Defeating Extremist Islam - A Western Imperative

by Saied Shoaaib
June 5, 2017 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10378/defeating-extremist-islam

The infiltration of this ideology is reminiscent of the spread of communism and should be defeated similarly -- not with weapons, but by exposing its true nature and providing an alternative. The West first must abandon, however, the notion that radical Islam is an internal Muslim issue, any more than communism was a "Russian issue" that "the Russians" needed to solve.
In addition, the views of liberal Muslim scholars, who reject the whole premise of extremist, political Islam, should be supported and widely circulated.
Finally, imams in Western countries must be held to the same standard as members of other professions. They should be required to receive occupational licenses, based on criteria determined by the state, in conjunction with modern Muslims seeking a peaceful life and the ability to integrate into their societies without fear of repercussions at the hands of fundamentalists.

Many imams in the West -- citizens of the United States, Canada and other countries -- use their pulpits to promote practices that go against democratic values and ultimately lead to terrorism.

Some call on their flock to kill Jews, Christians and "infidel" Muslims who do not adhere either to the strictest interpretation of Islam. Others justify the marriage of grown men to nine-year-old girls. There are those, too, who defend the spousal "right" of husbands to rape their wives.

Contrary to some claims, the type of clerics who preach murder and sexual abuse in North American and European mosques do not suffer from poor socioeconomic conditions and are not mentally unbalanced. Rather, they are loyal followers of an interpretation of Islam that envisions the establishment of a worldwide caliphate governed by sharia law. They deeply believe that the only way to enter Allah's paradise is to live by the letter of the Quran and the Hadith (the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammed).

It is from such imams, most of whom are graduates of renowned Islamic institutions in the Middle East and Asia, that Muslims in the West have been receiving guidance. Key among these institutions is Al-Azhar, a Cairo-based Sunni center for higher learning, attended by students from all over the world. Its curriculum includes extremist content, such as tenets that killing "apostates" is a Divine obligation; that it is a Muslim's duty to humiliate female prisoners through sexual abuse; that adulterers should be stoned to death, and that Christians and Jews are the "enemy of God."

Many imams in the West are graduates of Cairo's Al-Azhar, a Sunni center for higher learning. Its curriculum includes extremist content, such as tenets that killing "apostates" is a Divine obligation; that it is a Muslim's duty to humiliate female prisoners through sexual abuse; that adulterers should be stoned to death, and that Christians and Jews are the "enemy of God." (Image source: Diego Delso/Wikimedia Commons)

Whenever confronted by critics in the West calling them to task for spreading such violent teachings, many imams respond by cloaking their real objectives, saying that the texts should be read in the context of the time that they were written, and by highlighting peaceful and tolerant Quranic verses. Other clerics -- those who do not know how to tailor their rhetoric to Western ears -- openly admit their religious ideology's true intentions.

The infiltration of this ideology is reminiscent of the spread of communism and should be defeated similarly -- not with weapons, but by exposing its true nature and providing an alternative. The West first must abandon, however, the notion that radical Islam is an internal Muslim issue, any more than communism was a "Russian issue" that "the Russians" needed to solve.

Islam and Muslims are part and parcel of Western societies, and Islamist terrorism is a global problem.

In addition, the views of liberal Muslim scholars, who reject the whole premise of extremist, political Islam, should be supported and widely circulated. Among these are prominent intellectuals -- such as the late Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd from Egypt; Mohammed Arkoun, an Algerian who died in France in 2010; the late Egyptian Supreme Court justice Muhammad Sa'id al-'Ashmawi; Egyptian talk-show host Islam Bahiri; and the late Sudanese theologian Mahmoud Muhammad Taha -- all of whom have provided evidence, based on knowledge of the Quran and Hadith, that the "caliphate" is merely a project to colonize more land, as all the old empires did, and that the hostility toward Jews connected to the Muhammed's battle with the Banu Qurayza in the 7^th century should have ended long ago.

Muslim innovators abound in the West, as well, and should be the ones establishing mosques, educational institutions and media outlets, to provide followers with an alternative to political Islamism. Finally, imams in Western countries must be held to the same standard as members of other professions. They should be required to receive occupational licenses, based on criteria determined by the state, in conjunction with modern Muslims seeking a peaceful life and the ability to integrate into their societies without fear of repercussions at the hands of fundamentalists.

Saied Shoaaib is a Muslim writer and researcher, specializing in Islamic movements. He can be reached at: saiedshoaaib@gmail.com

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© 2024 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Recent Articles by Saied Shoaaib

When Will the World's Largest Sunni Religious Institution Disavow Colonization?, 2019-02-13
The European Court of Human Rights Does Not Deserve Its Name, 2019-01-30
The Quran Says Jerusalem Belongs to the Jews, 2018-01-15
What to Remember in Fighting Radical Islam, 2017-02-28
What is a Killer Imam Doing in Public Libraries in Canada?, 2017-02-21

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Comment on this item

52 Reader Comments

Tad Pringle • Jun 6, 2017 at 18:02

So the idea is to encourage being a wishy-washy "Muslim", rather than an actual, logical, observant Muslim... That's gonna work.

