[10] Several Muslim scholars and leaders have made objections to the term "moderate Islam", and argued harm is caused by its usage.
[11] When the media talks about “moderate Muslims”, they are perpetuating a dangerous narrative of Islam as a violent religion that is at odds with American society.
[13] Adrian Cherney and Kristina Murphy argue that the categorisations of moderate/extremist are not neutral, and that their widespread deployment "deprives Muslims of the agency to define the parameters of the debate around counterterrorism and also the terms of reference through which they are labelled as either for or against terrorism.
[15] The Pakistani born journalist Sarfraz Manzoor also argues that the "moderate Muslim" label is offensive, as he believes that it implies ordinary Islam is not inherently peaceful.
[18] The general criticism of this term is that it implies that the "Islam" and "Muslim" refer to something inherently violent, giving the impression that they need an adjective ("moderate") to assure otherwise.
In an interview in with Qantara he stated: Radicals are not "mainstream" Muslims who went astray after studying the Koran and Islamic theology.