Is the "average" Islam in fact extreme?

I have seen an argument about Islam that one can surely define as Islamophobic, if we use the British Runnymede Trust's definition. The mentioned argument states that

"Eftersom;

1) Yusuf al-Qaradawi tillhör “mittfåran” enligt Gardell, och

2)Yusuf al-Qaradawi förspråkar kvinnlig omskärelse, slöja, att mannen har rätt att ta till våld mot kvinnan i hemmet, att Hitler var “gudomlig rättvisa” för judarna osv., då måste det väl innebära att

3) “mittfåran”, med normala människors mått, är en våldsam, antidemokratisk, kvinnoförtryckande, antisemitisk, anti-västlig, totalitär fascist ideologi

Eller hur?"

In translation:

If
1) Yusuf al-Qaradawi, as Gardell claims, belongs to the “average Islamic denomination", and if

2) Yusuf al-Qaradawi is an advocate of female circumcision, veil [meaning the Muslim female head-scarf], that the man has the right to use violence against the woman in the household, that Hitler was "divine justice" for the Jews, etc., then it must mean that

3) the "average denomination", in normal people's view, is an ideology that is violent, anti-democratic, that opresses women, that is anti-semitic, anti-West, totalitarian and fascist.

Right?"


Now, this arguement, number 3), about the "average" Islam is false because it is based on a false premise. What someone like Mattias Gardell says (paraphrazed in points 1 and 2) is only his, that one person's view of an issue, which isn't necessarily the real, or the "true" aspect of it. So to judge a whole religion's "moderate stream" based upon ONE person's view of it, it utterly wrong and could easily be a dangerous and anti-democratic argument.

In this case, ANYONE could present ANY form of extremism and call it what it is not; the "average" Islam. I'll give you an example in form of a question: What would you call the "average" Christianity? The Swedish Lutheran Church or the Italian Catholic Church? There are many denominations in every religion, and there simply is no universal, "average" Islam OR Christianity, it doesn't exist simply because there are too many people from so many different cultures that make the base of a religion. Today Muslims make about one fifth of the Earth's population. Do you have any idea how vast that number is? Are they all the same in their religious practices and extremism?

This is not a simple issue, and any form of religious or political extremism MUST be criticized. But we must also be reasonable in our criticism. There are a few main questions that one must ask herself or himself before criticizing some occurance, because, today, any layman can make up her or his own mind about anything in just five minutes of "google-ing"

These main questions are:
1.) What do I REALLY know about this issue?
2.) Do I have enough sources to base my knowledge and argument upon, and are they biased towards one view, or are they many and varied?
3.) Have I ever talked to anyone from the "other" side, in order to find out what they think, instead of basing my knowledge and argument on what "We" think we know about "Them"?


Also the one that's signed as "Johan" in the comment on Kent Ekeroth's blog, based his argument on the wrong premise. It seems that he is one that has never read any of the "Holy Books" of Abrahamic religions. Also, Johan obviously thinks that all Christians in the world are as "moderate" as the "average" Swedish Christian. That is also completely wrong; as I've said before, there are many denominations of any religion, and not every Christian is as "moderate" as the "average" Swedish Christian. We don't have to go further away than Germany (e.g. Bavaria) to find out that Christianity means more to people there than it does in Sweden. Catholicism plays an important role in the society and is important to the "common man" in Italy, and perhaps even more important in many Latin American and South American countries. Many "average" citizens of the USA go to church every Sunday. Are they to be considered moderate?

So, you see, it's not all black and white, there is a vast grey-zone here. As a matter of fact, the grey-zone is, metaphorically speaking, the size of the Pacific! A "moderate" Muslim does not mean an atheist Muslim, I'll agree with Johan on that. But how is an old woman an extremist if she has lived her whole life by simply minding her own business and praying to God five times a day (etc.), because that is the religion and the culture that she has been brought up in?

As an atheist, I wouldn't mind the abolishment of ALL religions, even Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. But as a human being first and foremost, I am against stupidity. The Western values of freedom and democracy shouldn't be forced upon people from different, or "other" cultures and religions. We should only help them to be devoloped. Often, religion plays a big part in those "other" people's lives, and if "we" try to spread the Western values by force (while at the same time saying "God is on our side and we will prevail" about the war on (Islamic) terrorism ), then those people (i.e. the "Other") will find that we in the Western world are hypocrits that want to take away their culture and religion. Of course, extremists use any argument they can find for mobilizing more and more young man and women into their organizations, but the West is actually helping the extremists because it, the West, cannot cognitively divide extremists from non-extremists. That's because people just don't understand, they know too little about it. If you don't know the problem, trying to fix it will only make it worse. A surgeon couldn't operate without proper training, and without the proper training, he's not a surgeon at all, he's a layman.

These are human beings that we're talking about, not robots or apes that have their instincts genetically programmed. Living in a culture where wearing a head-scarf is the religious law, most people don't force it upon others, because most people accept it. A Muslim man doesn't opress his daughter more by making her wear a head-scarf, than a Swedish man that doesn't allow his daughter to wear skirts that are too short, i.e. clothes that he finds are too revealing.

Iran has been more secular before the Islamic Revolution, and many young people today are actually longing for a more open society, in which religion will be more a presonal thing than it is now, but this should not be cofused with complete and utter abolishment of their religion and culture, and acceptance of the Western secular values and "atheist way of life". There are many people who find the rules and laws too strict, and they would like more freedom, so we must NOT make enemies of those people, because they've done nothing wrong except being born in, from our view, the "wrong" or the "Other" culture; they were also as disgusted as you and I by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

We must not make enemies out of one fifth of the world's population just because therein exists a small extreme element that's well funded, and doesn't refrain from using force and violence even against civilians. Cultures are different and that's a fact that we must accept and extend the arm of friendship, while saying "I accept you as the way you are and I hope that you will accept me as the way I am". (Of course, the arm of friendship cannot be extended to a terrorist or someone that is filled with hate and wouldn't mind every "Western" man, woman and child dead, so don't even try to push forward that argument, because the FACT is that those kinds of extremists are a very small minority, hence the expression "extremists").

Basically, I suggest you all read many books from many different sources. In order for you to remain un-biased, you should read books that give different views on a single issue.

I suggest you start with reading the three "Holy Books" of the Abrahamic religions; the Torah, the Bible and the Qu'ran. That way you'll discover the many, similarities and you will also understand the diferances between them.

Second, read about the history of the world, about the history of the development of societies, all the way from ancient Greece and Rome, to today. Read about the development of cultures, the inluence that the Christian and Islamic world have had on each other's siences, architecture, litterature, art; basically each other's cultures overall.

It's also important to read about Europe's colonial history, not only in Africa and the Americas, but also north Africa (namely Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt) and the Middle East, which in this case is of heavy importance.

I know that the easiest thing to do, and the thing that feels emotionally best, is when we find someone that shares, and not only that, but also someone who augments our own vies. In that way we feel validated, knowing that we're right and we know what we stand for. Unfortunately, if we are ignorant, that will only make us into extremists and automatically into enemies to anyone or anything that's on the opposing side. Indoctrination is as dangerous as ignorance. We have to share this planet, if we don't make friends and understand each other, than we are truely on our way towards a very bleak future, which will surely become our own Hell on Earth, into which it would be too harsh a punishment to bring a child.

Education, the evolution of thought it the key.