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Jack Rainbow • Jun 6, 2017 at 14:10

just emailed Teresa here: may@parliament.uk

The anti terror result of policing the internet will be: ZERO. British people might be charged with hate speech and you might even be able to get rid of a few political dissidents. But it will not affect the murder of British people by Muslims. That will continue at ever increasing frequency. Threatening Muslim murderers with long prison terms will not bother those expecting to die for Allah, now will they?

Challenging the ideology of jihad would work, at least to some extent; its a very worthwhile use of resources. But unfortunately, you appear to be extremely ignorant about the teachings of the Koran and if you approach challenging the ideology of terror from the standpoint of one who pretends Islam is peaceful and that moderate Muslims predominate and that Terror has nothing to do with what is taught by the Koran and Hadith, then that will be very unsuccessful and wasteful. What ideology exactly would you be challenging? We can't say exactly what any Muslim might be thinking and feeling, but we can be certain what the Koran teaches. I can understand your Terror of confronting the truth about Islam and about the majority of Muslims in the UK. Denial is a pathological mechanism arising in an individual who is terrified of the truth, as you appear to be, Teresa. You will need to take some time to acquaint yourself with at least the basics of the Koran and you will soon begin to understand why so many people refute the stupid, blind, denying statements of politicians that Islam is a religion of peace. Muslims need to confront the fact that the Koran does actually exhort the believer to violence and they need to confront the behaviour of Muslims globally which they are also terrified to do. I doubt you have the moral courage or intellectual rigour for the necessary actions to face the issue of terror fairly and honestly.

I am not advocating internment or enforced repatriation. I do, however, strongly recommend you stop lying to the public - we've watched your body language, Teresa, and you are routinely lying to the public. You badly need to confront the fact that millions of people like me are very aware that you are, in your Terror of the truth about Islam, badly failing us.

Jack Rainbow
Ipswich

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Patricia P Tursi • Jun 6, 2017 at 13:31

Can someone explain the obsession with Russia while selling/giving arms to Saudi Arabia is SOP? And why the millions going from Saudi Arabia to the pockets of the Clintons and others is SOP and not examined? I believe the US politicians falsely believe they can outmaneuver the Muslims and underestimate the patience and long term goals. They will be surprised. It is the same in every religion. A desire to control.

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joanofark06

Patricia P Tursi • Aug 26, 2017 at 14:36

"It is the same in every religion. A desire to control." What you don't know, WILL hurt you! Tell me how everything works perfectly in the world, the stars, the planets, the oceans, the sun, moon...tell me how we gravity works, or how the first humans got here....i'm listening...

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Edward Beck • Jun 6, 2017 at 08:42

As a liberal centrist, I believe that Saied Shoaaib offers us a sober first step in trying to eliminate the growing violence that comes with extremist fundamentalists. I also share some of the concerns of some the responses that suggest one is fighting a losing battle in arguing with fanatics intent to subjugate or destroy. However, as a scholar I believe the more permanent form of refutation comes with convincing another with the facts at hand rather that coercion. What is also clear to me as an inescapable human trait as fact is that for many there will always be an element of fear and hatred for "the other" simply on the basis of our species not having evolved sufficiently to accept real human differences. We are simply not yet sufficiently hardwired to do that yet and it is not certain we are headed in that direction as a species. Consequently we will go in cyles where at any given moment in history a group will emerge from the pack to try to subjugate other groups through violence and terror and future generations will once again need to strive for a unified front to defeat those forces.

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Bart Benschop • Jun 6, 2017 at 00:34

Islamic ideology is some thirteen centuries old, while communism is from the second half of the nineteenth century.
Islam is an archaic Arabic word that means submission to Al Shari'iah, the law of Allah. Submission cannot be radical or liberal.
Muslims who submit to non Muslim laws or regulations commit an enormity punishable by death under Al Shari'iah.
Democracy is another enormty punishable by death.
Islam as a peaceful ideology is abrogated, instead Muslims are required to hide behing rocks and bushes awaiting the opportunity to kill non Muslims, but not on the holy days.
Believing is another enormity punisable by death. Muslims do not rape their wives, the wives are required to submit to their husbands, except when they menstruate, during fourty days after giving birth or when sick.
The hostility toward Jews did not stem from the battle with the Banu Qurayza in Al Jathrib but long before the beginning of Islam in Mecca, when Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah arranged the murder of a Jewish mother and her children while the husband was not there, followed by the murder of old Jewish men who refused to submit.
Islam is not a religion. Religion means believing Gods (plural). Both believing and Polytheism are enormities punnishable by death.
Islam is submissiom to Al Shari'iah, a law that dictates Muslims to fight Jihad against non Muslims, how Muslims must behave, how Muslims must be ruled etc.
It is impossible for Muslims to intergrate into any non Muslim society because Muslims are forbidden to submit to any other law beside Al Shari'iah, just as it is impossible for non Muskims to intergrate in Muslim society.
Non Mulims in Muslim society are Kaffir or Dhimmi, that are persons without any legal rights.

