I thought this article by Ryan Mauro would be of interest.

Abdul Majeed Abid is a medical graduate in Lahore, Pakistan that first began writing criticisms of Islamism in Urdu last year. He is the assistant-editor at Pak Tea House, a leading blog in Pakistan that promotes liberal values, where he regularly challenges political Islam, conspiracy theories and historical biases in Pakistani textbooks and pop culture

Ryan Mauro: Was there a particular incident that spurred you into speaking out against Islamism?

Abdul Majeed Abid: Religion is considered sacrosanct in Pakistani society and the only discussion about it is in the garb of reverence. There is little realization in the educated classes of Pakistan about the differences between Islam and Islamism. I was part of that group until the assassination of the governor of the largest province by one of his own guards because the governor had expressed dislike for the blasphemy laws of Pakistan.

Those laws, enacted by the military dictator, General Zia ul-Haq, were considered to be derived from the Quran and Hadiths, the two primary sources of Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, those laws were not based on any religious texts at all. The realization that dawned upon me and on people like me after the murder was that the space for religious discourage in this country is almost over. That particular incident became the core inspiration of my writings critical towards Islamism and the overindulgence of it in Pakistan. That murder made a lot of progressive voices decide that enough was enough and something had to be done by the civil society regarding this.

Mauro: Pakistan is a hotbed for radical Islam. How worried are you about your safety and well-being on a day-to-day basis?

Abid: I have the benefit of living in a major city of Pakistan out of the primary conflict zone. Apart from that, I am not in direct contact with my audience because I’m a blogger. My parents and friends have asked me to tone it down a bit for my own safety. I feel at times that if the few voices that are still being raised to counter the threat of Islamism stopped, there would be no sane voices left in this country. I have to walk a tight rope while saying anything to anyone as “closet Taliban” are found in every nook and corner of this country.

Mauro: Is radical Islam growing or declining in Pakistan?

Abid: Pakistan underwent a decade of terror from 2001-2011 sprouted by the proponents of Political Islam. Around 40,000 innocent people died. As a result, there is palpable hatred in the society for the terrorists, but on a large scale, there have been very few efforts to understand the ideology behind those acts of terror. Our society is rife with conspiracy theories, thus shifting the blame of the terrorist activities from Islamists to the United States, India and Israel. I believe that religious intolerance is increasing in the country because of minimum resistance against it.

Mauro: What are the most effective arguments against Islamism that Muslims can make?

Abid: Islamists believe in the paradigm that “Islam is the complete way of life,” meaning Islam is a particular economic system, political system and social system. This belief is not found in either of the holy texts or even in the works of the foremost imams of Sharia.

I have done extensive research on the origins of this claim. This belief was propagated as a reaction to the rise of communism and capitalism in the 1920s and 1930s. The chief architects of this thinking included Abul Ala Maududi, the founder of Pakistan’s major Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami; Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and Syed Qutb, a Muslim Brotherhood ideologue.

Due to massive indoctrination over the past 100 years, the majority of Pakistanis believe in this without thinking too much. Another reason that I personally think is responsible for the spread of this belief is self-righteousness and the belief that Islam is the “best” religion, and so Muslims are the “best” people. Religious scholars from Pakistan including Javed Ghamidi and Dr. Khalid Zaheer have exposed the shaky foundations of this claim but have not confronted it in a direct way. Still, Mr. Ghamidi had to leave the country for security reasons.

Mauro: What do you say to those that say the Muslim Brotherhood has “evolved” into a moderate, non-violent, democratic force?

Abid: Muslim Brotherhood has evolved as an organization. It does not mean they have adopted non-violence. They are the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

After the arrests and detentions of their leaders, they continued their work behind the scenes. Their basic principles remain the same. Egypt, despite a peaceful protest to oust Mubarak, faced a lot of violence afterwards. I consider the Brotherhood equally responsible for the violence due to their connivance with the Egyptian military. They are, after all, the ideological precursors of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Al-Jihad of Ayman al-Zawahiri and Al-Qaeda.