Moderate vs Reformist Muslims!

Every religion has an extreme fringe that misinterprets its great teachings to promote violence and intolerance. Unfortunately, this is what we are witnessing in the contemporary India today, where Hinduism faces many challenges due to the often entrenched bigotry and seemingly willful ignorance of the fringe group.

In this context it is highly illuminating to listen to contrasting perspectives of another great religion, Islam, by two of its staunch believers. Mehdi Hassan argues that it is a religion of "peace, moderation and mercy", while Irshad Manji offers a "reformist interpretation of Islam". 

Islam Is A Peaceful Religion, Mehdi Hasan, Oxford Union

Mehdi Raza Hasan, born July 1979 is a British-American political journalist, broadcaster and author of Indian descent. He was born in South West England to immigrant Indian Shia Muslim parents from the city of Hyderabad, India.

Hasan vouches for Islam as a religion of peace, citing political and cultural reasons for violence in Muslim majority countries, as opposed to holding the religion of Islam responsible.

Hasan is the co-author of a biography of Ed Miliband and was formerly the political editor of the UK edition of The Huffington Post and the presenter of the Al Jazeera English shows: The Café, Head to Head and UpFront.

Irshad Manji takes the stand that the problem is not with Islam, but with Muslims.

Candid Discussion of Irshad Manji with Mehdi Hasan

Irshad Manji (born 1968) is a Ugandan-born Canadian educator. Her mother is of Egyptian descent and her father of Indian heritage. During Idi Amin's rule, Manji and her family came to Canada as refugees when she was four years old.

She is the author of The Trouble with Islam Today (2004) and Allah, Liberty and Love (2011), both of which have been banned in several Muslim countries.

She makes the fine distinction between Moderate Muslims and Reformist Muslims. She believes that it is time for those who love liberal democracy to join hands with Islam's reformists. 

Here is a clue to who's who: 

Moderate Muslims denounce violence committed in the name of Islam but insist that religion has nothing to do with it.  

Reformist Muslims, by contrast, not only deplore Islamist violence but admit that our religion is used to incite it.