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There is a need to bring together on one platform the various initiatives and ideas being floated around the Muslim world to promote the concept of Islamic moderation. Islam is a religion of moderation and tolerance; a message that calls for constructive dialogue among followers of religions; a message that promises to open a new page for humanity in which - God willing - concord will replace conflict." Thus spoke King Abdullah at the World Conference on Dialogue, held in Madrid, Spain, in July 2008. The conference was attended by bishops, rabbis, swamis and other religious leaders and the purpose of inviting them to the moot was to create a mood of reconciliation between the clerics of the Muslim world and their counterparts among Christians and Jews.
Earlier, the Second International Conference of the Assembly for Moderate Islamic Thought and Culture was convened in Amman, Jordan in April 2006, to deliberate the topic ‘The Practical Role of Moderates in Reform and the Revival of the Ummah.'
Among other recommendations, the conference called for the launching of an internal campaign of dialogue between the different Islamic movements and their constituents in order to reach common ground through understanding the intellectual frameworks and coordination of Islamic action against the threats which Islam and Muslims face in the Islamic world.
The Conference also recommended that the International Moderation Assembly should work to coordinate between all the institutions and the Islamic agencies which adhere to the moderation program, and propose common initiatives to broaden the framework for an Islamic Moderation Program.
The conference also stressed that the erroneous understanding of Islam as disseminated by teaching programs and intellectual, broadcast and cultural means in the west should be confronted to correct the stereotypical images which emerge from erroneous understanding. It called for pursuing appropriate means, such as participating in international conferences and supporting appropriate research centers and agencies such as the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) and the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science.
According to Dr. Mohamed Imara, writing in the journal Islam Today, "Islamic moderation is the most significant distinctive feature that truly sets the Islamic way and method apart from the methods followed by other creeds, schools of law and philosophies. All the values, criteria, fundamentals, aspects, and even the specific details pertaining to Islamic Civilization are, indeed, stamped by such intermediacy and balance. We may venture to say that moderation is, at the same time, the lenses which refract the light of the Islamic way, the vantage point from which it considers various issues and things (in life), and even the point-of-view of Islam itself."
He further states that such a standing has been attained by Islamic civilization because, by negating iniquitous excess and invalid extremism, it has come to represent human fitra (literally, natural disposition) in its pristine condition. Islamic moderation thus represents natural disposition in its simplicity, spontaneity and depth. It is the sincerest embodiment of the natural disposition with which Allah has endowed mankind.
Dr. Imara says that moderation is the Islamic method of shaping the Muslim person, the pathway conducive to social reformation and the higher stage which humanity has attained thanks to Sharia. Indeed, he says, moderation is the condition to the goodness and righteousness of the Islamic community and is also the straight path of guidance.
In 2004, when the then president of Pakistan, introduced his concept of ‘enlightened moderation', his key theme was that the time had come for a renaissance in the Muslim world and therefore a new strategy was required. He saw that Islamic countries and especially his own country, Pakistan, faced many challenges following 9/11, with the result that and the gulf of misunderstanding between the West and the Islamic world further deepened.
Musharraf observed that events of the recent past were constantly contributing to driving the Muslim world into a state of emergency and that the world perception of Muslims as violent extremists had also bundled moderate and peaceful faithful as being at odds with the world. He could see that the proliferation of suicide bombers and the events of 9/11 had given way to a deep fear about Islam in the West and what was happening in places like Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, Israel and Afghanistan was further worsening perceptions.
However, in voicing his views, Musharraf also criticized those members of the Islamic faith who had contributed to bringing a bad name to the once "glorious" Islam.
It was to combat the growing resentment, hatred and violence between the Muslim world and the West, that Pervez Musharraf proposed the strategy of "Enlightened Moderation".
In an article, published in Dubai's Khaleej Times in June 2004, he suggested that his idea for untangling this Gordian knot was the strategy of Enlightened Moderation.
"This is a two-pronged strategy," he stated in the article. "The role by the Muslim world involves shunning militancy, extremism and adopting the path of socio-economic uplift. The other role to be played by the West and the US in particular, must aim at resolutely resolving all political disputes with justice and also assisting in the socio-economic uplift of the deprived Muslim world."
In Musharraf's view, the root cause of extremism and militancy lay in political injustice, denial and deprivation. Tracing the genesis of Muslims getting labeled as extremists and terrorists, Musharraf wrote: "Before the anti-Soviet, Afghan War started, the Palestine dispute alone was the cause of unrest or concern in the Muslim world which led to a general unification of Muslims in favor of Palestinians and against Israel. The Afghan war of the 80s, supported and facilitated by the West, against the Soviet Union, saw the emergence and nurturing of pan Islamic militancy. Islam as a religion was used to harness mass, worldwide Muslim support. Subsequently, the atrocities and ethnic cleansing against Muslims in Bosnia, the Chechen uprising, Kashmir freedom struggle and invigorated Palestinian Intifada - all erupted in the 90s after the Soviet disintegration. To make matters worse the militancy sparked in Afghanistan which needed to be defused after the end of the Cold War, was allowed to fester for the whole decade of 90s. This festering wound of Afghanistan with fighters from the entire Muslim world existing within the period of upheaval in other Muslim nations turned multidirectional, looking for new conflict zones where Muslims were suffering. This saw the birth of Al-Qaeda. All this while the Palestinian Intifada kept gathering momentum, uniting and angering Muslims across the globe. Then came the horror of 9/11 and the angry reaction of US against Taleban/Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. All subsequent reactions of the US, their domestic responses against Muslims, their attitude towards Palestine and operation in Iraq led to total polarisation of the Muslim masses against the US. Why this needs to be recapitulated is to prove that it is not Islam as a religion which preaches or infuses militancy and extremism but the political disputes which led to antagonism in the Muslim masses."
To further support his view that Islam is a moderate religion and that in the prevalent world scenario, it was important that Islamic moderation be approached in an enlightened manner, Pervez Musharraf stated in the article:
"We have had a glorious past. Islam exploded on the world scene as flag bearer of a just, lawful, tolerant and value oriented society. We had faith in human exaltation through knowledge and enlightenment. We exemplified tolerance within ourselves and with people of other faiths. The Armies of Islam did not march forward to convert people to Islam through the sword, despite what perceptions may be, but to deliver them from the darkness they were under, through the visible example of their virtues. What better projection can be found of these deeper values of Islam than the example of our great Prophet (peace be upon him) who personified justice, compassion, tolerance, generosity of spirit, austerity with a spirit of sacrifice, and a burning desire for raising humanity to a better world?"
Thanks to a concerted media blitz against General Pervez Musharraf and his doings - perpetrated by the very same media that he liberated - there may not be many who would pay serious attention to the former president's views on any subject. In any event, considering the efforts that are being made to promote Islamic moderation around the world, there will be no harm in revisiting Musharraf's theory of ‘enlightened moderation' and examining it with an unbiased eye. 
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