Moderate Islam Won't Pull the Trigger, But They Sympathize With Those That Do

In this clip, CNN's Don Lemon interview a Muslim human rights lawyer, and editor of "The Islamic Monthly", Arsalan Iftikhar, about the attacks in Paris. The interview begins with the general banality about how much Muslims have contributed to the world, that the religion preaches peace, and it is unfair to paint all Muslims with actions of a few. When the Lemon asks if the problem is "radical Islam," Iftikhar says that it is improper to bring religion into it--that these (speaking of the terrorists) are irreligious criminals. Where the interview begins to be interesting is about the 3:30 mark. Lemon sets up a question about how 16% of French Muslims support ISIS, and asks Iftikhar whether those Muslims are extremists. Iftikhar then says that sympathy for the ideology does not equate to justification of the killings; then proceeds to paint all the "bad" things Christians did (mostly centuries ago). Lemon asks the question again, then makes it more pointed about whether Iftikhar supports ISIS. (About 4:45 into the video). A simple "yes" or "no" question, and Iftikhar instead responds that he had already answered the question: 16% supporting the ideology does not equate to supporting mass murder.

Iftikhar's answer is interesting. When asked point blank whether he supports ISIS, he does not deny that he supports ISIS. Earlier, he had described the terrorists as "irreligious"--that they didn't have the support of Muslims and it was a mistake to conflate their motives with the religion. However, after the ISIS question, he essentially acknowledges that these Mulims (and apparently himself) sympathize with the ideology, but don't support mass murder. That Iftikhar will not disclaim support for ISIS personally, and includes himself among those he describes as having sympathy for their ideology, seems to show where Iftikhar--described as a "moderate" Muslim--stands.

I suspect that what Iftikhar means through his dancing around the question is that, yes, a large number of Muslims sympathize with ISIS, but they, themselves, would not dirty their hands by carrying out an actual mass murderer. But they will secretly applaud those murders.