I have doubts about a Reformed Islam

John R. Houk

© July 14, 2011

Is reform possible in the religion known as Islam? Anything is possible in Christ; however as long Islam stands with the belief that Mohammed was an inerrant person and that Islamic holy words do not promote violence then there will be little room for reform in the Western sense.

I stipulate there is indeed a reform going on in Islam today but that reform is nothing that benefits Freedom (e.g. speech and religion), Liberty and human Civil Rights. That reform movement today is the call of numerous Muslims who might be described as Salafist, Wahhabi, and Deobandi (GlobalSecurity.org has icky pop-ups but the info is great) and so on. This reform is a call to return to the purist days of Mohammed and his companions when conquest, civilization destruction and harsh treatment of non-Muslims existed.

Here is a Shoebat.com video that I placed on YouTube that is a discussion between Walid Shoebat, Robert Spencer and Dr. Zuhdi Jasser about reform in Islam.

The Shoebat.com email I received sent me to the video describing Walid Shoebat’s thoughts on reforming Islam. The email was sent by Keith Davies Executive Director Walid Shoebat Foundation. Davies reports that Shoebat does not believe there is a reform in Islam going on currently. Further Shoebat criticizes Dr. Jasser’s exposure as a moderate Muslim is quite probably a distorted picture. Shoebat states that Dr. Jasser represents an extreme minority of Muslims trying to reform Islam into the 21^st century. Shoebat goes out of his way to admire Dr. Jasser’s bona fide desire for a peaceful reform in Islam, BUT utilizing Dr. Jasser as a mainstream representative of Moderate Islam is a bit deceptive.

Many of us have seen Dr. Zuhdi Jasser on Fox News and other media outlets touted as a Muslim moderate and reformer. In this important piece Walid explains the issues on Islamic reformation.

While Dr. Zuhdi Jasser is an upstanding citizen his views of Islam are not held by more than a handful of Muslims in the West and the Middle East yet his media exposure far transcends the representation he has in the Muslim Community.

On the following link you can find a clip of a powerful debate which includes Walid Shoebat, Robert Spencer and Dr Zuhdi Jasser as well as a comprehensive article by Walid Shoebat on Islamic reformation.

Between Brigitte Gabriel believing in a Moderate Islam and Walid Shoebat criticizing the existence of a Moderate Islam, you can understand why I go back and forth on the fence about the existence in Islam of moderation: Some days yes and some days no.

Here is the Shoebat article.

JRH 7/14/11