Taking Back Islam

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Are those rules outlined in the Koran?

Some of them are outlined in the Koran; some of them are outlined in the practices of the Prophet Muhammad. And they have been codified in Islamic jurisprudence. I think there are 10 major rules. I may not be able to recollect all 10, but the major ones are these: You cannot kill old people, women, and children. You cannot kill someone who is not engaging directly with you in the battlefield. You cannot poison wells. You cannot destroy crops in the field. You cannot touch places where people worship. You have to treat prisoners of war with compassion; you have to give them the same level and the same style of living that you afford yourself. And on and on.

Given these very specific rules, how do extremists rationalize their behavior?

Well, I think they are so consumed by their outrage about a specific political situation that they're willing to strike out at anything and anyone. And in that anger and that rage, they are completely forgetting the code of conduct. The hallmark of Islam is to constrain people from their base desires. Some of those desires, as I mentioned, could be worldly desires, but sometimes, if you're in a political conflict, some of them could be desires of revenge. And those have to be constrained. When a group is oppressed, that's when they need spiritual guidance the most, that's when they need to be constrained the most, and that's precisely what the radicals and extremists either forget to do or ignore altogether.

You've written that young Muslims must be presented with an alternative ideological discourse to counterbalance radical influences. What are the first steps in this process?

There is a concept in Islam called itijihad. The root word of itijihad is jihad. Itijihad simply means a struggle or striving to reinterpret and reunderstand the traditions in the context of contemporary times. I think Muslims are beginning to do that. We are beginning to see how religion can play essential roles in the life of a Muslim without sacrificing any of the modern context. In other words, Muslims do not have to live in isolation to be good Muslims.

What role can Western governments play in this shift?

A first step would be for Western governments, the United States especially, to embrace and amplify mainstream Muslim voices and give them credibility by engaging them -- inviting them to the United States to speak with policymakers, interfaith leaders, scholars, and the public. Once those voices find that they are being embraced by mainstream society, I think they will be amplified. One of the fundamental grievances that many Muslims have would be that we are not given importance. That is the feeling that really alienates the youth. We are not given respect. We do not have a situation of hope. Once that changes, the extremists will be increasingly demarginalized.

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