Civil Democratic Islam: a report by RAND

Assalamou Alikum All...


يريدون أن يطفئو ا نور اللة بايديهم واللة متم نورة و لو كرة الكافرون .... صدق اللة العظيم


This is a report by one of the very influential organizations in america that identifies three main issues regarding "politicized" Islam and how to deal with it. I'll post a clip here, but you can read the whole report at http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1716/MR1716.pdf

I apologize for the terrible format

Khalid
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Civil Democratic Islam:
Partners, Resources, and Strategies
Cheryl Benard

http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1716/MR1716.pdf

Supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation
RAND
National Security Research Division

PREFACE

The Islamic world is involved in a struggle to determine its own
nature and values, with serious implications for the future. What
role can the rest of the world, threatened and affected as it is by
this struggle, play in bringing about a more peaceful and positive
outcome?
...

The United States has three goals in regard to politicized Islam.
First, it wants to prevent the spread of extremism and violence.
Second, in doing so, it needs to avoid the impression that the
United States is "opposed to Islam." And third, in the longer
run, it must find ways to help address the deeper economic, social,
and political causes feeding Islamic radicalism and to encourage a
move toward development and democratization.
...

It therefore seems judicious to encourage the elements within the
Islamic mix that are most compatible with global peace and the
international community and that are friendly to democracy and
modernity. However, correctly identifying these elements and finding
the most suitable way to cooperate with them is not always easy.
...

The modernists and secularists are closest to the West in terms of
values and policies. However, they are generally in a weaker
position than the other groups, lacking powerful backing, financial
resources, an effective infrastructure, and a public platform.
...

A mixed approach composed of the following elements is likely to be
the most effective:

 Support the modernists first:
 Publish and distribute their works at subsidized cost.
 Encourage them to write for mass audiences and for youth.
 Introduce their views into the curriculum of Islamic education.
 Give them a public platform.
 Make their opinions and judgments on fundamental questions of
religious interpretation available to a mass audience in competition
with those of the fundamentalists and traditionalists, who have Web
sites, publishing houses, schools, institutes, and many other
vehicles for disseminating their views.
 Position secularism and modernism as a "counterculture"
option for disaffected Islamic youth.
 Facilitate and encourage an awareness of their pre- and
non-Islamic history and culture, in the media and the curricula of
relevant countries.
 Assist in the development of independent civic organizations,
to promote civic culture and provide a space for ordinary citizens
to educate themselves about the political process and to articulate
their views.

 Support the traditionalists against the fundamentalists:
 Publicize traditionalist criticism of fundamentalist violence
and extremism; encourage disagreements between traditionalists and
fundamentalists.
 Discourage alliances between traditionalists and
fundamentalists.
 Encourage cooperation between modernists and the
traditionalists
who are closer to the modernist end of the spectrum.
 Where appropriate, educate the traditionalists to equip them
better for debates against fundamentalists. Fundamentalists are
often rhetorically superior, while traditionalists practice a
politically inarticulate "folk Islam." In such places as
Central
Asia, they may need to be educated and trained in orthodox Islam to
be able to stand their ground.
 Increase the presence and profile of modernists in
traditionalist institutions.
 Discriminate between different sectors of traditionalism.
Encourage those with a greater affinity to modernism, such as the
Hanafi law school, versus others. Encourage them to issue religious
opinions and popularize these to weaken the authority of backward
Wahhabiinspired religious rulings. This relates to funding: Wahhabi
money goes to the support of the conservative Hanbali school. It
also relates to knowledge: More-backward parts of the Muslim world
are not aware of advances in the application and interpretation of
Islamic law.
 Encourage the popularity and acceptance of Sufism.

 Confront and oppose the fundamentalists:
 Challenge their interpretation of Islam and expose inaccuracies.
 Reveal their linkages to illegal groups and activities.
 Publicize the consequences of their violent acts.
 Demonstrate their inability to rule, to achieve positive
development of their countries and communities.
 Address these messages especially to young people, to pious
traditionalist populations, to Muslim minorities in the West, and to
women.
 Avoid showing respect or admiration for the violent feats of
fundamentalist extremists and terrorists. Cast them as disturbed and
cowardly, not as evil heroes.
 Encourage journalists to investigate issues of corruption,
hypocrisy, and immorality in fundamentalist and terrorist circles.
 Encourage divisions among fundamentalists.

 Selectively support secularists:
 Encourage recognition of fundamentalism as a shared enemy,
discourage secularist alliance with anti-U.S. forces on such grounds
as nationalism and leftist ideology.
 Support the idea that religion and the state can be separate in
Islam too and that this does not endanger the faith but, in fact,
may strengthen it.
...

However, in my interview with him, Mr. Warraq conceded that a
frontal critique of Islam was not realistic at this time, and that
efforts to promote a kinder, gentler, "defanged" Islam were
likely to achieve better results.