Kind regards,

Bart Benschop

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Jack Rainbow

Bart Benschop • Jun 8, 2017 at 04:29

All quite true. But most of us here know all that. How can we get this information to the prime minister? Or our local MPs?

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Bart Benschop

Jack Rainbow • Jun 10, 2017 at 21:33

Dear Jack Rainbow,
I have found that even anti Muslim political parties refuse to accept these facts.
It is interesting to note that in Colonial times, there was not this problem.
This appeasement is like what happened in Europe pre WWII.
It is like Man Made Climate Change, another fallacy that seems almost mpossible to eradicate.
I follow my Grandfathers advice which is from Shane and Damage one becomes wise.
My personal defence is that I am always skeptical.

Kind regards,

Bart Benschop

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Carl Goldberg • Jun 5, 2017 at 20:53

No doubt, the writer means well, but he is way off base. The fundamental proposition of Islam is that the Koran is Allah's LITERAL word -- perfect, complete, unchangeable and valid for all of eternity. No mortal human being can decide that some words of Allah are no longer valid. Therefore, the Koran cannot be changed. It must be read literally wherever it is possible to do so. And, therefore, Islam cannot be reformed. Both the Koran and the Sunnah make it clear that anyone who tampers with any part of the Koran becomes an apostate subject to be killed. That is standard Sharia law, and it always has been. Those "moderate" Moslems who would like to reform Islam are in danger of their lives, and it futile to support them. They are powerless to change Islam no matter how sincere they are. Instead of supporting the impotent "moderate Moslems", we should be fighting the Islamic religious establishment tooth and nail. That means going after the mosques and attacking the Koran in public at every opportunity so that the non-Moslem public becomes aware of the true nature of Islam.

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maureen valley • Jun 5, 2017 at 20:20

Hello:
I just want to congratulate your site on the helpful information that you deliver. It is quite interesting to read because without your site we would not have any idea how Islam operates and how they brainwash their members into believing these barbaric ideas. I enjoy reading the articles even though they are quite so contradictory to what we believe in this country of ours. Good Job.

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Mike Ramirez • Jun 5, 2017 at 19:36

With all due respect, Moderate Muslims may have good intentions in seeking the path of peace and tolerance with those of other faiths but they are stuck in a real dichotomy. On one hand they would need to refute, ignore and abrogate all the verses in the Qur'an that command Muslims to fight against the "Unbelievers" and that martyrs can look forward to eternal bliss in a paradise filled with voluptuous women; for example Qur'an 078.031-078.033 And then, on the other hand, moderates need to realize that such turn from the fundamental tenets of Islam make them "apostates" who can be killed by the fundamentals for leaving the Islamic religion.

Good thoughts by the author for wishing there could be a resolution to the jihadist mentality within Islam. One needs to accept and realize, however, that jihad and terror are NOT a "perversion of Islam," rather, jihad and terror are a VERSION of Islam; the version that Muhammad commanded beginning in the year 622 at the time when he and his followers fled from Mecca to Medina. Fundamental imams will continue to preach the Medina teachings and will continue to indoctrinate Muslim men, women and children to follow those tenets and avoid any move to western thought.

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Ron Thompson • Jun 5, 2017 at 17:51

Unfortunately, a Fatal Flaw
While there is much to admire in this piece, when the author says that Liberal Muslim Scholars "reject the
whole premise of extremist political Islam" he does not seem to consider that if do this, they are NO LONGER MUSLIMS.
He was right to point out the parallel with Communism, and how its infiltration of Western societies had to be fought. But He seems to have forgotten that defeating that threat was only fully accomplished when Communism was not 'reformed' or 'liberalized', but was uncompromisingly opposed and finally collapsed.
Apparently it's still premature for most people to consider that the problem of terrorism in the name of Allah is the religion itself, even if more and more individuals - non-Muslims and Muslims of genuine good will alike - are making arguments that logically point only to that conclusion.
After all, when the heart of "extremist" Sunni Islam is its most holy site and country, Mecca and Saudi Arabia, and the heart of "extremist" Shia Islam is the heartland of its practice, Iran - and both countries are run by totalitarian Theocrats - how is it possible to regard their teachings, even if each regards the other as a mortal existential threat, as anything but Authentic Islam.
Let me put it this way. What if the "hijacking", "perversion", "not the real Islam" arguments that we hear after every terrorist attack, are exactly backwards? What if the real "hijacking" or "perversion" of Islam is, however unconsciously, by all the 'moderate' and 'liberal' Muslims and Imams who can't yet face the fact that the Jihadists and all other violent Muslims eager to kill all the world's non-Muslims and "infidel" Muslims are being entirely consistent in wanting to Take Their Religion Back to its pure, bloody roots in the 7th century.
What if the killers and the scores or hundreds of clerics who inspire them are, in all Muslim majority countries and in the larger Muslim communities in the West - however painful it is to face - the real Muslims, and always will be? That they have been the real Muslims for the 1400 years of Islamic history, a fact obscured by the long stagnation of Islam from around 1797 to 1945, but from which they have been awakening for the last 70 years, a process marked definitively by the "intolerable" founding of Israel.
The latest killers in London shouted to their victims, as they stabbed them "This is for Allah". When we can consider that they are the real face of Islam, however painful that may be for all the Muslims who don't feel that way, but who are not yet ready to find a new identity consistent with their desire to live in peace with their neighbors, then we shall be on the way to defeating global Islamic terrorism.

