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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > "Moderate" Islam And The West

"Moderate" Islam And The West

November 21, 2012

By CHERYL GATESWORTH

November 26, 2012 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org -When the specter of Islamism first entered into public consciousness, most Americans stuck their heads in the sand. The left, having recently seen the Soviet dream crumble into ashes, went looking for a new God, a new vehicle for their apocalyptic vision. They found it in Islam and became collaborators with the jihadists, its advance force, its water carriers.

To all involved the solution looked obvious - we merely had to search for moderate Muslims. They would provide the bridge for Muslim youth to reconcile their Islamic traditions with the traditions of the West. And, they would provide a counterweight to radical Muslims.

So far it has not worked out terribly well.

Let's take a closer look at the concept of the moderate Muslim.

Moderate Muslim is a proper term to use if one realizes it is not a theological term.

A moderate Muslim has not found a way to reform Islam nor has he found a way to reconcile Islam with Western thought. More than likely he is a Muslim who enjoys living in the United States (which is, after all, a pleasant place in which to eat and sleep); enjoys the living standard and the conveniences, and enjoys being able to freely make friends with non Muslims. Finally - and this is a truly sad observation - a moderate Muslim in the US reaches toward his potential as a human being when the yoke of Islam is removed - though not entirely - from his neck. He can learn to think critically, to question and to resolve. But unless the break is complete, on some level, he can be counted on to do the bidding of the Islamists.

A case in point.

In Westlake Village, California, a Saudi born naturalized American citizen, Ferial Masry, has come on the political scene. She describes herself as a Muslim and a patriotic American with a son in the military. She teaches in the Los Angeles Unified School District and has run, unsuccessfully, for the state assembly twice. Ms. Masry is active in two groups: The American - Middle Eastern Women's Leadership Coalition and the Ventura County Supporters of Global Exchange.

On October 24 of this year she sponsored through the latter organization a presentation on Islamophobia given by Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) Chair, Salaam Al Marayati, at the Thousand Oaks Library.

MPAC was formed by Muslim Brotherhood member Dr. Maher Hathout 1. who remains a senior advisor. As a rule, the city and its library would consider Mr. Al Marayati and his group too controversial to invite to this conservative bedroom community. A quote from M.s Masry's email is as follows: "'Islamophobia' can be defined as irrational fear of Muslims that leads to bigotry against their religion or those perceived to be Muslims (e.g.Sikhs)". Actually, Islamophobia is a term invented by the Muslim Brotherhood to stigmatize any and all criticism of Islam, so that all that can be said about Islam is the air brushed version presented by its various front groups. Ms. Masry made this presentation possible. Invitations were sent from her email address via e mail to a list serve group.

Another presentation by Ms. Masry at the Thousand Oaks Library was titled, "Women of the Arab Spring." During this lecture she gave the women of the Arab Spring much of the credit for the uprisings claiming that women were on the front lines. Will she give a follow up address when it becomes obvious - if it is not already- that repressive secular governments have been replaced by even more repressive religious ones? Will she give the women of the Middle East the blame for that?

Oddly, this address was given in late September of this year, long after it became apparent the entire area was moving toward less self government, not more. How many examples does she need?

Consider Tunisia - the country where the "Arab Spring" began - was then a model of a de-facto liberal secular Muslim majority country. There was in place legislation which granted full equality to women. Perhaps it was respected more in the breach than in the observance, but for a Muslim nation it was a sign of progress. Men and women, the latter in western clothing, freely mingled in public areas in cities and enjoyed art and music. Since the overthrow of Ben Ali, Tunisia is well on the way to becoming a rigid Shari'a governed state in which the Ennahda Party looms as perhaps the chief threat to women's rights.

Most Americans revere the Bill of Rights and would strongly oppose any measure to infringe on freedom of speech. It is unlikely that an attempt by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, for example, would succeed in criminalizing speech that Muslims find offensive. However, a more subtle attack that appears to be a mild infringement might succeed, and freedom could be lost by inches, incrementally.

Ms. Masry took exception to President Barack Obama's United Nations speech in which he apologized for the film "Innocence of Muslims" but went on to say that he was helpless to take any action because of our constitution.

"How Obama could justify that in the Nuremberg trail after the World War Il, Julius Streicher was tried because his publishing and speaking activities were a major part of the evidence presented against him. In essence, the prosecutors took the line that Streicher's role in inciting Germans to exterminate Jews made him an accessory to murder, and thus no different from those who actually carried out the killings. Streicher was found guilty and hanged."

What does Ms. Masry, a moderate Muslim have in mind?

End Notes:

1. Regarding Hassan Hathout, his brother Dr. Maher Hathout, MPAC and the Muslim Brotherhood, the following from Congressman Louie Gohmert's [R, TX] website, The History of MPAC:

"...Established in 1988 by followers of the Muslim Brotherhood and admirers of Hezbollah, MPAC styles itself a "moderate, inclusive and forward-thinking organization with a history of fostering a strong Muslim American identity, and combating terrorism and extremism." In reality, MPAC is yet another Islamist wolf in the "social justice" clothing of the hard Left. Its founders include Hassan Hathout, the former MPAC president who has described himself as "a close disciple" of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. Hathout's brother Maher, a senior MPAC adviser, is lavish in his praise of both Hezbollah's "freedom fighting" and the social-justice pioneering of Hassan al-Turabi, the leader of Sudan's National Islamic Front — the genocidal junta that gave safe haven to al-Qaeda in the early 1990s while imposing sharia on that war-torn east African nation..."
Additional note, Hezbollah is a Lebanses based Iranian proxy army, fully supported by Tehran's Mullocracy.

©2012 Cheryl Gatesworth. All rights reserved.
http://www.pipelinenews.org/2012/nov/20/Moderate-quot-Islam-the-West.html

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