americans and Indonesians will become kin.
During my interviews, I always asked what Indonesians would like to convey to Americans about
Islam. Repeatedly, my interlocutors returned to the question of war and peace. "Islam is not
about violence," they told me. "Islam is not terrorism. Islam is peace."
This did not surprise me. What did surprise me was how American all these people sounded. I
heard repeatedly about equality and democracy and humanitarianism and tolerance and reason and
human rights, as if I were speaking with 21st century reincarnations of America's Founders.
When I asked Zuli Qodir, an intellectual of a highly popular moderate group called
Muhammadiyah, what Islam is all about, he began with, "Islam is justice. And equality. And
democracy."
Just before I left, a progressive student activist in Yogyakarta went so far as to assert that
in some respects, "the American people are more Islamic than the Indonesian people." While
political corruption is endemic in Indonesia, he explained, Americans respect the rule of law,
viewing such corruption as something to be rooted out rather than something to be tolerated.
Americans have good reasons to be apprehensive about Islam. Islamic radicals bombed two
nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia, in October 2002, killing 202 people. And the men who hijacked
three jets on 9/11 shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") as they steered those planes toward
their targets.
But jihadists are one thing, and ordinary Muslims are quite another. Americans of good will
know this. What we also need to know is that in the fight against Islamic radicalism, one of
our key allies could be Islam itself.
Stephen Prothero is the chair of the department of religion at Boston University and the author
of Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know And Doesn't. He wrote this article for
The USA Today
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southern India to Hamilton, Canada, where he makes a living as a
computer programmer. His account has been banned because he violated
the Google Groups Terms Of Use. The troll uses many names including:
Ramabriga, ourfreedom...@lycos.com, Cosmic programmer,
visual...@yahoo.com, LeBlanc, Islamaphobia, Yaako Warrior,
global...@yahoo.ca, whiley...@live.ca, Matt, Anti-Muslim
Bigots, V-for-Vendicar, fruitella, Zionism equal Racism, The Chemical
Oil Nazi, LORD RAMA RANTER, Muslim With Mission, Wayne, Ian Balchin,
Qahir Al-Ashrar, Venkataraman the Biiiig Hindu, Liu Yan, ISLAMOPHOBIA,
Möbius Pretzel, Buddy III, Mujahid, V i v a P a l e s t i n e!,
Burhan, Farid Ahmed, Kope, Death to Israel..Israel has no Right to
Exist, Franko Pizza, rick murphy, rich murphy, ISLAM - THE SOLUTION OF
MODERN PROBLEMS, Faris Jawad, Sabastawi, The Founding Church, Ilan
Ramon: Kike Lost in Space. Proudly serving Islam and al Quds, Katrina,
Ahura Mazda, TROLLS HUNTER, Kayid Al-Kuffar, Firnando, R Geovani,
Blondes Gaulloises, Zimbawi, Muslims Always Victorious, Islam Will
Replace Collapsing Amerikan Empire, Muslims Are Good Folks, Katucha,
katucha is the zionists worst nightmare, We are Muslims, and we are
extremely proud of it, Born To Serve Islam, All praise is due to Allah
Lord of the Worlds, the Owner of all of the creation, Ardalan
Keykavoussi, Tommy Davis, LORD RAMA. (The 19 terrorists who attacked
our nation on September 11, 2001 used a total of 364 aliases.)
In the Name of Allah Most Perverted and Vile, Lord of the wicked: May
the Blessings of Satan be upon His messenger, Muhammad (Piss be Upon
Him), his family, his companions, and his evil followers.
The word kuffar is as pejorative as the word nigger. It is the
favorite Muslim word to describe a non-Muslim. Muslims broke world
records of genocide (270 million victims), slavery, religiously
sanctioned rape, abuse of human rights, and prohibition of scientific
inquiry. Islam forbids Muslim emigration to the lands of the infidels
because a Muslim minority cannot enslave the infidel majority. Despite
this prohibition Muslims emigrate to the West, not as migrants, but as
conquerors. They live in sharia mini-states and expand these mini-
states by terrorizing infidel neighbors and driving them out. Any
society not willing to subjugate itself to Islamic authority is,
according to Muslims, in a state of war, or Dar Al-Harb, with Islam.
Arabic proverb says "first comes Saturday, then Sunday." It means that
Arabs are going to exterminate Jews before they exterminate
Christians. It also means that Israel is the first line of defense
against Islam. Islam, like cancer, has the sole purpose of making more
of itself. It will kill our civilization unless it is cut, poisoned,
and radiated into remission.