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Emiel Robertson

Ron Thompson • Jun 5, 2017 at 20:54

Good Point! Call a spade a spade. To only attack the radical terrorist groups is to miss the main target which is just plain old ordinary Islam. You could wipe out all the terrorist groups and it won't solve the problem because plain old ordinary Islam will just keep on generating new extremist groups under a different name.

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Piyush Mehta

Ron Thompson • Jun 6, 2017 at 02:30

So let's get this straight. Islam was founded and expanded through violent conquest. Kill all the men, forcefully convert the others, while raping all the women, indoctrinate the children then the next generation becomes devout followers. Repeat.

I grew up under an apartheid regime, we were considered inferior because of our color. This is the same apartheid with religion replacing race.
Many religions went through the conquer, kill and control stage but have evolved. Those were called the dark ages. Why do we see this one still stuck there? The latest London attack (if another hasn't happened) one of the terrorists was UK born originally from Pakistan, and it's so random as in this case, the concert, Orlando and so on. So many have come out of nowhere from moderate families.

Nobody, not MI5, 6 through 10 has any clue about the next. Nor does any other Intel anywhere know till after the fact. One blaring place to start looking is into those texts that promote hatred, violence and so on. Basically the word infidel should be obliterated from the face of the planet as well as any references that promote killing in the name of religion. Otherwise it is legitimized hate speech. Anyone found saying that infidels or that "non-believers" should be killed should be put under psychiatric care in an asylum before they hurt someone.

Seems like we are living in a movie where authoritarian rule by psychopaths is the central theme, only its not a movie.

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Tad Pringle

Ron Thompson • Jun 6, 2017 at 18:17

I agree. Who would want to be in a group whose basic rules you reject. Like wanting to be a Nazi, but rejecting one-party rule, state control of all services, elimination of certain minorities, etc. Why don't these guys call themselves something else?

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dkjack • Jun 5, 2017 at 17:50

As I've been asked in horror quite often, "Are you proposing total war with a third of the world's population?"

What if the Nazis were a third of the earth's population? Would "But there are so many of them!" justify submission? Muslims are Nazis, if not actively, then subscribing to and supporting those who are. No difference. By not having the courage to face this truth, we have relegated ourselves to a people who do not deserve to survive.

All the comments here are right. But alas for naught. Those whom we, in our wisdom, have elected to lead the civilized world -- such a Congress of Parliament big on bluff but little on action -- prefer to end it not with a bang but a whimper. Very well. Inshallah.

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Emiel Robertson

dkjack • Jun 5, 2017 at 21:05

Good comment! Many of our political leaders and the liberal media are more concerned about possibly offending Muslims than whether you or your wife or children are blown up or run over by a truck. They say peaceful Muslims shouldn't be blamed, well true but it is apparent that many so called moderate Muslims passively support violent Jihad and Sharia, well that is offensive to me and I don't have any problem with offending those kind of people in return, in order to fight the plague of Islamic Ideology.

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UNCLE VLADDI • Jun 5, 2017 at 16:50

Re: "The infiltration of this ideology is reminiscent of the spread of communism and should be defeated similarly -- not with weapons, but by exposing its true nature and providing an alternative."

Yes, it's "similar" to and thus "reminiscent of" communism, simply because the two are the exact same thing: Paranoid slander demanding "totalitarian," totally idolatrous group-might-made rights supplanting all individual human ones, to achieve total control over all other people - it's gangster extortion inevitably leading to slavery!

"Socialism" is gangster extortion leading to slavery.
"Fascism" is gangster extortion leading to slavery.
"Islam" is gangster extortion leading to slavery.

After all, "Islam" means "SUBMISSION."

Psychopaths feel that the best solution to any threat is instantly give in to it because then the additional fear of it is over, and "only" the pain remains!

