The long-range solution to radical Islam’s love of death is not a social uplift effort. It is an idea: a reformation of Islam or a return to its true nature — take your pick. It doesn’t matter, so long as anti-Semitic and anti-Western hate and death-embrace are extirpated from practicing Islamic communities.
For so long, that long-range solution seemed very long range, indeed. Perhaps a ray of hope now shines from Scandinavia. A recent terrorist attack against a Jewish institution in Denmark has elicited, yes, expected and important denunciations, not to mention grief, from Jewish and political leaders. Dog bites man. Of much greater note is the denunciation by Muslim leaders and Muslim “men on the street.” Man bites dog.
The long-asked question, “why don’t Muslims denounce the vile terrorism carried out in the name of Islam,” is blessedly finding an answer. Radical Islam is an idea. It can only be answered with a counter-idea. The only people who can provide the answer are Muslims themselves. Perhaps the effort is now beginning in earnest in Scandinavia.
If this is true because Islamic communities themselves feel threatened by the terrorists in their midst, and not because of purely humanitarian motives embracing all peoples, including Jews, we don’t care. The effort has to start somewhere. Not to mention, Jewish tradition highly values altruistic goals initially pursued for non-altruistic reasons (mitoch shelo lishmah ba lishma).
Many radical Islamic terrorists come from wealth and privilege. The poster boy for that is no less than Osama bin Laden himself. There is, yes, a “root cause” of terrorism, but it is not poverty. No more demeaning accusation can be leveled against the poor than the idea that poverty inevitably breeds terrorism.
The root cause of radical Islamic terrorism is found in the teachings of many of its living scholars and in Islam’s sacred texts — whether presented accurately or inaccurately is a sterile debate. They must not be presented that way. Period. We welcome the evidence that, at least in Scandinavia, at least among some Muslims, the rejection of the terrorist reading of Islam is being stated out loud. Finally.
Meanwhile, the long range solution is no substitute for the short range battle against radical Islamic terrorists. Whatever their stripe, they must be fought. Otherwise, the power of their perverse idea gains ground, becomes more deeply rooted, in practicing Muslim communities. An exclusive pursuit of the long range solution only invites more terrorist attacks, more mayhem, more injustice.
Copyright © 2015 by the Intermountain Jewish News
