Islam’s Relationship with Liberal Society

Members of Parliament recently debated a motion known as M-103 in the House of Commons, and its controversy speaks to a grander challenge facing liberal societies today. The motion condemns racism and religious discrimination, emphasizing Islamophobia, and urges the government to take note of petition e-411. The petition being noted is important, as it asks the House of Commons to recognize that violent extremists “do not represent the religion of Islam . . . [because they] do not reflect in any way [its] values or teachings.”


Permitting the petition’s first two points is straightforward, because polling data shows us that most Muslims worldwide, and American Muslims in particular, reject the use of violence against civilians as a legitimate strategy. Everyday life in Canada confirms the same view. Recognizing the petition’s third claim, on the other hand, is quite another thing, because it raises the complex question of who qualifies as a “true” Muslim.


The petition represents a well-intentioned desire to protect innocent Muslims, but by denying any connection between extremism and Islam it is guilty of political correctness, and does not advance sufficiently our understanding of the issue. The opposite end of the spectrum is even more problematic. Some of the motion’s critics have preyed on unfounded fears that a formal denunciation of Islamophobia is the first step toward Sharia law in Canada. Both stances are wrong.


Proclamations of Sharia’s creeping influence in Canada are exaggerated, likely because it is not well understood. Islam is a religious tradition comprising the doctrine formed by the Qur’an, in conjunction with the Sunnah and hadith, which are said to document important moments from the Prophet Muhammad’s life. Islamism is a school of thought regarding Islam’s political application, whose adherents believe that society should be structured according to Islamic law, also known as Sharia. Islamists are very rare in North America, and are the minority across the West, because most Muslims in liberal societies recognize the legitimacy of secular government. Furthermore, most Islamists and Salafists reject violence as a means of establishing a caliphate and imposing Sharia. Only Salafi jihadists, like the members of ISIS and al-Qaeda, pose a tangible threat.


Graeme Wood’s article in The Atlantic stirred debate for arguing that extremists claiming to act in the name of Islam do, in fact, represent some of Islam’s teachings. Fanatical propaganda regularly draws passages from the Qur’an and the hadith as purported justification for violence and abuse. It is impossible to say that Islamic extremism has no relation to Islamic doctrine.




Caner K. Dagli’s rebuttal to Wood’s article counters by observing that if “ISIS is faithfully following Islamic norms of war . . . a thoughtful reader [might] wonder what all the other Muslims are doing.” He reasons that ISIS routinely cherry-picks isolated passages from the hadith – many of which are apocryphal – to support its agenda, and ignores “Islam’s vast and varied intellectual and legal tradition” that has arisen over centuries to interpret the hadith, which often “seem to say contrary things about the same questions.” Indeed, in their concern over the misuse of Islamic scripture, hundreds of Islamic scholars from around the world penned a detailed open letter admonishing the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.








Liberal democracies must walk a tightrope of protecting free speech while also condemning actions that can jeopardize someone’s safety, including extreme displays of hate speech. Drawing that line is difficult, and political correctness obscures the conversation. It is preposterous to suggest that motion M-103 somehow heralds theocracy in Canada. It is also unhelpful to endorse petition e-411 in its entirety, as the motion does, because it detracts from the frank discussion that we must be unafraid to have regarding Islam’s relationship with liberal society.


Photo credit: Muslim woman’s headwear (no date available) via Max Pixel. Licensed under Public Domain.


Brad Stollery

About Brad Stollery
