On the Other Hand...

Mark Shea keeps looking for and cheering on signs of Moderate Muslims.

I want to join Mark in his hopeful quest, but I'm still troubled by questions I have not yet found complete, satisfactory answers to:

1. When Moderate Muslims oppose Islamist-Jihadism (or whatever-you-want-to-call-it) are they doing so on the grounds that it is un-Islamic (contrary to the Koran, the Hadiths, the example of Mohammed) or because it's imprudent at this time? The answer, I suspect , is both right now. And it's the latter answer that makes me uneasy. It certainly changes the nature of their moderation: "Not now brothers, this is not the opportune time!"

2. Which school of Islamic jurisprudence recognizes and is compatible with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

The answer, I suspect, is none. If the theological structure of Islam is (currently) incompatible with Human Rights as classically formulated, what relationship can we expect with present and future Muslims? (Oriana Fallaci has a rather gruesome section in The Force of Reason about Italian (?) Muslims advocating using Italian hospitals for infibulation [female castration]).

3. If the culture that breeds Islamist-Jihadism is metaphorically considered a swamp, how can it be drained and who is going to drain it? Moderate Muslims? Do the Koran, the Hadiths and the Model Muslim (Mohammed) provide a basis for defeating the Jehadi philosophy? Is there an existing version of Islam that can replace the literalist and long-established reading of the Koran and Mohammed's life? If not, what hope for Moderate Islam?

I suppose that, in the end, only a Moderate Muslim can really answer these questions satisfactorily