Moderate Muslims versus Islamists

One of the astounding things about the interaction of Western governments with Islam is how often those Muslims who simply want to blend into the religious freedom of the West and be good citizens are ignored, while Muslim groups that want to take over the West are made the dialogue partners of Western government.

"Moderate muslims" are those who share the jihadist zeal to conquer of the "Islamists," (or as some more accurately describe them: "Islamofascists"), but who renounce violence as the method of achieving that goal. So you have three distinct groups:

1. Muslims immigrants who wish to adapt to the West and its religious freedom and diversity and practice their faith without seeking to dominate others or change laws or traditions.

2. Islamofascists like Osama bin Laden who seek the violent overthrow of the West and the establishment of a worldwide Caliphate.

3. "Moderates" who share the goals of the second group but who personally renounce violent methods.

It should be obvious that the third group is just as dangerous as the second and that the two groups are partners in attaining the same goals. Yet, governments choose very often to deal with the moderates rather than the first group, which tends of course to be unorganized into a specific Muslim block. Why is this? Is it simply a strategy of negotiated surrender on the best terms possible? Is it a death wish? Is it stupidity rooted in colonial guilt?

Daniel Pipes has some historical backround in this post entitled "How Islamists Came to Dominate European Islam."

The 7/7 bombings in London, in which Islamists killed 52 and injured 700, prompted British authorities to work with Muslims to avoid future violence.

However, rather than turn to anti-Islamist Muslims who reject the triumphalist goal of applying Islamic law in Europe, they promoted non-violent Islamists, hoping these would persuade coreligionists to express their hatred of the West in lawful ways. This effort featured Tariq Ramadan (b. 1962), a prominent Islamist intellectual. For example, London’s Metropolitan Police partially funded a conference that Ramadan addressed, and Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed him to an official “working group on tackling extremism.”

Deploying an Islamist may have seemed like an original and clever idea, but it was neither. Western governments have been allying without success with Islamists for decades. Indeed, they have been allying with Ramadan’s own family.

Read the rest here. It is very enlightening.