The title would have been a stretch for the Democrat party of 1942, but not for the current Democrat party, which would have portrayed the candidate as a Moderate Nazi. The Democrats would distinguish between a Nazi and a Moderate Nazi by explaining that although they share the same beliefs and practices, including revering Mein Kampf and chanting Nazi slogans five times a day, Moderate Nazis confine their Nazism to their homes. When Moderate Nazis leave their homes, they leave their Nazi beliefs behind. Thus, outside their homes, their Nazi beliefs have no influence on them.
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Let’s change the title and replace “1942” with “2026” and “Nazi” with “Muslim.” This is relevant, given the growing number of Muslims running for and being elected to political office. Like the imaginary Moderate Nazi, Moderate Muslims claim to practice Islam only at home, so their Islamic beliefs do not influence their politics.
The question that needs to be asked is, “Can there be such a thing as a Moderate Muslim?” The answer is no! This doesn’t mean that all Muslims keep a sharpened scimitar under their beds while waiting for the call to jihad. Those who claim to be Muslim vary in their commitment. Many Muslims living in Western societies adhere to a cafeteria version of Islam, trying to make it compatible with the modern world. This can be accomplished by interpreting specific passages of the Koran to fit their needs while ignoring others. Others claim that inconvenient passages of the Koran have been incorrectly translated or abrogated and therefore do not need to be followed. However, are we really supposed to believe that Moderate Muslims are willing to dismiss one half of the Koran — essentially the verses that address the Islamic god’s hatred of and plans to kill non-Muslims?
Early in his prophetic career, Muhammad recognized the existence of Moderate Muslims, though he called them hypocrites. For Muhammad, Moderate Muslims — or hypocrites — found it easier to pretend to be Muslims than to openly oppose Islam and risk being killed. To force them to become pious Muslims, Muhammad threatened to “burn their houses over them” if they didn’t attend the mosque. Muhammad said that Moderate Muslims pretended to believe “while they believe not,” and that they say with their “tongues what is not in their hearts.” Unfortunately for the Moderate Muslims, the Islamic god knows the truth and will test them before they are allowed into paradise. Moderate Muslims were not to be forgiven, and Muhammad foresaw a hell for them with a blazing fire worse than that for non-Muslims.
According to Muhammad, Moderate Muslims are not Muslims. But even if such a thing as Moderate Muslims existed, could Moderate Muslim politicians leave their Islamic beliefs at home? Outside their homes, wouldn’t they remember that Muslims are the “best of people ever raised up for mankind,” whereas non-Muslims are the “worst of moving [living] creatures”? Would they forget that non-Muslims are the “open enemies” of Muslims and are to be killed with a terrible slaughter? Additionally, would they forget that the Koran prevents Muslims from having non-Muslims as friends, including family members?
Those who claim to be Moderate Muslims have three options. First, they can continue practicing a cafeteria-style Islam, which makes them hypocrites. Hypocrites will go to hell, where they will suffer torment worse than that of non-Muslims. Second, they can leave Islam, which means they will be killed for apostasy. As apostates, they will go to hell and receive extra torment. Third, they can become a pious Muslim, thereby at least having a chance of going to paradise.
We need to be suspicious of those who claim to be Moderate Muslims, since Muslims can lie about being Moderate Muslims. Muhammad made it legal for Muslims to lie when he approved of his followers lying to lure a non-Muslim out of his house to murder him. Thus, Muslims can lie about being Moderate Muslims if it helps them achieve a permissible goal, such as making Islam superior and victorious over all other religions.
Not only can Moderate Muslims lie, but they can also use deceit to achieve their goals. Muhammad stated, “War is deceit.” Thus, Muslims can make oaths, obligations, promises, treaties, or vows that they can dissolve at any time. Not only are deceit and lying sanctioned for Muslims, but they are also sanctioned for the Islamic god, who lied to Muhammad.
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Some cling to the hope that Moderate Muslims exist and will reform Islam. This is unlikely for four reasons. First, Muslims believe that the Koran, which contains verses commanding the killing of non-Muslims, is eternal, exact, final, perfect, and timeless. It is “an absolute truth with certainty” and without any “crookedness or flaws.” Why would you want to change something that is perfect?
Second, Muhammad anticipated that some followers might want to change Islam, so, shortly before his death, he announced that Islam had been perfected. If followers attempted to change Islam, he said the changes were “heresies,” and those proposing them were “far removed from mercy,” meaning they were going to hell. Muhammad didn’t trust his followers to change Islam because they were “weak in their bodies, hearts, hearing, and constitution.” Also, within Islam, Muslims are merely slaves of the Islamic god, and it is hardly the role of a slave to bring about change.
The third reason there is little hope for reforming Islam is that any criticism of Islam or Muhammad is considered apostasy and punished by death.
Fourth, Islam is not a menu from which Muslims can pick and choose what they like. Islam requires total commitment; otherwise, the individual spends eternity in a fiery hell.
To prevent Moderate Muslims from changing Islam, Muhammad forbade his followers from asking questions about matters he had not mentioned or that he had already explained. Muhammad feared that one question would lead to another. He noted, for example, that his followers would eventually ask, “If the Islamic god is the ‘Creator of everything,’ then who created the Islamic god?” Muhammad said that those who wanted to change Islam were inventing a lie against the Islamic god and spreading false news, for which they would be found and killed.
Electing a Nazi to any political office during or after World War II would have been unthinkable. Nazism was recognized as an evil that needed to be destroyed. Now we are confronted with Islam. Islam has one goal: to make all non-Muslims submit to the will of the Islamic god. Moderate Muslims are a means to that end.
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Image: Robert Couse-Baker via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.