Moderate Muslims

This isn't a new topic by any means.  Since 9/11, there have been calls from Westerners for so-called moderate Muslims to take a stand and denounce what they claim are radical elements within Islam that are perpetrating crimes against the West in particular and against anyone, Muslim or infidel, who does not abide by sharia law.  There have been heinous examples of Islamofascist intolerance, from beheadings of innocent contract workers to the torture, murder and defilement of Westerners' bodies to the stoning of women who were raped to the recent use of chemical weapons against insurgents in Syria.  Despite the countless pieces of evidence against the radical fringe of Islam, the moderate majority remains silent.

Westerners, not surprisingly, are outraged by both the attacks as well as the silence.  Calls for moderate Muslims to stand up and denounce these acts remain unanswered.  In fact, on the twelfth anniversary of 9/11, there is a very misguided Million Muslim march that aims to bring awareness to the alleged plight of Muslims seeking their civil rights in this country.  Needless to say, Americans are not supportive.

There is a very telling post Karen got from some place that reads:  In every country that Muslims are a minority, they are obsessed with minority rights.  In every country with a Muslim majority, there are NO minority rights.  The double standard is stark.  Moderate Muslims should feel entitled to equal protection under the law, but they fail to realize that the same holds true for Westerners in Muslim countries.  What's more, Westerners are leery of acceding to their demands when they fail to stand up and be counted against the radical fringe from which they hastily distance themselves when news of another outrage is heard.

In this country, we say that freedom isn't free.  Most often, that's construed to mean that we must defend our rights and protect the country in which we enjoy them.  But there's also another element to that, and that's the need to stand up and speak out when something is amiss, whether it's our country's involvement in Vietnam, the coup in Chile or other actions taken by the government with which we disagree.  It's our civic duty to call these things out and condemn them for their wrongfulness.  Moderate Muslims refuse to do this for any number of reasons:  Fear of reprisal, religious or ethnic loyalty or perhaps because they are the equivalent of sleeper cells who are the advance team for the Islamofascists seeking to convert the world to Islam.

Whatever the motivation, it's wrong not to denounce the evils of Islamofascism.  No matter whether the target is America, Europe or some poor young girl in Pakistan seeking education for girls, what moderate Muslims need to do is get involved, even if that only amounts to supporting more vocally or visibly those who are willing to denounce openly the outrages committed in the name of sharia law.  If they truly want equal protection under the law, they must support equal rights for all people, not just themselves, and part of doing that involves standing up and being counted.  They cannot sit back and let others do the talking and the fighting if they truly believe that what the radical elements within Islam is wrong.

There is a poignant poem that addresses this problem: 

First they came for the Communists,
but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists,
but I was neither, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews,
but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Catholics,
but I was not a Catholic so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out.
Pastor Martin Niemöller

Under sharia law, unless a person toes the line exactly as the Islamofascists say, he risks penalties ranging from prison, to dismemberment to death.  Moreover, the imams are fickle in the application of sharia law, using it at times to settle blood feuds.  Moderate Muslims would do well to read that poem and ponder how safe they'll be under sharia law, then consider how safe they are under western law, and start engaging themselves in denouncing their radical brethren.

The alternative is not pretty for anyone, them included.

(c) 2013 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles