Fyi were not talking about moderate islamists here... were talking about middle eastern islamic fundamentalists.
Moderate muslims living across the world may not be into the extremist aspect, but youll be hard pressed to find one who speaks out against the atrocities committed in the name of their religion by their middle eastern brethren.
I live in an area with about 30% Muslim population, most of the rest are Buddhists.
It's a guesstimate. You can't tell who all of the Muslims are as some don't dress Muslim. Some women for instance don't wear a headscarf. There's a lot more Mosques than Buddhist Temples though.
I go cycling & running and pass and say hello to many Muslims on a daily basis. I look different, there's no Westerners on these canal paths or country roads. I am a novelty. People will see me for the first time and shout something to practice their English - even if it is a "good morning" at 5pm. I like to stick to running/cycling in the Muslim areas as much as possible 'cause they don't have dogs and there's no stray dogs around the streets/canals that are 90%+ Muslim.
The choice to be a Muslim is down to what you are brought up with and it seems here, they are well integrated. The local market that sets up 3 nights a week is half Muslim as far as I can tell. The headscarved women selling food are friendly and smile and aren't bowing their heads when a male customer comes along. There's even a stall selling Ya Dong (a herbal whisky thingy) and that's right next to a Muslims stall and there's no issue with it. You can go to 7-11 and grab a 6 pack and Muslim staff will serve you - no issue.
Then there's just this one street where there's a Sunni Muslim school. Take a walk down there and every fucker will stare you down - and I mean stare you down. Women are in full on Burkhas. The school has mental security. On walks with my kids, we used to go down this street but we no longer do because it's fucking creepy. Instead - we cut through the Mosque (not Sunni), where the old guys are usually sitting on the steps and will wave and say hi.
You never see the Sunnis at the market, you never see them walking around - it's just around the school at closing time. Those people though - I have no doubt at all that if shit went sideways, they'd be cutting heads off. Whatever it is they teach in that bomb proof school sure isn't about love & harmony.
So I don't think it's all Muslims that are bad. I do think that a lot of them, like the Sunnis by me, are obviously getting their brains well washed from an early age. I don't hold out much hope for such people. I don't buy that these people are "reacting" to being downtrodden by anyone - I think they are just doing what they've been taught is their duty since they were kids.