It's what ALL masochists habitually do: to pretend to be able to "control" their fears, BY causing and/or allowing others to cause (criminal negligence; idolatry; hypocrisy) the very same worst-case scenario problems which cause the pains they fear the most!

This is also what islam means by "Submission!"

"Defensively pre-emptive" psychopathic masochistic hypocritical criminals aren't "sick," they're *sickening.*

(Their choices to always attack thereby innocent other people first makes them criminals, not as liberals prefer, "victims too")!

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Bill Houston • Jun 5, 2017 at 16:04

Communism and Islam both subscribe to the nefarious belief that "the end justifies the means". So, it's not at all surprising they would cooperate in bringing down a civilization based on (among other virtues) a belief that the end does NOT justify the means. These are two philosophical positions that upon examination, are profoundly incompatible. The West needs to be shaken out of its complacency concerning this important difference if it means to survive.

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Pat Walker • Jun 5, 2017 at 15:47

Imams preach perversion - marrying nine year old girls, sexually humiliating female prisoners, stoning adulterers, murdering the infidel Christian and Jews and their other twisted ideas. This thinking could only appeal to the most perveted and depraved of followers. They are not following any "God", but only giving their fantasies a sort of "so-called legitimacy". Let us be done with political correctness and call a spade a spade. PC is actually covering up these crimes, or at least, the identity of the perpetrators.

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thomas Pratt • Jun 5, 2017 at 15:22

I enjoyed and agree whole heartedly with the above article. In particular I like the idea of: ◾Finally, imams in Western countries must be held to the same standard as members of other professions. They should be required to receive occupational licenses, based on criteria determined by the state, in conjunction with modern Muslims seeking a peaceful life and the ability to integrate into their societies without fear of repercussions at the hands of fundamentalists.

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Barbara Bostic • Jun 5, 2017 at 12:33

Expecting the state to save you will not do. If the state licenses imams, why not any spokepersons for any religious or political principles?

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stevenl • Jun 5, 2017 at 11:04

An issue of very little interest to the national and international LEFT!

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Martin Schaffel • Jun 5, 2017 at 10:55

Present day philosophies of western countries encourage their take over by the Muslim world. Defense of country and it's culture is looked upon by governments - as well as a majority of their people - as secondary to the political correctness that they cherish. As long as political correctness is allowed to act as a shield for those wishing to destroy western civilization, western culture is doomed.

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D. Davies

Martin Schaffel • Jun 5, 2017 at 13:45

I understood that political correctness was invented by Karl Marx as a weapon to be used to control free speech. Tony Blair first began to speak of it in the UK - (he was the first person I heard using that expression). This proves to me that communist are still alive and kicking and influencing our society.

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Warren Pugh • Jun 5, 2017 at 10:30

Christians, Christians, Christians. Nope, it's the human race that does not subscribe to or believe in Muhammed. Place the emphasis on the outright violations of national constitutions because these slimy imams promote death to anyone who does not adore Muhammed. Especially in Europe thousands support ISIS and suggest Islamic families should out number non-believers. One reason. Period!

Any mosque where sedition is preached should be closed. In the Oxford debates it was determined that Islam is not a friendly religion. Islam makes no allowance for neutrality. You believe or else. They boldly defend slavery of people of any color, marriages of youngsters, and honor killings. The latter are a headache to Germany. Furthermore, why do we give millions of $$$ to Egypt that looks elsewhere when Coptics are being slaughtered? Perhaps most irritating is the number of wealthy Muslims who are coming under the guise of refugees.

Make Imams responsible or rid the U.S. of them.

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Kenneth McBride • Jun 5, 2017 at 10:27

"modern Muslims seeking a peaceful life and the ability to integrate into their societies without fear of repercussions at the hands of fundamentalists." They seem to be few in number and seldom heard from in response to the routine and repeatedly conducted Islamic Jihadist Terrorist attacks. Finally, the Prime Minister of U.K. has stated "Enough is enough!" and that is what I have been questioning since 9/11, when is enough, enough for a meaningful response by Western Civilization, when? Why has there not been a response, is it the 1% of the Western countries who view themselves as global citizens and are willing to tolerate the massacre of Western citizens of their respective nations so as to not disturb their wealth/power and lifestyle status? Astonishingly, there is a failure to recognize in the West that this is not a "new" conflict, it has been ongoing since at least 1453 and before!

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Ray Burke

Kenneth McBride • Jun 5, 2017 at 15:04

Communist inspired "political correctness" is the poison pill destroying western society !!! Unless this deadly scourge is rooted out and eliminated, the west will soon cease to exist !!! REBel

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BARBARA BROOKS • Jun 5, 2017 at 10:11

I object to the idea of having criteria set by the state for religious institutions beyond things like excluding sex offenders, people convicted of fraud. members of terrorist organizations, etc. Instead, the state should ban entrance to people who have attended extremist institutions. If citizens leave to go to such places, they should not be readmitted or else be imprisoned. It's better to ban specific institutions, groups or people than for the state to take on the role of interfering directly in religious institutions. One of the most effective ways to combat extremism would be to ban donations from the Gulf States, Indonesia and Pakistan to mosques and educational institutions. The majority of Americans are unaware of Saudi funding of mosques and would likely support such a ban.

