"Moderate" Muslims

As the debate over the Ground Zero mosque continues, we are told repeatedly by its proponents that the imam Rauf is moderate. Moreover, we have been told repeatedly that most Muslims throughout the world are moderate. Only a small percentage, we are told, are extremists.

It occurs to me that we need to define some terms more clearly in order to make sense of these claims. In other words, a Muslim may be moderate, but compared to what?

For example, suppose you picked a Muslim at random from anywhere in the world, and asked him the following question: Do you support the mass murder of innocent people in the name of Islam? He responds: no, I do not. Aha! For progressives in this country, that is sufficient to call this guy a moderate Muslim.

But suppose you ask a follow-up question: Do you support shariah law? He responds: yes, I do. If we continue to label this guy as a moderate, which progressives typically do, we have defined moderation as accepting that if a woman commits adultery she should be stoned to death. This guy may be moderate by the standards of Muslim extremists, but is he moderate by our standards? I say no. Any Muslim who advocates shariah is, by definition under our cultural norms, not moderate. He is moderate only by comparison with extremists like bin Laden.

The end result of this tendency among progressives to define "moderate" on Muslim terms is that they accept guys like Rauf, who strive to implement shariah here, as being no threat. But increasingly shariah courts exist in European countries, allowed to issue rulings on matters of civil law. Those courts will not be forever content to limit themselves to divorce proceedings. Sooner or later, they will begin to assert their authority over criminal matters involving the Muslim population. Will the multiculturalists finally say no when a shariah court in Britain authorizes an honor killing? The question may seem absurd, but I guarantee you that some progressives, both in Europe and here, will try to make the case that we have no right to interfere with the Muslim culture. Otherwise, progressives will be exposed as frauds. How can they praise Islam as a wonderful religion of peace, then turn around and condemn a central tenet of shariah?

The attempt to incorporate shariah into our legal system has begun. To the extent we label its adherents as moderates, we are abetting the effort.