Islam versus Islamism

[Bill Mattocks]

Two terms defined. The author, Daniel Pipes, explains why hatred of and agitation against Islam are misdirected, bad policy, and actually playing into the hands of Islamists, who want non-Muslims to hate all Muslims equally.

http://www.hnn.us/articles/131036.html

Personally, I do not object to a truly moderate Muslim institution in proximity to Ground Zero; conversely, I object to an Islamist institution being constructed anywhere. Ironically, building the center in such close proximity to Ground Zero, given the intense emotions it aroused, will likely redound against the long-term interests of Muslims in the United States.

...

This new emotionalism marks the start of a difficult stage for Islamists in the United States. Although their origins as an organized force go back to the founding of the Muslim Student Association in 1963, they came of age politically in the mid-1990s, when they emerged as a force in U.S. public life.

...

The energetic push-back of recent months finds me partially elated: those who reject Islamism and all its works now constitute a majority and are on the march. For the first time in fifteen years, I feel I may be on the winning team.
But I have one concern: the team's increasing anti-Islamic tone. Misled by the Islamists' insistence that there can be no such thing as "moderate Islam," my allies often fail to distinguish between Islam (a faith) and Islamism (a radical utopian ideology aiming to implement Islamic laws in their totality). This amounts not just to an intellectual error but a policy dead-end. Targeting all Muslims conflicts with basic Western notions, lumps friends with foes, and ignores the inescapable fact that Muslims alone can offer an antidote to Islamism. As I often note, radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution.

Bravo and well-said!

 

[Empty Hands]

Daniel Pipes has been one of the more strident voices against radical Islam for some time, so it is good to see him make these distinctions.

More people who can't tell the difference:
A pastor in Gainesville is planning a "Burn the Koran Day" on 9/11. Ironically, an armed Christian group who was to provide security, "Right Wing Extreme", has pulled out of the event, saying that "it may diminish the work of the Holy Spirit to witness to Muslims" and "We don't want to be a part of inciting violence and racism anymore." I did enjoy the "anymore".

Even US generals such as Petraeus are getting in on the act, saying that the planned event jeopardizes US forces in Afghanistan. Apparently there have been world-wide protests over the attention whoring of this little church group.

Islam vs. Islamism is becoming a more pressing distinction to make by the moment. Some of these groups may get the Holy War they seem to desire if the hysteria worsens.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Islam vs. Islamism is becoming a more pressing distinction to make by the moment. Some of these groups may get the Holy War they seem to desire if the hysteria worsens.

I agree. Imagine if I were a leader of a small, loud, violent, Christian sect in a land where Christians were the minority. I wanted my fellow Christians to embrace my point of view and attack the majority religion. However, my fellow Christians refused to see things my way. What to do?

One tactic might be to insist to the media and the world in general that all Christians are alike; that there is no distinction between 'moderate' and 'militant' Christians. I'd be thrilled when my enemies pointed out the more violent passages in the Bible or pointed to historical events where Christians attacked members of other religious faiths. I'd do my best to make sure all Christians were painted with the same brush.

This would serve two purposes. First, it would make my fellow Christians, even the moderate ones who disliked me, subject to attack and oppression just like me. That might tend to push them towards my point of view if for no other reason than protection. Second, it would divide my enemies; causing some of them to accept my misdirection at face value and some of them to reject it; soon they'd be at each other's throats.

Imagine that; a person who hates militant Islam might just be dancing to their tune and not even know it. I think the term for that is 'tool'.

 

[xJOHNx]

Good post!

Although I doubt the general public will able to make the distinction between the two terms that do look alike..

But it gives me hope

 

[Big Don]

Islam vs. Islamism is becoming a more pressing distinction to make by the moment.

The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics -- a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinction among military and civilians, including women and children.

and

I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them.

President George W. Bush 20 September 2001...
Yeah, something some people have ignored and/or outright lied about to make political hay...

 

[Empty Hands]

and President George W. Bush 20 September 2001...
Yeah, something some people have ignored and/or outright lied about to make political hay...

What exactly are you trying to say? Many commentators on the left have looked back approvingly on the attitude of Bush 43 towards Islam in light of current controversies. Unfortunately he has chosen not to speak up now when he could potentially do great good in calming the situation.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

and President George W. Bush 20 September 2001...
Yeah, something some people have ignored and/or outright lied about to make political hay...

All true. It's a shame that when President Obama says the same thing, he's a secret Muslim or at the very least 'soft' on terrorism. And that's not the left that's saying that.

President Bush spoke the truth. Now a lot of Republicans want to pretend he never said a word, and a lot of Democrats want to ignore it too. For different reasons, of course. One group wants to hate all Muslims, and Bush's statements get in the way of that. The other group wants to pretend that only Democrats 'get it'. Both ignore history, everybody sees only what they want to see.

http://www.detnews.com/article/2010...Detroit-Muslims-work-on-tolerance--not-terror

Last week, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life issued a poll showing that 30 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Islam, down from 41 percent five years ago.