Moderate Islam
Moderate Islamic philosophy and teaching is diametrically opposed to the militant, radical version of Islam that began its global spread under Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s. Militant Islamicists represent only a relatively small population compared to the world’s moderate Muslim community.
According to moderate Muslim scholars, the history of the prophet Muhammad contradicts the views of Muslim extremists. These scholars teach that Muhammad, after receiving his message, founded a state in Medina that is now located in Saudi Arabia. Medina was home to people of several faiths who coexisted peacefully. Originally, Muhammad directed his teachings of faith and worship toward the geographical birthplaces and origins of the teachings of Moses and Jesus. Muhammad taught there was a connection between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. His goal was to show these religions Islam was not hostile to them and to educate them on the message of Islam. Islamic history portrays Muhammad as a peacemaker, extending his hand to Jews and Christians in whatever location he settled.
When Islam was established as a religion, he turned the attention of this worship to Mecca, still living alongside Jews and Christians. This is the belief of moderate Muslims today. Although many of them would like to speak out and decry extremist teaching and the perversion of the Qur’an by the followers of Khomeini, Bin Laden and now Zawahiri, they are afraid of being targeted for persecution, or even death. Unfortunately, their concerns are valid. The threat of radical Islam is just as much a threat to moderate Muslims as it is to Americans. Both of these groups must join together to protect each other and form a larger national community unified in the fight against militant Islamic extremists and the groups that provide them support.
Radical Islam
A large segment of today’s radical Islamic extremist groups derive their beliefs from the Islamic Wahhabi movement. The Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab originated the religious philosophy, now known as Wahhabism, in eastern Saudi Arabia in the eighteenth century. Wahhabism is a religious movement and a branch within Sunni Islam. Abd al-Wahhab advocated the purging of Islam from impurities. This pure form of Islam is the primary form of Islam in Saudi Arabia, which provides global funding of mosques, schools and social programs to spread its doctrine. And al-Wahhab questioned medieval interpretations of Islam and claimed to rely only on the Qur’an and the Hadith. He attacked the “perceived moral decline and political weakness” of current Islam and condemned idolatry in all forms. Wahhab declared that all those who did not hold his views were not true Muslims, giving his tribe justification for attacking other Muslim tribes, ignoring the Qur’an’s command not to fight other Muslims.
From the 1920s until today, Wahhabism has been steadily growing and spreading its radical ideology. It was the religion of the al-Saud family when they brought unity to Muslim tribes on the Arabian Peninsula, seized power, and established the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabis began by destroying moderate Islamic shrines and sacred burial places, claiming they were idol worship and a corruption of “true Islam.” There was no legitimate basis in Islamic law or doctrine for their beliefs. Today, the United States government sends billions of dollars a year to Saudi Arabia for oil. Through these billions of dollars of payments for oil, the US government is financing a country that holds the basic global view that America must be eliminated and replaced with Wahhabi Islam. It’s clear much of this American money is going to propaganda programs promoting Wahhabism and winding up in the hands of militant terrorist organizations. We are, essentially, funding our own eventual destruction because of our dependence on Saudi oil.
Today, adherents to Wahhabism are directly connected to radical Islamic militants. These militants believe Islam must be reformed, and this must be done with war and violence. A noteworthy and courageous moderate Muslim scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Kabanni, has risked his life to come out and publicly expose militant Islam. Sheikh Kabanni practices the traditional form of Islam known as Sufism. Sufism originated from the teachings of Muhammad. Its religious tenets include the perfection of character and purification, which agree with the Islamic requirements of law and religious doctrine. Muslim extremists are, as one would predict, strongly opposed to the teachings of Sufism. Kabanni claims eight percent (8%) of Muslim mosques and charities in the United States have been taken over by militant Muslim groups. These organizations raise money in America and send it to terrorist organizations under the guise of “humanitarian aid.” Several other moderate Muslim scholars have courageously opposed militant Islamic teaching and exposed front organizations operating under the cover of mosques and humanitarian operations. Many of these Muslim teachers have received death threats and are forced to live in constant fear of assassination by extremist groups sent to America to silence them.
Modern radical-political Islam is completely incompatible with democracy. The goal of radical Islam is complete world domination and the total annihilation of democratic governments. It has a single aim: establishing a universal Islamic state. This universal Islamic state would require a religious and political system that dictates all aspects of life through a stern, and sometimes deadly, set of laws and dictates. This totalitarian form of government would eliminate the right to privacy of its citizens, controlling all thought, speech, and conduct.
Radical Islamic extremists see the West as the supreme enemy of Islam. Their radical organizations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, also call themselves “Salafists.” Saudi Wahhabism is often referred to interchangeably as “Salafism.” Salafism originated as “Salafiwa,” which had moderate elements. The core belief of Salafism is that Islam was taught by Muhmmad, and his companions practiced his teachings. Second and third generations following them practiced this form of Islam, which was believed to be pure, unaltered and the ultimate authority for interpretation of the Qur’an (or Koran) and the Sunnah (sayings and living habits of Muhammad). Salafists consider this the eternal model for all following Muslim generations. However, from the nineteenth to the late twentieth century, Salafism gradually became conservative and ultra-orthodox; this is the Wahhabism that exists today. A branch of Salafism, Salafist Jihadism, consists of adherents to the belief that Muslims must spread this form of Islam through violent jihad.
Radical Islam teaches jihad is an apocalyptic war between the Islamic “sons of light” and the infidel “sons of darkness.” Its proponents participate in what is called “dawa,” the aggressive propagation of radical Islamic ideology using missionary advances. Other radical groups teach jihad through armed conflict. Some militant groups consider jihad to include both missionary work and armed conflict. Dawa can include a kind of stealth jihad where the proponents do not publicly propose armed conflict, but support it covertly in private and through funding. Dawa teaches Muslims to completely separate themselves from Westerners and form autonomous Muslim districts. Because the government of France did not take this practice seriously, there are now Muslim sectors in France even the police will not venture into. France has a serious internal security problem and is facing a slow collapse.
Radical Islam’s goal is not the peaceful takeover of the world, but the perpetration of an apocalyptic struggle between the Islamic world (Dar al Islam) and the heretical world (Dar al Harb), reaching the ultimate level of chaos that will usher in the end of time, or last judgment. Jihadists consider this their ultimate goal. They believe the initiation of world chaos will begin the eventual fight between good (Islam) and evil (the West), causing the triumph of Islam and ushering its martyrs into their reward in paradise.
Included in this radical Islamic teaching is the concept of “takiyya.” Takiyya involves the hiding of a Muslim’s true religion and background to achieve the ultimate goal of conquest. Takiyya teaches Muslims living in a non-Muslim area can live in hiding to conduct a secret fight against the “unbelievers.” Essentially, this amounts to radical Islamic sleepers, both cells and individuals, covertly operating dawa and jihad in America and other Western nations against the “unbelievers.” Everything radical jihadists engage in, from hiding their beliefs to suicide attacks, is based on their total adherence to radical Islamic principles. They covertly use propaganda techniques to inspire members and recruits to engage in acts of terrorism without detection by Western authorities. In this way, they remain hidden from detection, conceal their jihadist philosophy, and hide their connections to the attackers themselves. They also use the Western, constitutional protections of privacy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and hate crime legislation to their benefit, causing widespread social change and silencing all criticism of radical Islamic speeches and activities.