Mistaking Islamism for Islam
Too many who oppose fanaticism end up supporting the Islamist view that Muslims cannot be moderate, write Fred Litwin and Salim Mansur.

By Fred Litwin and Salim Mansur, Ottawa January 28, 2013

Unfortunately, there are non-Muslim organizations in the West that believe they are opposing Islamists but who have misguidedly turned to making all Muslims and Islam their enemies.
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We are daily inundated with news of horrors from the Arab-Muslim world to the extent that for many in the West Islam as a venerable faith-tradition can no longer be distinguished from the organized terror and violence of radical Muslims, or Islamists.

There is something gone terribly wrong in the world of Islam, and setting aside political correctness there is the urgent need to publicly identify and discuss the evil of Islamism masquerading as a religion.

But what is this ideology, Islamism, for which we must not make any allowance, as we would not for Nazism?

From leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Arab countries, the Iran of Khomeini, fundamentalist parties in Pakistan, and affiliated groups — Hamas, Hezbollah, the al-Qaida network, al-Shabaab and the Taliban — we hear their politics is the genuine expression of Islam as practised by “Salafis” or the first generation of Muslims in seventh-century Arabia. In this view Muslims who disagree with Islamists are heretics or, even worse, apostates deserving to be killed.

(…)

Islamism must be fought against by Muslims and non-Muslims together.

Unfortunately, there are non-Muslim organizations in the West believing they are opposing Islamists but who have misguidedly turned to making all Muslims and Islam their enemies.

One such group is the English Defence League (EDL), founded in 2009, devoted to fighting the “Islamization” of Britain. But by failing to distinguish between Islamists and non- or anti-Islamist Muslims, EDL’s activism has inflamed community relations, while being counter-productive in actually helping ordinary Muslims resist Islamists in their midst.

Another person in this anti-Islamist struggle is Gavin Boby, a British lawyer, and his Law and Freedom Foundation. Boby’s organization is linked to the EDL and it goes about encouraging communities stop mosque construction by using existing zoning laws in municipalities across Britain. He will be in Canada for a speaking tour in early February.

On the surface, the efforts of these anti-Islamist organizations appear courageous, even noble. But they end up ironically supporting the Islamist view there is no Islam other than what Islamists insist it is.

When anti-Islamist Muslims are denied the space and legitimacy to oppose Islamism then the inescapable paradox is that non-Muslim opponents of Islamists have conceded the Islamist propaganda that Islamists are Islam’s only legitimate representatives. It then becomes easier for mainstream politicians and their allies in the West to appease and accommodate Islamists as once their predecessors sought to placate Communists.

Hence, our concern is with those in Canada foolishly or mistakenly inviting Gavin Boby, or EDL members, to build support for anti-Islamist activism.

We confront a hugely important struggle against Islamists. We cannot afford to get this wrong.

Fred Litwin is president of the Free Thinking Film Society and Salim Mansur is the author of Delectable Lie: A Liberal Repudiation of Multiculturalism.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Mistaking+Islamism+Islam/7884240/story.html#ixzz2JNgXmIz2

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  • http://www.facebook.com/bluepaper.frame BluePaper Frame

    Why are Fred Litwin and Salim Mansur afraid of Gavin Boby?

  • FourFooted_Messiah

    Any Muslim in a country facilitates Islamism. They all know enough to keep their mouths shut when the Islamists take over, even if they don’t particularly like the idea themselves. And anyway, Shariah puts all Muslims as top dog over the infidel, so why WOULD they complain about it?

    Don’t worry about “making all Muslims your enemy”. They are all our enemies in the end, anyway.

  • BluePaper Frame

    I simply cannot understand Litwin’s interest in this. And he has a “Free thinking” society?! He was supposed to protect freedom of choice, speech, expression.
    I guess he and Mansur have a very limited definition of free thinking, i.e. anything that fits my own thinking frame.
    Mansur is a peculiar character: he is a “hero” of “free speech” in Canada, and he is protected as whatever he says about Islam and Muslims will have zero consequences as he is a Muslim. Anyone else who says what he says is automatically called names.

  • http://www.facebook.com/fred.litwin Fred Litwin

    This is not a free speech issue. I have not done anything to stop Gavin Boby from speaking in the slightest. It was definately a mistake to invite him, and hence our article (which has very little on Boby since our main interest is on Islamism vs. Islam), but I don’t have the slightest interest in stopping him from speaking.

    • http://twitter.com/CIReport CIReport

      We would like to thank you for your comment.

      “Hence, our concern is with those in Canada foolishly or mistakenly inviting Gavin Boby, or EDL members, to build support for anti-Islamist activism.”
      “Foolishly” and “mistakenly” are words of your choice, making a strong and clear statement.
      We are glad to hear that you have no interest in stopping Boby, but Act! for Canada & co. have gotten another message.
      You are a well respected public figure who has proven openess,courage and a sense of responsibility. You defend free thinking, consequently, free speech.
      We truly hope that you remain the same.

  • Dodoforever Canspell

    In my opinion, both Fred Litwin and Salim Mansur are off their rockers for trying desperately, and failing, to convince Non-Muslims that there is a huge percentage of the followers of the Quran who are unlike the “small” percentage who should be labelled as misunderstanders of islam.
    Pooh and double pooh !!
    We are smarter than that and know by now that there is actually a very small percentage of Muslims who are secular, so small they are almost invisible.

    • Thyme Season

      I would like to see some of the “moderates” rallying with us against the Islamization of Canada.

  • Thyme Season

    Religion is taking way too much space in our daily lives. If you are religious, shut up and pray in your room.
    And, if I have something to say about your religion, THAT IS MY RIGHT.
    If you don’t like it, take a cold shower.
    I am sick and tired of walking on eggshells when it comes to Muslims, Sikhs and Jews. I hope that the Hindus will be more open-minded if, one day, someone will say that some Hindu gods look scary. Or a simply ugly to look at.
    I have the right to say what I want about any religion, including mine.
    We keep saying that we are secular when, in fact, our society is heading towards a theocracy.
    A society in which making fun, criticizing or disliking religion is a crime, that is NOT a secular society.
    We have too much power to all these religious groups.
    As long as there is no incitment to violence against a religious group, I have the right to call them as I wish.
    Since many Muslims call us “pigs”, should I call them… “camels” or “desert vessels”?
    Name exchange may be regarded as inelegant, but it is not a crime.
    As for the dispute between Islam & Islamism… it has no meaning.
    Islamism is a religion, like Judaism, Buddhism or Hinduism. They all end in “-ism” (Greek/Latin). That was the first term used to refer to Mohammedans. “Islam” is a term coined around early 1900 (1930′s).
    The rest is a messy story.

    Does anyone think that Mansur would side with us against Muslims, if such situation ever occured?
    Calling terrorists “less Muslims and Islamic” than “moderates” are, is nothing but laughable.
    Trying to make an ideological difference between these two terms is childish and futile.