Will the Real Moderate Please Stand Up?

By Todd Fillmore

“Moderate Muslims…”
      “Fundamentalist Muslims…”

“Spiritual Islam...”
     “Political Islam…”

”Militant…”
    “Ideology…”
          “Extremist…”

 With its center-stage presence in world affairs, barrels of ink are spent in public discussion about the world of Islam, almost always employing such words in an attempt to label, define and dissect the broad range of religiosity and political impact of Islam’s one billion or so adherents. But within the West’s recent struggle to understand how Islam’s growing presence dovetails into American ideals of self-governance, national security, and love of liberty – especially in the complex concretion of human interaction - what value do all of these labels really have? 

In reality, not very much. 

Imagine with me, for a moment, that there are three individuals of interest to us.  Ahmed, a Nigerian immigrant about 48 years old, is a devout Muslim of mixed race, who, like many of his fellow Muslims, is not well studied in his faith, focusing mainly on favored portions of his Koran which he carries everywhere.  By most accounts, he would be considered a peaceful and “moderate” Muslim.  Although he is aware of many of Islam’s sterner commands, he generally ignores them, preferring instead to dwell on the softer side of the teachings of Muhammad, Islam’s Warrior-Prophet and founder. In an interesting coincidence, Ahmed attends the same American mosque as Dr. Musa Fassoud, a respected academic and lecturer known for his outspoken support for moderate Islam here in the United States.  His favorite topic of discussion is the compatibility of Islam and our U.S. Constitution.

James is a 19 year old son of an African-American single mother.  He still lives with his mother, who is industrious, rather than poor, and so finds himself and his mother perched on the lower rungs of urban middle class life.  James attended one year of college to study philosophy, but found that he didn’t really “fit in.”  Like thousands of youth of a similar background, James, although very bright, energetic and capable, holds some dark feelings toward “the establishment,” feeling that he has somehow been cheated, and that, as a matter of justice America “deserves what it gets.”   In a typical display of teen angst and longing for something larger than life, James pens a poem:

“Please someone find me
I want to find the light
But no one is there to guide me
Open the door
Someone give me its key.”

One sunny afternoon in a park, James notices Ahmed kneeling on a small prayer rug, reading a small foreign looking book while noiselessly reciting words from it.  Curious, James approaches, and they soon find themselves engaged in a spirited and wide ranging conversation, eventually centered on the purpose of life, and the question of God.  As their conversation stretches into evening, Ahmed’s warm and brotherly nature helps convince James that there is a God, his name is Allah, and his commands to all of mankind are found in the little book that he carries everywhere - the Koran.  James is intrigued, so Ahmed, eager to share his faith, agrees to buy him a copy.

James devours his new Koran, finding himself drawn to its feeling of ancient and distant lands.  He continually finds new meaning and self purpose among its pages, and becomes increasingly convinced that this, indeed, is the word of God, and that “Whoever obeys Muhammad, obeys Allah,” and “whoever disobeys Allah and his Messenger has gone astray into manifest error.” (Koran 4.80, 33.36)  He finds a surprisingly pleasant resonance between his own inner rage and many of the teachings in the little book he now holds – far more appealing than that wishy-washy Christian stuff that his mother is always talking about, like “love your neighbor.”  Yeah, sure. 

James soon reaches the ultimate conviction that he must obey these teachings, since they are God-breathed by Allah’s final Prophet and Messenger, Muhammad, even if they sometimes seem a bit extreme, or counter to what James feels is right (2.216), for this is the only way to paradise (4.74, 9.111).  As he becomes increasingly compliant with Allah’s will as found in the Koran, James begins to shun Jews and Christians (5.51), and all other non-believers (3.28), who Allah tells us are “the worst of beasts” (8.55).  He soon realizes that, in order to forever increase Islam’s domain, Allah demands perpetual war between he, a believer, and all non-Muslims (2.190, 4.89, 8.12, 8.39, 8.65, 9.5, 9.123, 47.4), as well as Jews and Christians (5.51, 9.30, 60.4), who Muhammad instructed to be treated as cultural and religious inferiors, and to be taxed into submission, thereby “feeling themselves subdued” (9.29). Some of these unbelievers shamelessly call themselves “Muslims,” yet ignore many of the teachings and example of The Prophet, and are therefore only fit for death unless they “comply with the commands of Allah” (49.9).   As his understanding grows, James begins to engage in deeper study of Islam, poring over some of Islam’s other holy books like the Hadith, which contain the historic examples of Muhammad, who Muslims view as humanity perfected.  He visits the mosque frequently, and eventually connects with another Muslim who shares his devotion to the more strident commands in his Koran.  Enter Ishmael.

