Dangerous Excuses

Over at Bloody Scott, Dan Collins links to this article by Tawfik Hamid, a former member of the jihadist terror group, Jemaah Islamiya. Hamid now lives in the West and calls for reform within Islam. The article is definitely worth reading in full, but I’ll highlight some points of particular relevance:

“Without confronting the ideological roots of radical Islam it will be impossible to combat it... It is vital to grasp that traditional and even mainstream Islamic teaching accepts and promotes violence… The grave predicament we face in the Islamic world is the virtual lack of approved, theologically rigorous interpretations of Islam that clearly challenge the abusive aspects of Sharia. Unlike Salafism, more liberal branches of Islam typically do not provide the essential theological base to nullify the cruel proclamations of their Salafist counterparts.”

“It is ironic and discouraging that many non-Muslim, Western intellectuals have become obstacles to reforming Islam. Political correctness among Westerners obstructs unambiguous criticism of Sharia's inhumanity. They find socioeconomic or political excuses for Islamist terrorism… What incentive is there for Muslims to demand reform when Western ‘progressives’ pave the way for Islamist barbarity? Indeed, if the problem is not one of religious beliefs, it leaves one to wonder why Christians who live among Muslims under identical circumstances refrain from contributing to wide-scale, systematic campaigns of terror... All of this makes the efforts of Muslim reformers more difficult. When Westerners make politically correct excuses for Islamism, it actually endangers the lives of reformers and in many cases has the effect of suppressing their voices.”

Tawfik Hamid is the author of The Roots of Jihad. His writing and audio material can be found at his website.