What do we really mean when we brand someone as a moderate Muslim? Indeed, the more interesting question is: What does the word mean to Westerners, looking-into Islam, and to Muslims, looking out from within Islam? Both Muslims and the media are generally on the mark when they identify moderate Muslims as reflective, self-critical, pro-democracy and human-rights and closet secularists.

The term 'moderate Muslim' is not only becoming important in the post September 11 discussion of Islam and the West, it is also becoming highly contested. As one who identifies himself strongly with the idea of a liberal Islam and also advocates moderation in the manifestation and expression of Islamic politics, I believe it is important that we flesh out this "political identity." In an era when who we are determines what we do politically, it is imperative that we clarify the "we" in politics.

American media uses the term moderate Muslim to indicate a Muslim who is either pro-western in politics or is being self-critical in discourse. Therefore both President Karzai of Afghanistan and Professor ...

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