"Here's the sad truth: Mainstream Muslims have zero influence over extremists."

By Steve Hynd

A great column from Eboo Patel writing for USA Today. (h/t @themoornextdoor)

I, like most Muslims I know, believe in my bones that terrorism is antithetical to Islam, as it is to any religion, or any feeling that can be described as even remotely human. And I, like most Muslims I know, take every chance I get to denounce terrorism, to decouple it from my religion, to define Islam the way classical Muslim scholars did: as a faith, above all, of mercy and monotheism.

We write our blogs and our books, give our speeches and teach our classes, shape faith formation in Muslim spaces and build civic organizations that seek to accentuate the positive values Islam shares with other traditions. We stew when pundits say Muslim leaders aren't doing enough, as if we could somehow stop the extremists if we just tried harder.

Here's the sad truth: Mainstream Muslims have zero influence over extremists. In fact, if one of those guys had a single bullet in his gun and you and I were up against the wall, he would shoot me first. He hates me more because not only do I not follow his perverse vision of Islam, I also represent an alternative interpretation. He insists Islam requires domination; I suggest Islam inspires cooperation.

He makes sense. After all, neither I nor anyone other than other extremists has any influence over the likes of Allan Quist or any of the other nutcases who think liberals are more of a threat than terrorists.