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Dorothy Webb davies

BARBARA BROOKS • Jun 5, 2017 at 13:51

We would in the UK too. Only our governments are so useless. I wonder if Theresa May will really take draconian measures to protect her people, or will the "wet behind the ears" woolly- minded MPs block all her efforts?

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Russell • Jun 5, 2017 at 09:54

the late Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd from Egypt; Mohammed Arkoun, an Algerian who died in France in 2010; the late Egyptian Supreme Court justice Muhammad Sa'id al-'Ashmawi; Egyptian talk-show host Islam Bahiri; and the late Sudanese theologian Mahmoud Muhammad Taha (supposedly all moderates and all dead)

Seems that some significant Muslims that believed in moderating Islam are "late" i.e. Dead. Are there still some alive who can help?. Of course they are considered as apostates by radical Muslims and their sentence under Sharia law is death. Not saying that these people were necessarily put to death, just that they can no longer help and it's going to be very difficult to take these gentle and kind educational methods of moderating Islamic terrorists to those that believe that they are just doing what their ideology says they must do, that is, kill infidels and apostates. I would think that to save western civilization from this ever increasing innocent bloodshed in the name of Allah, a more warlike approach will need to be taken, like against Hitler, wage a war and destroy the threat from top to bottom. Like taking drug pushers off the streets doesn't do much to stop the cartels, it doesn't help to deal with the young suicidal attackers who are just the symptom or manifestation of a greater evil. The war should be waged against the ideology, Islam should be banned, radical Imams deported, their Mosques taken down and the law enforced and deportation used to deal with the disgruntled Muslims that claim that they are moderate and peace loving, yet do everything they can to protect radicals in their midst and will demonstrate and destroy everything and everyone in their path to protect their not so peaceful religion of peace. Surely the right to life of children and civilians is more important than the right to freedom of a religion that calls and indeed practices "death to infidels".

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Trilby • Jun 5, 2017 at 09:46

Nice try but, unfortunately, all Islam is extremist compared to modern Western civilization. So these suggestions will not help.

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Jack Rainbow • Jun 5, 2017 at 09:41

This story directly contradicts the explanations given by Jihad Watch and by Robert Spencer, who insists that the teachings of the Koran are direct commands from god to his prophet Mohammed and that they are unambiguous, dependent on the principle of abrogation, for all time and failure to observe these commands is failure to observe the commands of god. There is clear evidence that this is as described by Spencer and many other scholars. It does very strongly appear to me that Mr Saied Shoaaib's assertions, much as I so deeply wish they were true, are nothing more than a wish that Islam were, actually a peaceful religion whereas in actuality, it is not. I think if the west is to approach the darkness that is Islamic violence on the basis that the Koran is not the origin of hatred and violence, it will not be successful because it will lack the force of truth. I have never seen an alternative explanation for 9.5,(i.e.that it is not a direct exhortation to violence) for example, that is in any way evidentially convincing.

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Dorothy Webb davies

Jack Rainbow • Jun 5, 2017 at 13:59

Today on the radio the Dean of Southwark Cathedral, London (the latest atrocity and affront to civilisation happened on its doorstep) - this Dean repeated the assertion that the call to violence in the name of Allah is not in the Koran! He claimed he had read it and that (yet again) Islam is a great and peaceful religion! He is supposed to be an educated man! If a theologian like that is so ignorant what hope for our MPs who only studied politics and economics in Universities? A course in History is required at the very least.

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Bart Benschop

Dorothy Webb davies • Jun 6, 2017 at 20:14

It is unlikely that the Dean read Al Qur'an. To be able to read it in Arabic is very difficult and the last reliable translation was from before WW2 and is not reprinted. The Dean should read a reliable translation of Al Shari'iah instead.
Kind regards Bart Benschop

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joanofark06

Bart Benschop • Aug 26, 2017 at 14:47

There are plenty of English versions of the Koran online! Maybe I should share some links?

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Scorpio • Jun 5, 2017 at 09:34

Good suggestion at least that writer appreciated the scourge of communism but while were "point fingers" don't forget whose with most blood on their hands, the politicians, who allowed these Islamic terrorist to enter the West. Only President Trump seems to have recognised this fact.

Today I heard a Christian apologist on the radio suggesting that to condemn Muslims would only result in more radicalisation. In Britain we have about 3 million plus Muslims yet this apologist is happy for the rest of us (60 million) to be subjected to the substantial radical Islamists. In population terms any chance of getting rid of the Muslims?