Ishmael is a pleasant, 35 year old soft spoken immigrant from Jordan. A bricklayer by trade, with a willing smile and kind eyes, he is the sort of person many would want as a neighbor.  Ishmael is also an Al-Qaeda operative seeking recruits for Jihad and martyrdom.  He also has begun attending the same mosque as Dr. Fassoud, but is expert at evading the detection of such “politically correct” Muslims.  His target is young males just like James, full of fire within, and a zeal for Allah.  After carefully testing and grooming James for several months, Ishmael advises James that they should both quietly leave the mosque, since the moderate teachings of some of its prominent patrons do not mesh with the larger truth of the Koran.  In his most captivating tone, Ishmael warns James that “these Muslims do not follow the right path, by clear example of The Prophet, who does not err (peace be upon his head), nor that of his rightly guided Caliphs.” 

Drawn to Ishmael’s newly revealed intensity, James begins routinely meeting Ishmael and several other like-minded Muslims in an inner city living room.  There, with drapes pulled tight, awash in the odors of strong coffee, Falafel and perspiration, Ishmael tells James of an upcoming attack on the unbelievers, and recruits him for the operation.  Looking skyward, Ishmael quotes verse 4.74 of the Koran from memory:

“Let those fight in the way of Allah, who sell this world’s life for the hereafter; and whoever fights in the way of Allah, then be he slain or be he victorious, We shall grant him a mighty reward!”

Capitalizing on the rapt attention of his listeners, Ishmael gazes around at his mesmerized companions, finishing his brief oratory by softly quoting Muhammad from the Hadith, “…remember that paradise is in the shade of swords…”

Feeling the eyes of Allah upon him, James is hungry for action.  Although not yet ready to personally commit violence or martyr himself, James willingly agrees to become a Mujahid in Jihad, to participate in a support role to allow his fellow Mujahideen more time to kill more kafir (unbelievers) in a planned martyrdom operation for Allah’s holy war against unbelievers. His role is to distract the security at their chosen target.

On a sunny Friday afternoon in October, James approaches an average looking American high school, walks into the lobby, and feigning an epileptic attack, collapses on the floor.  As the concerned attention of several teachers and the single police officer on duty focus on James, Ishmael and four fellow Mujahideen stroll in unopposed.  Once inside, under threat of detonating their explosive vests, they herd most of the nervous students and faculty into the gym, and James, his mission complete for now, fades out into the street.  Minutes later, Ishmael shouts the orders to begin the execution of the prisoners in Arabic.  When the shooting begins, dozens of panic-stricken teenagers try to storm the doors to get out, but are torn to bits by the huge explosion of a suicide vest just twenty feet away.  Moments later, the other four Mujahideed, including Ishmael, detonate theirs, sending nails and shards of barbed wire tearing through flesh at nearly the speed of sound.  In ten short, terrifying minutes, three hundred and fifty bright eyed teenagers and faculty are now dead, many still hugging each other in a futile effort to shield themselves from the lethal insanity of the servants of Allah.  The last thing the Kafir victims hear in this life is the shrill cries of the Mujahideen, shouting “Allahu Akhbar!” (God is great!)  before detonating their vests in a bloody grasp for paradise.

The FBI and Homeland Security immediately launch a wide-ranging investigation which leads them back to the mosque frequented by James and Ahmed.  They, of course, question James, who, well trained by Ishmael, reveals nothing of substance.  In the commotion at the high school, no living witnesses could clearly remember the young man with the epileptic seizure.  They then question Ahmed, who, despite harboring some suspicions about James’ possible involvement, also tells the police nothing; although he disapproves of such acts, Ahmed cannot bring himself to hand over a fellow Muslim to unbelievers.  In the end, the lives of three hundred and fifty innocents are snuffed out, five suicide bombers are dead, and the investigation ends, with no arrests.

In yet another coincidental twist, this brutal, seemingly senseless attack occurs only days after a debate conducted by Dr. Musa Fassoud at the mosque which he and Ahmed frequent.  The debate was titled, “Is Moderate Islam Good for the United States?”

***

What you have just read is not pure imagination, nor a distortion of religious views or teachings.  It is a fictionalized account of Islamic radicalization in the West - an account which is typical, in most respects, of all the cases investigated in the NYPD study titled “Radicalization in the United States.”  The poem attributed to “James” was actually from a case concerning the “Toronto 18,” which involved 18 Muslims, all well integrated in Canadian society, most of whom were recent converts just like “James.”  They planned to detonate at least two truck bombs in Toronto, open gunfire in a crowded public area, and behead the Canadian Prime Minister.  Their inspiration was Muhammad, and their ideological blueprint was the Koran.

Such scenarios are real.  They are the end product of complex human interactions motivated by real religious teachings from the Koran: the timeless ghosts of 1,400 year old Islamic commands manifested through 21st century technology.

 “Moderate...” or “Fundamentalist…?”  “Spiritual…” or “Political…?”  Where does one end, and the other begin?

Megawatts of intellectual energy have been spent in attempting to divine one from the other in the quest to quantify the religious and political legacy of the Prophet Muhammad collectively known as Islam.  But is there a danger that, while straining to identify root, branch and leaf, many of today’s pundits will have failed to notice the massive decaying limb poised to fall and crush us? 

Time will tell.  But Ahmed won’t.