PoliGazette » Moderate Muslims on the March… and in Big Numbers

Moderate Muslims on the March… and in Big Numbers

Filed under: Political Islam, Radical Islam, Secularism, Turkey — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on May 9, 2007 @ 7:40 pm CEST

H/t commenter Yonason

A good, hopeful article over at Daniel Pipes’ website:

“Moderate Unicorns,” huffed a reader, responding to my recent plea that Western states bolster moderate Muslims. Dismissing their existence as a myth, he notes that non-Muslims “are still waiting for moderates to stand and deliver, identifying and removing extremist thugs from their mosques and their communities.”

It’s a valid skepticism and a reasonable demand. 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.

In Turkey, more than a million moderate Muslims in five marches protested the bid of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to take over the presidency of the republic, giving it control over the two top government offices (the other being the prime ministry, currently filled by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan).

He goes on to write about the situation in Turkey right now: moderate Muslims, political secularists, there are by no means inclined to let Erdogans AK Party, which has Islamist roots, take over the country. Abdullah Gül was forced to withdraw his candidacy due to the opposition, in Parliament, by the army, and by the Turkish people. These secular Turks refuse to sit by idle, they raise their voices in condemnation of Islamism and want to do everything necessary to preserve Turkey’s secular system.

Hopeful signs? On the one hand yes, on the other hand, no. Why not? Because it is now, seemingly, necessary (suddenly) for the secularists to do so. Suddenly, moderate Muslims feel forced to take action. This means that the situation has become, in their opinion at least, (too) dangerous.

When, then, ‘yes’ as well? Because at least, in Turkey (and some other Muslim countries), moderates are standing up and raising their voices in opposition to Islamism.

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