----- Comment on RAND* Report by Cheryl Benard Dear members, Assalamu Alaikum. I have read the report. It is a biased one-sided presentation and interpretation of some issues pertaining to Islam. This report is not for understanding Islam or analyzing Muslim problems from a friendly angle. It is meant to serve the US imperialism, it has given a prescription of steps the US and its allies may do about Islam. The report has made non-issues big issues. It has made beating of wives, a major issue of Islam. If this is a problem, then it is a much bigger problem in the West. It has given a classification of Muslims (about seven types, so- called radical fundamentalists, scriptural fundamentalists, conservative traditionalists, reformed traditionalists, modernists, mainstream secularists, radical secularists).These are all brain-child of the author. There are so many classifications of Muslims by so many scholars , it is another. We need not go into that. This classification has ignored main Islamic movements as none of the categories of the above classification will cover the mainstream of Islam, Muslims generally are now represented by Muslim Brothehood, Jamaate Islami, Muhammadiya ( Indonesia) , Nahadatul Ulama (Indonesia ),Noorsi movement in Turkey etc. These and their allies and likes in other places essentially think alike in socio-economic and political issues .Tabligh Jamaat, Deobond and their likes and allies represent the traditional views . Sufis etc are not important in socio-political matter. The report has defined modernists (as other groups) and they are those who do not believe in Islamic state and who do not believe in Islamic punishments or Hijab. The report asks the West to back them all the way. The report has given a strategy in pages 47-48 .The following are the main points of their strategy. (1).Support the modernists, help them to disseminate their views. (2) Support the secularists in a case by case basis. (3) Support the traditionalists against fundamentalists. (4) Oppose the fundamentalists these are main props of their policy agenda.The objective is create more divisions in the Ummah and involve them in more fighting. The breakdown of these are given in Appendix C which suggests going in offensive against fundamentalists, encourage journalists to report on corruption of fundamentalist leaders (how diabolical) and so many other micro items. The leadership of Islam should keep these in mind .This is not a new agenda or work plan, it is there for a long time, in different styles and this is only a new format.West hs been working on such reports for the last five decades or more only with more mess-up I do not think this report has given anything new. I also feel that Muslim Ummah and its sincere mainstream ( wasatiyya ) leaders have handled much more serious challenges, they are more knowledgeable now, these are nothing but agenda for failure. Shah Abdul Hannan * A US Think-tank
