While doing some research about interfaith project in the US, I came across a comment about Fareed Zakaria’s article “Learning to Live with Radical Islam.” Turns out, it was left on changethestory.net by fellow blogger and twitter friend Hussein Rashid. He explains why he thinks that moderate Muslims are important too, especially in building a strong state. He says:

If you imagine a spectrum of religious thought, the Islamists are closest to the extremists; they speak the same “language.” Once the current extremists are neutered, the Islamists are the new extremists. It is the moderates who can help determine what a “moderate” debate can look like. If the state is only open to extremes, then we do have a concern about all Islamist groups.

A while back, I wrote about Amina Chaudary’s interview with Samuel Huntington. To recap what I mentioned: Huntington was asked by a Muslim woman studying at Harvard if there was going to be a clash of civilizations between Islamic world and the West. Huntington answered her by saying he didn’t know.

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