The Moderate Islamist

A two-part series by Michael Vlahos at Tech Central Station looks at the dilemmas of the moderate Islamist.

From The Six Dilemmas of the Moderate Islamist, Oct. 16:

Moderate Islamists could ultimately decide if America wins or loses its "War on Terror." Victory depends on their support, and thus also on our support of them, but in the end as well on the support of Muslims everywhere.

Why? Because Islam is in the throes of renewal and the Muslim World is changing. Moreover we cannot genetically modify Muslim societies so they become happy American replicants. The change must be in Islam itself, and the question is will it be a radical purification or a moderate reinterpretation?

But what exactly is a "moderate Islamist?" The moderate Islamist should not be confused with the moderate Muslim. The moderate Muslim is the kind of Muslim America likes. Americans are comfortable with moderate religiosity; so like the quiet churchgoer, we would prefer Muslims who are not above, for example, knocking back an occasional beer. But this is not what we should expect. Islam is a demanding religion — and a demanding way of life. Islamic renewal will be full of piety and passion.

The moderate Islamist, like the radical Islamist, seeks to renew the Muslim World — not help it relax. The Islamist is dedicated to the Islamic cause, and he is an active proselyte. Thus moderate Islamists like radical Islamists are dedicated to change within and expansion of the Muslim World. But unlike the radicals they reject the path of aggressive struggle, or Jihad. Moderate Islamists would renew their faith and their world instead through Islamic reinterpretation, or Ijtihad.

Moderate Islamists are thus self-proclaimed leaders — clerics and scholars — in the renewal of Islam. The moderate Islamist is highly educated, in contrast to many radical Islamists. The moderate Islamist is also receptive to Western ideas — but selectively receptive. Ultimately the moderate Islamist must compete with the radical Islamist for authority among Muslims. It is this competition that will decide how Islam changes.

But the moderate Islamist is at a disadvantage. Moderate Islamists face six dilemmas that threaten to undermine their cause....

From The Story of This War, Nov. 6:

All wars have stories. Moreover a war's story is not necessarily the same as a war's strategy. The story tells how a war is broadly understood and remembered. It is a form of literary narrative.

What about this war? We have many themes for a story: from terrorism to WMD, from fighting evil to building democracy. But after two years of fighting and two countries taken, what is the story?

The moderate Islamists (Part I) gave us a story with very different themes:

• What we think of as a war on terrorism is really a struggle within Islam over change and the future of the Muslim World
• The US is bringing change to Iraq. But instead of American-style democracy this change may end up as something very different and very Islamist.
• Through its occupation of Iraq the US is actually making the radical Islamist case — that we are invading Islam — encouraging the Muslim World to unite against us

This is not a story the Administration likes. But it represents a coherent alternative narrative made more compelling by recent events. It also suggests that new narratives of the war and its future are emerging, and that the Administration no longer has a competing story to offer. The recent Rumsfeld Memo makes this plain.

But there was a story once, a complete narrative of things to come on which the Administration had come to rely. What happened to this story of the future? What new narrative will come to succeed it?...

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 12/16/03 07:40:23 AM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.