 |
Dr. Taha Jaber Al-'Alwany |
Let me start by asking the question: Who has the right to decide who is the moderate and who is the extremist? The RAND report is apparently based upon pure personal conceptions that are void of any objectivity. The RAND Corporation regards the entire Muslim nation as extremists. One billion and 700 million Muslims are extremists according to RAND until they prove otherwise. Extremism and moderation are two concepts defined by RAND and its prejudices against this poor nation. What this nation is supposed to accept, reject, think, and do not think have become predetermined for it nowadays.
What is left for RAND is to order the Muslim nation to replace its God with another deity called RAND, the ones behind RAND, or the founders of RAND. Or perhaps to replace Prophet Muhammad with another prophet sent by RAND, and to substitute the noble Qur'an with any book specified by RAND. Even if some Muslims do that, yet continue to carry the name of Islam not anything else, I don't know whether or not RAND will give them the certificate of moderation.
I feel greatly offended by this think tank, which is known for its bias against Islam. It claims the right to define the concepts , the description, and the thoughts for a nation that almost represents the third of the world. It further suggests to it a new God, religion, and prophet.
It has even gone beyond the Qur'anic warning in the verse that states, [Never will the Jews nor the Christians be pleased with you (O Muhammad) till you follow their religion] (Al-Baqarah 2:120). This think tank is asking us what is more than following another religion; RAND wants us not to accept or refuse anything, or even think independently, except in the way it and other similar think tanks suggest.
In fact, it is humiliating for any Muslim to use the terms set by RAND. It is better for Muslims to be called all names rather than to subject themselves to the standards of RAND.
I have written elsewhere about the prescribed penalty for apostasy and said that there is no penalty for the apostate. However, I refuse to submit to RAND, its conceptions, suggestions, and questions related to the freedom of religion. There is no good in the "moderation" that comes after losing one's entire personal traits and one's belief in one's religious values.
In addition, I believe that RAND's suggestions push the moderate person into being an extremist. They rather set conditions for truly moderate Muslims that would force them to be classified as extremists. Therefore RAND and similar institutions do not encourage moderation in the Muslim world, but rather encourage extremism. The report illustrates how moderates are pushed to regard themselves as extremists, for if they insist on the Islamic belief and believing in God and His Messenger, they will be regarded as extremists. The real target of these conditions is not extremism but rather moderation, because such report makes moderates say "No" to the specifications of RAND, so that they will appear to be "extremists" since they would not meet the criteria of RAND.
The aim of this report is related to the fact that there is an American inclination toward erasing and marginalizing moderation. The report is asking moderate Muslims to give up their identity. Thus, we do not want this "moderate Muslim" label, because we are not required to take a certificate of moderation from RAND or any other institution.
Furthermore, the clear fact is that this report confirms the most extreme trends in the "Christian Zionist" current; the extremist trends that reject Muslims and try to pull them out completely from their beliefs and from everything they hold as dear. They will even not be satisfied by that because their other interests will eventually reappear.
We welcome democracy in its usual form. We also accept minorities inside our countries because they are part of these countries. Minorities are citizens with whom we share the same rights. But RAND and similar institutions want to sow dissension between Muslims and non-Muslims, and to drive non-Muslims to stand against the Muslim creed because they - the researchers of RAND - reject Islamic belief and religion. But just as Islam represents the religion for Muslims, it represents a culture for non-Muslims.
RAND's report is actually a call for destroying moderation in the Muslim world and driving Muslims to the very arms of extremism. It is an attempt by RAND to say to the Muslim world that there is no other way in front of you except for the way of extremism and violence. They actually welcome extremism and reject moderation.
|