“I have been made victorious with terror.” - Muhammad (according to
Bukhari: 4.52.220)
In a poll taken for the Davos World Economic Forum, stunning numbers
of Europeans fear a "threat" from Muslims with whom they "interact":
79 percent of Danes, 67 percent of Italians, 68 percent of Spaniards,
65 percent of Swedes and 59 percent of Belgians. source:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0408/blankley042308.php3?printer_friendly
Europe’s Muslim population is set to increase from around 13% today to
between 22% and 37% of the population by 2025. source:
http://news.scotsman.com/europeanunion/CIA-gives-grim-warning-on.2595505.jp
The average European couple now has fewer than 1.4 babies, compared to
3.6 babies born to the average Muslim immigrant couple in Europe.
Across Western Europe 16 to 20 percent of babies are being born into
Muslim families… By 2025, one-third of all European children will be
born to Muslims… In Italy, 95% of all rapists are Muslims. Eighty-five
percent of all murderers are Muslims… France will have a Muslim
majority in less than 25 years! Another telling statistic is that
although the Muslims are 12% of France's population, 70 percent of a
total of 60,775 prisoners in France are Muslims! All of France's urban
suburbs are being roamed by Muslim black African or Arabic gangs… A
very high proportion of French Muslims are in the underclass, that
segment of the population that relies not so much on education and
work as on welfare and predatory activities. In fact, over one
thousand Muslim neighborhoods are under monitoring throughout France.
Seven hundred of those Muslim neighborhoods are listed as "violent"
and nearly 400 hundred are listed as "very violent." Violence ranges
from rape (95% of rapists are Muslim), murder (85% of murderers are
Muslim), theft and looting of cars (58% committed by Muslims) and
street fighting to assault on teachers and civil servants… source:
http://www.masada2000.org/islam.html
"Like children playing with dynamite, Western intellectuals,
journalists, and diplomats fantasize that they are achieving results
in the Middle East with their words, promises, apologies, money, and
concessions. Yet how can such innocents cope… with polities and
societies whose basic ruling ethos is that of the serial killer?… Can
anyone really expect a stable society capable of progress in Pakistan
when a large majority of the population expresses admiration for Usama
bin Ladin? And what about the Saudi system where, as one local writer
put it, the big Usama put into practice what the little Usama learned
in a Saudi school?… The radical forces in the region are not expecting
to retain or gain power by negotiating, compromising, or being better
understood. They believe they are going to shoot their way into power
or, just as good, accept the surrender of those they have intimidated.
That is why so much of the Western analysis and strategies for dealing
with the region are a bad joke." - Barry Rubin, source:
http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3952&cid=6&sid=20
"Europe is being targeted for deliberate colonization by Muslim
states, and with coordinated efforts aimed at our Islamization and the
elimination of our freedoms. We are being subject to a foreign
invasion, and aiding and abetting a foreign invasion in any way
constitutes treason. If non-Europeans have the right to resist
colonization and desire self-determination then Europeans have that
right, too. And we intend to exercise it." - "Fjordman" source:
http://www.islam-watch.org/Fjordman/European-Declaration-Independence.htm
It is Islamic violence which threatens Holland and all of Europe.
Exactly as in the 1930s, it is the weakness of European leaders which
allows the threat to grow. Just as the League of Nations refused to
stand up to fascism in pre-WW2 Europe, the United Nations grovels
before Islam today. source: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2414
"There does not exist an identifiable body of Muslims, substantive in
number or an outright majority, who could be described as "moderate"
by their repudiation of Muslim extremists. Violence has been an
integral part of Muslim history, irrespective of whether it is
sanctioned by Islam, and Muslims who unhesitatingly use violence to
advance their political ambitions have created a climate within their
faith culture that any Muslim who questions such practice is then
deemed apostate and subject to harm. Consequently, what might pass for
"moderate" Muslims, the large number of Muslims unaccounted for as to
what they think, in practical terms constitute a forest within which
extremists are incubated, nurtured, given ideological and material
support, and to which they return for sanctuary." - Salim Mansur
"A Muslim apostate once suggested to me a litmus test for Westerners
who believe that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance: try
making that point on a street corner in Ramallah, or Riyadh, or
Islamabad, or anywhere in the Muslim world. He assured me you wouldn't
live five minutes." source: http://citizenwarrior2.blogspot.com/2007/10/taqiyya-religious-deception.html
Muslim persecution of Christians: http://tinyurl.com/5rro8p
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/07/islams_global_war_against_chri.html
Young Talib beheads Ghulam Nabi: http://tinyurl.com/2rb2e3
Suppressing Discussion of Islam (85 minutes, 120 MB):
http://www.newcriterion.com/cm/webcast/wc_GZq4MHNn.mp3
Latest offerings from the religion of peace: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/