Islamic moderation

I see these constant debates on conservative websites on whether or not Islam is “fundamentally” capable of moderation. I read a piece tonight by David Solway, where he did his homework, and quoted a variety of sources on both sides of the issue.

Here is my take: we really don’t know what the people who profess an allegiance to Islam are capable of. Neither do they. Clearly, Muslims have coexisted more or less in peace with other faiths in many places for many years. Clearly, many of the nations that speak Arabic as their primary language do so as a result of conquest.

The question, to me, is “what should we do, now”? I want to get along, but not at the cost of my culture and country. I want peace, but am quite prepared to fight for our Liberal order.

My problem with the “debate”, such as it is, at the moment, is that people seem to want to reach some clear, stable, non-negotiable stance with respect to “Islam”, when in reality many, many people fall under that rubric, and we can’t with justice sit in judgement on them all. This is the tendency we ALL have that academics call “essentializing”.

Always, always, always, judgments have to be localized. We have to have specific policy questions in front of us. Solway, in a four page essay, is only truly useful in one paragraph, where he offers CONCRETE policy proposals:

These would include the shutting down of terror-preaching mosques (as well as the cancellation of the Cordoba project), the deportation of extremist imams, a ramped-up prosecution of phony Islamic “charities,” the stringent oversight of Wahhabi-inspired madrassas with a view to eliminating them altogether, the delicensing of Islamic organizations allied to the Muslim Brotherhood, tightened immigration policies, the prohibiting of shari’a law and finance, the close monitoring of Middle East Studies departments in our universities whose real mandate is not to teach but to proselytize and indoctrinate in favor of Islam, and an all out campaign to dry up the sources of Islamic funding in all areas of public and professional life.

In my own view, these are–considering the global context–reasonable proposals.

Bottom line: we don’t have to decide–nor can we with justice EVER decide–what sort of people “Muslims” are. The questions, always, are policy oriented. How do we protect American lives? How do we support what is good in the world, and starve what is bad?

Would I like to see a Muslim renaissance, in which they approach something like the universal values of the Enlightenment? Of course. We need to work to build up everything that is good and wholesome anywhere Muslims congregate. Will such efforts in the end matter? Only time will tell. We have to make the effort, in my view.

I am very fond of a line I saw in the Kentucky Derby Museum, and have quoted it often, but hopefully not so often as to be dull: “Mint juleps should never be made by novices, Yankees, and statisticians”.

Never count the odds bef0re the fight, if you are right. Do what is right, adjust as needed, and keep firing until you prevail or fall. That is a very simple life strategy, and one I embrace whole-heartedly.