This is the kind of journalism that I like!
Reader comment on item: Radical Islam as Its Own Antidote[, Argues Reuel Gerecht]

Submitted by Octavio Johanson (Italy), Jun 23, 2005 at 08:16

Thankfully, there are articles like the above, which give ignorant people like myself the chance to educate themselves.

Mr. Gerecht is both right and wrong at the same time.

I agree with the statement that "in Iran, the Islamists have ruled the country since 1979, prompting a widespread disaffection with Islam that has even reached the upper ranks of the religious hierarchy".


But I don't agree with the statement that "Islamism has turned to be its own best anecdote. (Not coincidentally, so was communism)".

There are similarities between communism and Islamism, but Islamism would never vanish like communism, because its roots are religious. Ideologies change whereas religions like Islam are there to stay. Once Islamism gets in power, you will never get rid of it.

As for your well-known slogan that "Radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution", I don't completely agree with you.

You are correct that we cannot generalize about Islam and that there are good things about Islam.

But you also know that the Koran leaves very little room for moderate Islamic interpretations.

Moderate Islam would always be seen as apostasy by mainstream Islam.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.