If you are one of the people who don't believe there is any such thing as moderate Islam, have a look at this Weekly Standard piece about Morocco by Joseph Loconte. Like many Muslim countries, Morocco has seen its days of mass protests. However, they haven't been like the ones we've witnessed of late, with people dying over cartoons and rumors about Koran flushing. Three years ago Casablanca experienced an al Qaeda linked terrorist attack that killed 41 people, and injured a hundred more.
"We should recall that Morocco has also been a victim of terrorism," Ahmed Abaddi, Morocco's director of Islamic affairs, told journalists at a recent Washington-area dinner. "We were attacked by al Qaeda, and a million people went out to protest."Those protests included Jews as well as Muslims, marching together. Moroccan imams have denounced Osama Bin Laden and Muslim extremists in their mosques. Clerics there are receiving training very unlike that coming out of those madrasahs which indoctrinate Muslim youth in religiously inspired hatred of the West.
Earlier this year, a class of 210 imams graduated from a year-long seminar on moderate Islam and the religious roots of Western democracy. They're all being sent back to their local mosques to carry the message. Says Abaddi: "To be mute when all of this is happening would be a sin."Read the rest. It really is encouraging.
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