Muslim Scholars Respond to RAND’s Report

In  March, the RAND Corporation issued a 217-page report titled “Building Moderate Muslim Networks.” In this report, the American NGO, which is nevertheless closely tied to the US air force,  set up a four-point criteria that would be used by the US Administration and other parties to assess Muslim partners. The criteria allegedly define the characteristics that should be available in Muslim individuals and organizations in order to qualify as “moderate” before the eyes of the authors of the report. The report also defined 11 questions that would be used to examine the applicability of the criteria or part of it with regard to the interviewee’s convictions.


This attempt represents the latest by US institutions to interfere in the affairs of the Muslim world. Since former US secretary of state Colin Powell’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) was launched in 2002, several documents and conferences have been conducted under the title of “reform” in the Middle East. Many Muslim scholars and intellectuals see this particular attempt as a transgression on the rights of Muslims to decide on their own independent criteria for “moderation” that stems from Shari`ah (Islamic Law) guidelines.


Therefore, IslamOnline.net sees it fit to present in this folder the views and comments of a number of prominent Muslim scholars and intellectuals, both from within the Muslim world and from Western countries about the criteria in the RAND report.









































The report reflects a fundamental inability to understand Islam on its own terms…


Read Sheikh Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti’s Comment


 




















To define a moderate Muslim as one who rejects the basic pillars of Islam is indeed a great travesty…


Read Dr. Jamal Badawi’s Comment




















What is left for RAND is to order the Muslim nation to replace its God with another deity called RAND…


Read Dr. Taha Jaber Al-’Alwany ’s comment


 




















One cannot help but notice that the report consistently places the blame on Muslim societies…


Read Dr. Louay M. Safi ’s comment




















It aims to convey the message that the world’s power center decides and the rest should only implement the decisions…


Read Dr. Muhammad Kamal Imam’s comment


 




















The report concerns only those who prepared it. We, on the other hand, have our own creed and laws…


Read Dr. Nasr Farid Wasil’s comment




















The qualities of moderate Muslims, according to RAND, have nothing to do with the qualities that every Muslim should have…


Read Dr. Muhammad Ra’fat Othman’s comment


 



















It is clear that the report did not derive the relevant information from the genuine Islamic sources…


Read Sheikh Hussain Halawah’s comment


Other Topics:


Building Moderate Muslim Networks
Angel Rabasa, Cheryl Benard, Lowell H. Schwartz, Peter Sickle, Rand, U.S