Fanatics come in all shapes and sizes. There are religious fanatics and then there are secular fanatics. Neither is acceptable. Since Islam has been hijacked by both, it is time for committed Muslims to reclaim it from their clutches.
There has been an alarming rise in anti-Muslim sentiments and attacks throughout Europe and North America. While there are Muslim extremists as well, attacks against Muslims go largely unreported and unpunished.
The Qatari-based tribal-owned network, al-Jazeera’s news broadcast on February 16 about Libya was revealing. It started with a report on the mayhem that has gripped Libya since the capture and brutal murder of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi on October 20, 2011. Without showing any footage of the brutality perpetrated by various militias against civilians, the network switched to an episode of 16 years ago to tell viewers how terrible Qaddafi’s rule was.
At the other end of the country, violence has periodically erupted between different ethnic and political groups in Karachi
On April 23, the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) and Crescent International hosted a Kalim Siddiqui Memorial Conference in London. The theme of the conference was The Islamic movement: between extremism and moderation. Here we publish an abridged version of the keynote paper, presented by IQBAL SIDDIQUI, the editor of Crescent International.
