Zhudi Jasser is chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, whose group has come out swinging against Islamist muslim groups, and their “civil rights” shills. He recieved national media attention when his group stood by the John Does in the flying Imam case, offering to support their legal defense. In a recent Article at Family Security Matters,  Jasser poses some questions he thinks CAIR ought to be answering:

 Honest debate will have to include a discussion of CAIR’s and other American Islamist organization responses to the following questions which I have been querying for a long time.

1-     Will CAIR work to dismantle and lead an organized effort against terrorist organizations and individuals by name beginning with Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, Jamaat al-Islamiya, and HAMAS to name just a few of the radical Islamist enemies of America? Will they name and ideologically engage the extremism of the Wahhabists of Saudi Arabia, the theocrats of Iran or the despots of Syria, Egypt or Sudan, and the litany of other dictatorships in the Muslim world? Empty generic condemnations of terrorism are of no impact.

2-     Will CAIR acknowledge that political Islam (Islamism) whether militant or not, is the toxin which feeds the terrorism committed by radicalized Muslims?

3-     Will CAIR acknowledge the need out of honesty for a faith-based civil rights organization to equally focus upon the civil rights abuses of Muslims by other Muslims as well as by non-Muslims whether it occurs in mosques, Muslim organizations, or so-called Muslim nations? A dismissal of Muslim abuses is hypocrisy.

4-     Will CAIR acknowledge that counter-terrorism is a greater public responsibility to the organized American Muslim community than the obsession with the protection of our civil rights? Is it not the primary role of Muslim American organizations to lead the ideological war against radical Islamists? Isn’t this the number one issue on the mind of most Americans in 2007? Non-Muslims can do nothing to deconstruct this poisonous ideology. Our fellow Americans living in fear for their security are looking for us to lead this fight. The credibility of Muslims is suffering deeply as a result of the complete denial of this responsibility by groups like CAIR. In fact, there may be no better way to preserve our rights than by leading an ideological movement against political Islam and militant Islamism.

5-     Will CAIR join anti-Islamist Muslims in declaring that the “Islamic state” regardless of its democratic processes is in principle significantly inferior to a “pluralistic Constitutional democracy under God” like the United States? Will CAIR declare the concept of a global Caliphate as archaic and no longer relevant to Muslims in the 21^st century? Is the concept of the Muslim “ummah” or “nation” archaic?

6-     Will CAIR join what was described in the Pew poll as the 49% of Muslims who felt that the mosque was not the place for the discussion of politics? Will they then help AIFD expose political sermons and their agenda around the United States? Will they moreover call upon our fellow co-religionists to fully and unequivocally separate the spiritual from the political? If they will not, will they recognize that they only represent Islamists and those who believe in political Islam—the remaining 51% according to Pew?

7-     How can they honestly claim to speak for anyone beyond their membership and donors?

Many have often wondered what a moderate muslim group would look like, some expressing doubts that any such group can or will exist. But Mr. Jasser’s program is an perfect example of the kinds of understandings muslim groups must have in order to be considered moderate, and to be allies in the counter-jihad. He calls out terrorist groups and states out by name and demands they be condemned, admits that political islamists and their supporters represent a majority (but not an insurmountable one), that Muslims commit civil and human rights abuses just like non-Muslims and those who do should be opposed, and that the political doctrine of Islam is outdated and inferior to a democratic society under the rule of law. Mr. Jasser’s recent post caught my attention, because he links to our investigative report on CAIR’s Flying Imams case, carried out at the ADAMS center back in April. Its the piece which has garnered the most links here at the CVF blog, and further justifies the mapping Sharia project being carried out by SANE, the work being done by VIGIL in the UK, and similar groups. Not only does it provide useful evidence for law enforcement authorities concerned with the criminal conspiracies which congregate around some of these Islamist centers, it also provides ammunition for moderate muslims who can bring far more pressure to bear on radical islamists from within. If you are looking to do your part, we are currently seeking interested volunteers in the Brooklyn, NY area, to attend a First Freedom Seminar, sponsored by the Department of Justice. See here for more. 

Update: Edited for html issues in first post.