This piece collects several quotes, but let me give you excerpts from each, for the non-clickers among you.

Dr. Tariq Ramadan (but see UPDATE below):

Contrary to what was apparently said by the killers in the bombing of Charlie Hebdo’s headquarters, it is not the Prophet who was avenged, it is our religion, our values and Islamic principles that have been betrayed and tainted. My condemnation is absolute and my anger is profound (healthy and a thousand times justified) against this horror!!!

Dr. Khaled Hanafy:

I was shocked by the brutal, terror attack in Paris that killed 12 people. I categorically condemn this act no matter who is responsible for it and whoever the victims are.

. . . .

I call on Muslims to stage demonstrations that denounce this aggression. I urge Muslim Imams and leaders to take all the necessary actions to denounce the incident, to reassure the Europe community, to actively participate in protecting Europe media institutions against any threat and to denounce extremism and terror.

Dr. Yasir Qadhi:

Loving the Prophet (salla Allah alayhi wa sallam) is a necessary requirement of Iman. Defending his honor is a sign of belief. This is done by following his teachings and practice, not by murdering in his name.

. . . .

Muslims: get your act together!! Such acts of terror are not only haram and spill innocent blood, they will come back to harm you and your communities in the short and long run.

In fact, Muslim communities all over the world share the pains and sadness with the victims’ families and friends. Our hearts bleed for their loss and pains.

The deadly attack on the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which led to the killing and injuring of tens of innocents, is a horrible, barbaric crime that its perpetrators should be held accountable for it. Such crimes against humanity are not justified by Islam and all world religions and laws. Those criminals cannot be true believers of any faith.

Dr. Wael Shihab:

The deadly attack on the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which led to the killing and injuring of tens of innocents, is a horrible, barbaric crime that its perpetrators should be held accountable for it. Such crimes against humanity are not justified by Islam and all world religions and laws. Those criminals cannot be true believers of any faith.

Sheikh Omar Suleiman:

What is more insulting to the Prophet (peace be upon him) than satirical cartoons are those who murder innocent people in his name.

So, when you say: where are all the moderates condemning attacks like this? . . . there are some right there.

ON THE OTHER HAND: Bill Maher recently argued that “hundreds of millions” of Muslims support attacks like this. This Daily Beast article takes him to task, performing an analysis that concludes that probably only about . . . 195 million Muslims support suicide bombing:

[T]hat means about 195 million Muslims worldwide support suicide bombing and other acts of violence against civilians.

So Bill Maher is just barely wrong. There are not “hundreds of millions” of Muslims who support attacks like that against Charlie Hebdo. Of course, if you round to the nearest hundred million, then Maher is right.

Reassuring! Assuming that these are all adults, compare that 195 million figure to about 242 million adults in the United States. It’s almost enough suicide-bombing lovers to fill up our entire country.

Also, Qahdi, one of the scholars quoted above, also says:

And even for those who believe that the penalty for blasphemy should be death: by unanimous consensus of ALL the scholars of Islam, this must take place after a legitimate trial, by a qualified judge, appointed by a legitimate Islamic state. Under NO circumstances does Islam allow vigilante justice, for to open this door leads to chaos, confusion and bloodshed.

I’d rather he say: “And to those who believe that the penalty for blasphemy should be death: time to come out of the Dark Ages.”

Here’s my feeling: there are moderate Muslims. In this country, for cultural reasons, there is a far higher percentage than in Europe. We need those people as allies in the war against the crazies. They will be our allies if we don’t smear them all with the same broad brush.

Also: criticizing the religion itself is (in my view) uncalled for. Religions do not deserve to be judged by the least charitable readings of cherry-picked passages from their holy texts, whether the religion is Islam, Judaism, Christianity, or any other.

That said, as the numbers above show, there are far too many Muslims in this world with illiberal beliefs. There are entire societies, like Saudi Arabia, that have a dysfunctional and sick way of treating women. Saying these things is not bigoted. It is just saying the truth.

Thanks to an unnamed reader for the link.

UPDATE: A couple of folks have made the point that Tariq Ramadan is not a moderate. I confess to being previously unfamiliar with him, assuming (it appears incorrectly) that his words of condemnation made him an ally of the moderates. He may, as a correspondent suggests, simply be a deceiver. This video appears to show him praying for the victory of Muslims on battlefields everywhere, including people fighting for jihad. It does not seem unfair to call it a pro-jihad prayer.

That said, I still think it is positive that even a somewhat radical Islamist can publicly denounce these attacks, even if he does so because he feels some kind of pressure to do so. Whether the denunciation is genuine is a fair question.

Agree:

Simply put, we need more legislators like Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.). Yes, he leans libertarian, which means a hell of a lot to me. He’s serious about reducing the size, scope, and spending of the federal government. Hooray for all that.

But far more important, he is serious about governing and principled in his votes. Which he explains EVERY SINGLE TIME.

. . . .

I don’t believe in government funding of science, but I might make an exception if it was a project to identify what’s special in Amash and to clone the hell out of him.

Here’s his explanation of his vote regarding The Keystone XL pipeline. He thinks there’s no reason the pipeline shouldn’t be built and that Obama’s years-long dilly-dallying is pure politics. He also thinks it’s wrong for Congress to write legislation to specifically benefit one private company and minimize eminent domain concerns.

Which is exactly right. If we can’t yet clone him, here’s hoping we can at least clone his commitment to principle, communication with voters, and simple courage to follow through on his campaign promises.

Yup. If we really had a Congress filled with people like Justin Amash, we could turn this country around.