Islam, Moderation, Radicalism, and Justly Balanced Communities

If media outlets and political rhetoric are to be believed, then the way to counter radical Islam is through moderate Islam. Seemingly, moderate Islam is that which radical Islam is not. In appointing moderate Islam as an antidote to radical Islam, the implication is that, conceptually at least, the two terms are contradistinctive. Yet, while much is, perceivably, known about radical Islam, with its associated ills of an unequivocal Islamic worldview, very little attention has been afforded to this signifier, moderate. Inasmuch as this term is bandied around, even scholars of Islam will acknowledge that, within Islamic education, understandings of and debates on conceptions of moderation, and moderate Muslim communities, have been somewhat overlooked. What, therefore, is a moderate Islam? What is a moderate Muslim community and how would it act? What are the implications for a moderate community in relation to pluralist societies? And, can such a moderate community offer a practical response not only to radical Islam, but, perhaps, more importantly, to increasingly antagonistic, liberal contexts?