Pophöger

I The Spectator skriver Melaine Philips en hoppfull kolumn, där hon citerar en artikel av Dr Patrick Sookhdeo: Islam – at war with itself.

Recent months have seen a number of unexpected and extremely encouraging statements coming out of the Muslim world.  Respected, mainstream Muslim leaders in a variety of countries have voiced opinions which are at odds with traditional, conservative Islam.  They have challenged aspects of shari‘a and are calling for a liberal, modernist, enlightened Islam compatible with Western norms.  Perhaps the most significant of all is a comment by a group of British Muslims calling for an end to the apostasy law and for full freedom in all religious matters.

A small minority of marginalised Muslim progressives has been bravely defying traditional and Islamist pressures by reinterpreting Islam in a way compatible with modern concepts of secularity, individual human rights, religious freedom and gender equality. […]

There is now a powerful struggle going on for the soul of Islam. It would seem that under the combined pressure of extremist Islamist terrorism, the ”war on terror” and the dangers to Muslim regimes and societies, new voices are emerging within mainstream Islamic leadership embracing a new ijtihad [21] compatible with modernity and human rights. They would seem to accept the liberal reformist view of prioritising the core values of Islam, distilled from the Islamic source texts, as spiritual and moral norms that override literalist, coercive, political and social interpretations. They seem to be willing to ignore traditional Islamic concepts that contradict modern humanistic values of pluralism, freedom and equality.

Philips kommenterar:

This is clearly a crucial crossroads for Islam. It is now even more vital than ever before that, as Sookhdeo says, both the British government and the Church end their appeasement and accommodation of radical Islamists – a stance which cuts the ground from under the feet of all moderate Muslims.  They must now cut off the radicals instead, and learn finally to differentiate them from those courageous Muslims who are now trying to bring about nothing less than an Islamic Reformation, and who need and deserve the utmost active and unambiguous support.

Även i Sverige är detta en aktuell fråga – Per Gudmundson kommenterar hur medierna vägrat att se några kopplingar till islamism angående terrorattacken i Fort Hood:

Orsaken till att medierna ibland rapporterar på det här viset är att presskåren inte vill underblåsa rasistiska fördomar, och inte vill trampa muslimer på tårna.

Det sker i högsta välvilja, och kan tyckas motiverat då det ju förekommer förföljelser av muslimer. Men effekten blir den motsatta. Om jag vore muslim skulle jag känna mig förolämpad.

Den som menar att utropet Allahu akbar inte betyder något i sammanhanget antyder samtidigt att detta är fullt normalt muslimskt beteende. Men det är det inte, som alla vet. Vanliga muslimer är inte islamistiska mördare.

Resultatet av den ”välvilliga” nyhetsrapporteringen är att läsarna aktivt vilseleds, och att vanliga hederliga muslimer klumpas ihop med våldsverkare.

Tyvärr har mainstreammedia och vänstern gjort kopplingen att islam är lika med islamism i sin strävan att vara goda och neutrala. Det slår undan benen för reformisterna.