Answering
his first question in a 2004 presidential debate, Senator John Kerry
explained that America needed to isolate the ìradical Islamic
Muslims.î
ìI
have a better plan to be able to fight the war on terror by Ö
beginning to isolate the radical Islamic Muslims, not have them
isolate the United States of America.î
At
first, the statement sounded redundantóeven uneducated. A Muslim
is, by definition, a follower of Islam, and is therefore, by
definition, ìIslamic.î Saying ìIslamic Muslimsî was a
lot like saying ìAmerican Americans.î
So
was Kerry just being repetitive? Or was his statement perhaps more
telling than even he realized? Are all Muslims ìIslamicî? Well,
the truth is, no. Not the good ones, at least.
More
and more, the underlying assumption seems to be that Islam is the
problem. If Islam, as a faith, is in essence radical, the less
ìIslamicî something is the better. And thus a ìmoderate
Muslimîóthe much coveted titleóis only moderately Muslim, and
therefore only moderately bad. Saying this would be like telling
someone to only be ìmoderately blackî so as not to be too violent.
Saying
ìIslamic Muslimsî was a lot like saying ìAmerican
Americans.î |
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Conversely,
a Muslim who is too ìIslamicî is then by definition
ìradicalîóa ìradical Islamic Muslimîóand must be dealt
with (isolated).
In
fact, Mona Mayfield understood these rules well when she defended
her husbandówrongfully accused of participating in the Spain
bombing.
ìWe
have a Bible in the house. Heís not a fundamentalistóhe thought
it was something different and very unique,î Mayfield told the
Associated Press of her husbandís conversion to Islam.
To
prove his innocence, Mayfield tried to downplay her husbandís
commitment to Islam. She even felt the need to justify his
conversionóas if that were his crime.
Mosque
administrator Shahriar Ahmed took a similar approach to defend
Mayfield. ìHe was seen as a moderate,î Ahmed told reporters.
ìMayfield showed up for the Friday ritual of shedding his shoes,
washing his bare feet and sitting on the carpets to hear services.
He did not, as some devout Muslims do, pray five times a day at the
mosque.î
The
implication here is that Brandon Mayfieldís guilt or innocence was
in some way related to how many times he prayed at the mosque. Ahmed
even went on to assert,
ìHe was on the less religious side if anything.î
ìHe
did not, as some devout Muslims do, pray five times a day at
the mosque.î |
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These
ìless religiousî icons of what an ìacceptableî Muslim should
look like can be found all over the media. Irshad Manji, media
entrepreneur and author of The Trouble with Islam, is one of
the most celebrated of these icons. Manji is widely published and
has appeared in all the top media outlets. She even received
Oprahís Chutzpah Award for ìgutsiness.î
Although
Manji refers to herself as a ìMuslim refusenik,î the media
refers to her as the model of a ìpracticing Muslim.î Daniel
Pipes, a board member of the United States Institute of Peace, calls
her a ìcourageous, moderate, modern Muslim.î But interestingly,
Manjiís ideas have less to do with Islam than Pipesí ideas have
to do with peace. A Washington Post article describes
Manjiís epiphany about prayeróthe cornerstone of the Islamic
faith:
Instead,
she said, she began praying on her own. After washing her feet, arms
and face, she would sit on a velvet rug and turn toward Mecca.
Eventually, she stopped this as well, because she did not want to
fall ìinto mindless submission and habitual submissiveness.î
Manji
is welcome to her opinion about this practice of 1.5 billion people
worldwide. She is also welcome to abandon any and all of these
practices. But Manji is not simply depicted as an insignificant
woman who decided not to pray. Her personal decision to abandon
central tenants of her faithóso long as that faith is Islamóis
portrayed as a fight for freedom. A fight against tyranny. She
is ìcourageousî and ìgutsy,î a model for other not-too-Islamic
Muslims to follow.
Making
this the model is like asking someone not to be ìtoo blackî or
ìtoo Jewish,î as if these were in essence bad or violent, and
anyone who struggled only to be ìmoderately blackî or
ìmoderately Jewishî was a freedom fighter.
For
example, Manji told the Washington Post, ìThe violence is
going to happen, then why not risk it happening for the sake of
freedom?î
Yes.
Freedom is good. Manji may have said it better. Kerry may have said
it subtler. But a business management professor at Californiaís
Imperial Valley College said it truer: ìThe only way to end
Islamic terrorism is to eliminate the Islamic religion.î
But
regardless of how you say it, one thing is for sure: when it comes
to Islam these days, less is definitely more.
