Debating Moderate Islam

Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, there have beenseveral conversations about the different interpretations of Islam, its impacton Muslim politics, and the relationship between Islam and the West. Thisdebate gained renewed vigor after the London attacks on July 7 and 21,2005. Scholars and policymakers agree that a politically angry and intellectuallynarrow interpretation of Islam – loosely referred to as militant orradical Islam – is exacerbating the already rampant anti-Americanism inthe Muslim world and encouraging terrorist responses to real and perceivedinjustices. Some analysts assert that the United States is completely innocentand thus blame radical Islamists alone for all of the problems in theworld, while others totally ignore the existence of extremism in the Muslimworld and blame the United States for all of the ills of our times. Most peopleare somewhere in between.Regardless of where one stands in this debate, there is now a growingconsensus that those on the moderate side in the Muslim world must assertthemselves and join the battle against extremism. Western governments arebeing advised to actively welcome the help and cooperation of moderateMuslims in order to ensure that the war against extremism does not become– or appear to be – a war against Islam. This policy idea of including moderateMuslims as allies against extremism in the Muslim world has generatedan interesting debate about what moderation really means and who isa moderate Muslim.In this special issue of the American Journal of Islamic SocialSciences, prominent voices from the policy community, the academic community,and the American Muslim community come together to debate whois a moderate Muslim and just what moderation means in a theological as ...