Daniel Pipes, a regular contributor round these parts, appeared on a somewhat fractious panel in Toronto recently, and toward the end (scroll down) was asked where the “moderate Muslims” were. He responded that many of them were in the room.
Indeed, it seems entirely possible that all of them were in the room. Daniel eventually took a crack at the numbers and concluded that “Islamists” made up 10 to 15 percent of the Muslim population, “moderates” about 1 to 2 percent, and the remaining 85 percent in between are presumably either cowed or indifferent.
I’ve no idea whether Daniel’s estimate is correct, although, in my experience, “moderate Muslims” invariably turn out on closer inspection to be apostates or so syncretic as to be barely recognizable as co-religionists to their livelier brethren. [National Review Online] Read more