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Phillip Rosslee • Jun 5, 2017 at 09:05

I do not think there is enough time to adopt this approach to defeat Islam. We need to intern any Muslims suspected of Terror or Terrorist intent who were born in the West. Close our borders and stop immigration from Muslim Countries especially but stop immigration any immigrants with criminal records should not be allowed into Western Society. We then need to deport the illegals already in the West. If not Terrorists incidents are likely to increase exponentially as they are already doing.

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robert davis • Jun 5, 2017 at 08:57

There is a big difference in the links between communism and russia from islamic radicals and islam : communism does not come from russia it's NOT "russianism" whereas islazmic radicals come from islam. The latter should be rejected from the western civilisation as a foreign matter to our civilisation and the people as well as the governments must finally understand that islamic radicals result from islamic masses and therefore the larger the masses the larger the number of radicals.

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Wisconsin • Jun 5, 2017 at 08:27

The British Prime Minister is completely right: kick them out of the social media completely, bereave them of the tools of advanced communication. The very technology that made social media possible should be capable to eliminate those whose culture would never have been capable to bring forth the technology the Western World enjoys. And yet they use the very technology of those whom they seek to destroy to exhibit their heinous barbaric acts and recruit for them.

This can be stopped, by thoroughly vetting those who create accounts in the first place and making them traceable.... Why not requiring for a log in the finger print we meanwhile find on most id cards and Passport? He who writes may still do so anonymously to protect his identity from possible abuse. Yet, those who run the sites or even better, a central agent super-imposed on all sites should not just have the e mail address but also the Passport details, fingerprints etc BEFORE certain folks start their Journey in Cyberspace.....

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Jonathan Tokeley • Jun 5, 2017 at 08:26

Excellent article, but it fails to make one central point, which western readers would themselves overlook, having been long accustomed to "established" churches.

Islam does not possess a regulated priesthood, which is first appointed and then controlled from the centre, on a hieratic principle (the only exception being the "Twelver" shiites in Iran). There are no archbishops and bishops in Islam, no Central Council, no Presbyterian moderators. No means to rein in excess, and exert some modicum of control over what individual priests get up to.

Instead, "legal scholars" must compete for their congregations, and their congregations are getting younger all the time, given the demographics (the average age in Palestine is 17, and the same trend applies across the whole Muslim world, because of their rampant birth-rates...one can practically hear the testosterone sloshing). In addition, because of the 'standard deviation', their congregations are unintelligent (average IQ across arabia is 85, slightly less in sub-Saharan Africa).

The inevitable tendency is for scholars to compete as firebrands; that is, by emphasising the aggressive hence exciting aspects of the original texts. Each scholar competes with the last, and the direction is almost inevitable, and moves ever father away from what Christianity has evoked. The last time there was a comparable situation in the West was during the English civil war, when Puritan preachers were competing against each other, having escaped the restraint of the established Church of England. As a result, they murdered the King, and felt entirely justified in so doing.

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Peter Smith • Jun 5, 2017 at 07:32

This article may be well-meant, but it is in practice unrealistic and can only dull any western efforts to defeat "Extremist Islam." The underlying problem is that the Qur'an and the Hadith and the concept of Jihad and the underlying principles of Sharia Law are at the very heart of Islam and they are all Extremist. It is all very well a few academics writing theological treatises suggesting that some of the ancient understandings need updating, the plain fact is that literacy is far higher among Muslims than previously and they can now read for themselves and absorb the utter contempt traditional Islam has for "unbelievers" and the encouragement it provides for violence.

Of course the majority of Muslims just want peaceful and prosperous family lives, but they are trapped in a culture that fiercely resists both integration and disrespect for the Qur'an's demands.Unless they are prepared to break out of that trap, there can be no place for them in western societies for they will always be "the enemy within."

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Andrew T. Halmay • Jun 5, 2017 at 07:27

This is all worth trying but the spread of Islam didn't come about through educational proselytizing - it came through the sword - and Communism doesn't provide a rational analogy. When Europeans settling in the Americas found that one couldn't negotiate with the natives they contained them on reservations. In Latin America they killed off the leaders. Queen Isabella had the ultimate solution for this problem and if we want to return to a life of peace where we don't have to fear being blown up or knifed by a previously seemingly friendly neighbor, we cannot have them live in our midst. Islam must be outlawed, hate preaching mullahs must be eliminated, deported. It is far too late for soft measures.

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Hanna • Jun 5, 2017 at 07:24

Unfortunately, it is too late --- at least for Europeans --- it is wrong to let people --- any people, into a country with out vetting them first. Sharia law is a curse, and, sadly, IT IS HERE TO STAY!!! It so happens that not all people are the same. Muslims, (most Muslims), have not changed since the seventh century, so why should they change now, when they are winning? I hope that I am wrong, but, I do not think so. And, once again --- IT IS TIME FOR JEWS TO LEAVE EUROPE!!! One Holocaust is more than enough in one's life time. Thank you Saied Shoaaib and Gatestone.

