Moderate muslims - majority or myth?

Robert Spencer lays open the question of whether moderate muslims constitute a majority or not in an article in Frontpage Magazine.

The article relates to Canada, but I would question whether the same applies in Britain.

His conclusion ....

It is bitterly ironic that Western non-Muslim observers who know little or nothing of Islam assume that voices of liberalism and reform are the dominant mainstream within Islamic communities in the West and elsewhere, when the reality is that people like Hassan Shahid and Fatah are, despite their popularity among Westerners who like to pride themselves on their “tolerance,” only marginally influential among Muslims -- and are, above all, hunted.

Muslim reformers deserve all the support we can give them. But we should stop deluding ourselves into thinking they’re the majority. And above all, government and law enforcement officials should stop building policy on the assumption that people like Farzana Hassan Shahid and Tarek Fatah are the majority.

Seeing how something like 40-60% of muslims in Britain want Sharia I think it is quite possible that Spencer is correct. Also quite possible is that many muslims would like to be more moderate but are actually afraid to be so because of the influence that the extremists can exert.