Oh, THAT Moderate Islam!

For reasons that seem to escape most people who imagine that all religions are somehow the same, the issue of what defines  Moderate Muslims® seems to be open to question.  Some of the most prominent Moderate Muslims include people like Anwar Al-Awlaki who was invited to rub shoulders with the Pentagon brass because he was the kind of Moderate they could use to reach out to the millions of others just like him.  We hope that here are not millions of other just like him because he inspired -  among others – the Fort Hood assassin,, the Christmas Day bomber and several of the 9/11 hijackers.

Then there is another award winning Moderate Muslim,® Muzzamil Hassan who cut off his wife’s head after she filed for divorce.  It remains to be seen whether this act falls within the orbit of “Moderate” when applied to Islam.

The question is not fully settled because in Pakistan Moderate Muslims® are threatening those who agree with murdered Governor Taseer with death.

JAMES TARANTO is a national treasure as the Wall Street Journal's editor of "Best of the Web."

He found the following story in a Reuters dispatch from Islamabad:

A Moderate School of Islam

"Five hundred Pakistani religious scholars have warned that anyone who expresses grief over the assassination of a senior ruling party official who opposed the country's blasphemy law could suffer the same fate," Reuters reports:

The Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan group of scholars making the veiled threat is actually from a moderate school of Islam in Pakistan.

It is a vocal critic of Taliban militants violently opposed to the government and its ally Washington.

The group is one of the largest representing scholars from the mainstream Barelvi sect of Sunni Muslims. Although moderate, they have been leading protests in favour of the blasphemy law.

The hardline stand taken by the moderates illustrates how difficult it can be for Washington, which sees Islamabad as indispensable in its war on militancy, to persuade Pakistani leaders to crack down harder on religious extremism.

So a moderate Muslim is one who calls for the murder of those who oppose strict blasphemy laws and for the murder of those who grieve the victims of such murders. To be clear, that's according to Reuters, not us. And as evidenced by its careful use of the phrase "war on militancy," Reuters is very precise about the use of language.

Reuters reports that

Taseer, a liberal politician close to President Asif Ali Zardari, had championed the cause of a Christian woman sentenced to death under the blasphemy laws which critics say are used to target religious minorities, often to settle personal scores.

The Taliban wing of the Democrat party has not decided on the proper manner of showing gratitude for the killing.  There are reports that the faculty at UC Berkeley praised the moderation, "courage" and religious zeal of the killer, saying his action had made Muslims and their supporters around the world proud and showing that those opposed to moderate Muslims building a mosque at Ground Zero were wild eyed religious bigots.

The bodyguard who killed Taseer, identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, who also used moderation, only shooting Taseer 14 times from a distance of about six feet.  Then he ran out of bullets.