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Om Prakash Sharma • Jun 5, 2017 at 07:18

That is where the people go wrong. To defeat The Radical Islamic Terror is the responsibility of the entire civilized world.

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Piyush Mehta • Jun 5, 2017 at 06:51

Communism? The Nazi doctrine of singular superiority fits in better with this terrorist ideology that you mention in the article. How was that Nazi doctrine defeated? Oh, yes a world War against the practitioners and sympathizers of Nazi terrorist ideology.

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Telh • Jun 5, 2017 at 06:26

You can deal with the cobwebs in whatever way you choose, but in the end, unless you get rid of the spider the problem remains.
Islam is the cause of 'radical Islam' and without a significant revision (which will never happen) the 'moderates' can become radicals simply by reading their scriptures for themselves or by taking advice from someone who has. Islam must be banned in all civilized countries. Then the problem will cease to exist in those countries.

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Jeff Page • Jun 5, 2017 at 06:25

The main problems with Muslim communities across the world have been caused by politicians and other authorities reluctance to challenge extremist views.

The street hate, preachers grooming gangs, the attitude to women and segregation within Mosques and "Faith Schools". All and more have been allowed to flourish openly within Muslim communities without a word spoken against it by the authorities! Apparently, this is all ignored because of the need for us all to come together in community spirit. What is acceptable to Muslims is not acceptable to modern day society where we consider FGM, the marriage of old men, to 9, year old girls, not to be the normal thing to do.

Everything about Islam has to be challenged. Has it got a place in the West? Has it got a place in modern society or is it too much of a clash of cultures?

It must be questioned, why is there a need for "Community Leaders" why are they necessary and what role do they play? How much influence do they have, and how do they use that influence? Then Imams need to be challenged on their views and guest Imams invited to speak at Mosques and "Cultural Centres".

Either our politicians in the West have to tackle the Islamic Ideology by restricting certain privileges or the Muslims must combat terrorism from within their own communities. If this is not done it will eventually get to the stage whereby war will be declared by the public on the Muslim communities in their area by some individuals who will stir up deep set, resentment towards an intolerant entity in our country that is attempting to take control, by the use of rape, and the fear of terrorist attacks being carried out at regular intervals. Theresa May mentioned in a speech yesterday, something that Britain First have been saying for a long time, "enough is enough", and I sincerely hope that she meant it. We cannot allow ourselves to be in fear of a twisted, perverted ideology that has no place within humanity. Politicians need to understand that their own failure to integrate the people from different cultural backgrounds is their fault entirely and it's time for them to step up to the mark and take back control of certain areas in this country and far and wide across Europe! We can no longer tolerate the intolerant within our societies, things need to change, and quickly!

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Mr False • Jun 5, 2017 at 06:09

Islam has nothing more to do with Western society than a recipe for Mongolian soup. Obviously we shouldn't be giving so many free passes, but that doesn't make it our problem. Stop expecting everyone else to fix your religion and your countries.

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Paul Fishman • Jun 5, 2017 at 06:05

Islam in it's orthodox ideology from the 7th century has NO historical and contextual boundaries to function in ANY human civilization. This religion is unlike the Jewish and Christian faith that limits the israelite conquests strictly applicable to contextual history. Jihad is open ended as a barbaric satanic revenge practice.

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Patricia Canon • Jun 5, 2017 at 06:01

I like the ideas you promote in your last paragraph. Such changes are crucial. Although there are many good Muslim people living in the West, I am just not sure most Western people would agree with you about Islam being "part and parcel" of the West. This is a Judeo-Christian culture and our laws and customs are derived from that foundation. Islam has set itself in opposition to us. Many people are concluding that the gap is simply too distant. I am inclined to think that any Muslim group practicing and supporting Sharia should be resettled peacefully and carefully into a Muslim society outside the West. Not only is terrorism a threat, but there are Muslim rape gangs now all over Europe. I have heard a UK investigator say they believe up to 1 million UK girls (young women/teens) have been abducted, gang raped, tortured and sometimes killed by Muslim gangs. I believe this would have occurred over about the past 30 years and is ongoing. This is just in one Western country. It is happening across Europe and to some extent in the US. Their contempt for Western women is very dangerous to us. This is another - and very unacceptable - form of terror that tends to remain hidden. I don't believe, personally, that any society should import a foreign group to so grotesquely abuse the female half of its population. These are war crimes, committed by a group that considers itself to be at war with us, not "part and parcel".

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Albert Reingewirtz • Jun 5, 2017 at 05:24

Good luck with that! Islam is on the march. "The religion of peace" Is in full attack mode to control "the infidels" and make them pay jizia.

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