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| Home Front: WoT |
| The Battle for the Mosque Broadens and Deepens |
| 2007-03-10 |
| At the launching of the Center for Islamic Pluralism (CIP) two years ago, TCSDaily was one of the media institutions most supportive to our work, and I have therefore chosen this venue to present a balance sheet of CIP's activities in promoting moderate Islam. We have enjoyed significant success. But some notable obstacles remain before us. These include the vulnerability of mainstream media and even Western governments to the claims of Islamic radicals to stand as the sole representatives of the faith, and the corruption of academics that legitimize this charade. But we also must deal with serious challenges inside the Western Muslim community. First, U.S. and UK Sunni Muslims are completely dominated by extremists - Saudi-backed Wahhabis in the first case and Pakistani-controlled jihadists in the second. Canada, which I recently visited for a series of lectures, represents an important exception to this pattern, as discussed here. Second, Sunnis in general are taught conformity to their leadership, and stirring them to reject the radicals who exploit them is a major task. Third, while a great number of Shia Muslims in the U.S. and Canada, with their clerics and mosques, are less orthodox in their attitudes, and sympathize with CIP against Saudi-backed Sunni terror, they are often tainted by an attraction to Iran and Hezbollah, which makes it impossible for us to sustain a cooperative effort with them. We maintain formal relations with Iraqi Shia leaders out of concern for the situation in their country, where U.S.-led coalition troops are present in the front lines for freedom. If we enlisted all the Shias on this side of the Atlantic who express warmth toward us, CIP might quickly become one of the largest Muslim organizations in North America. But before such a development can take place, Hezbollah must be curbed in Lebanon and Ahmadinejad removed from power in Teheran - the latter as a first step toward complete dismantling of the Iranian clerical regime. Nevertheless, we have made progress. In the U.S. the CIP profile as a resource on moderate Islam has risen; we have cosponsored major events with the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington, participated in numerous international conferences and consultations, and gained relatively wide media attention. We have created a branch in England, with the noted Muslim scholar and expert on Islamic cultural heritage, Dr. Irfan al-Alawi, as our new international director for development, and are launching a second website there, with sections in Arabic and Farsi. This guy nails the problems dead-on, but I don't think he has the solution. Much more at the link. |
| Posted by:Old Patriot |