Im Kampf gegen den Islamo-Faschismus brauchen die Verteidiger der Freiheit und der liberalen Demokratie Verbündete auf allen Ebenen - von rechts bis links, von religiös bis säkular. Besonders aber bedarf es einer bewußten Anstrengung, Verbündete unter moderaten und liberalen Muslimen zu gewinnen. Wer aber sind diese sogenannten moderaten Muslime? Und wo sind sie zu finden? Joshua Muravchik and Charles Szrom haben jetzt einen lesenswerten Beitrag zu dieser Frage veröffentlicht:

There are six questions to be asked of any such group.

• Does it both espouse democracy and practice democracy within its own structures?
• Does it eschew violence in pursuit of its goals?
• Does it condemn terrorism?
• Does it advocate equal rights for minorities?
• Does it advocate equal rights for women?
• Does it accept a pluralism of interpretations within Islam?

Any group that meets these six criteria seems to us to merit support and cooperation, and groups that go a long way toward meeting them deserve at least a second look. To be sure, it would be a grievous error to chase after Islamists at the expense of the secular liberals who are our most natural allies. Even if the numbers of such liberals are small, they are our natural soul mates, and we should embrace them as warmly as they wish to be embraced by us. But just as we once found friends and allies among those who had come through the Communist mill, so we may also find friends and allies, or at least people with whom we can cooperate, among moderate Islamists or those who have come through the Islamist mill. In this connection, too, we would do well to recall that some renegades from Communism (the name of Jay Lovestone comes to mind) evolved into full-fledged anti-Communists only by stages.

Communism, for a time, seemed as if it might triumph. When he defected from Moscow’s service, Whittaker Chambers wrote famously that he had joined history’s losing side. By contrast, radical Islamism is a fragile and perishable ideology, and, unless we surrender, there is little possibility that it will triumph. The only question is how much damage it will do before it implodes, and the answer may be a very great deal. So long as we do not fall for the first Muslim Brother who gives us a wink and a smile, anyone who can help us to forestall the worst is worth our trouble to cultivate.