The Trouble With Islam

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

The Trouble With Islam
[FONT=Garamond, Times]Sadly, mainstream Muslim teaching accepts and promotes violence.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Times]BY TAWFIK HAMID [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Times]Tuesday, April 3, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Times]Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives," a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested. They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or could be, right. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Times]But indeed, there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists' defense. [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Times]These "progressives" frequently cite the need to examine "root causes." In this they are correct: Terrorism is only the manifestation of a disease and not the disease itself. But the root-causes are quite different from what they think. As a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, a group led by al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, I know firsthand that the inhumane teaching in Islamist ideology can transform a young, benevolent mind into that of a terrorist. Without confronting the ideological roots of radical Islam it will be impossible to combat it. While there are many ideological "rootlets" of Islamism, the main tap root has a name--Salafism, or Salafi Islam, a violent, ultra-conservative version of the religion. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Times]It is vital to grasp that traditional and even mainstream Islamic teaching accepts and promotes violence. Shariah, for example, allows apostates to be killed, permits beating women to discipline them, seeks to subjugate non-Muslims to Islam as dhimmis and justifies declaring war to do so. It exhorts good Muslims to exterminate the Jews before the "end of days." The near deafening silence of the Muslim majority against these barbaric practices is evidence enough that there is something fundamentally wrong. [/FONT]

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[FONT=Verdana, Times]OpinionJournal - Featured Article[/FONT]

 

[Hatuey]

The Trouble With Islam
[FONT=Garamond, Times]Sadly, mainstream Muslim teaching accepts and promotes violence.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Times]
BY TAWFIK HAMID
Tuesday, April 3, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT

Not many years ago the brilliant Orientalist, Bernard Lewis, published a short history of the Islamic world's decline, entitled "What Went Wrong?" Astonishingly, there was, among many Western "progressives," a vocal dislike for the title. It is a false premise, these critics protested. They ignored Mr. Lewis's implicit statement that things have been, or could be, right.

But indeed, there is much that is clearly wrong with the Islamic world. Women are stoned to death and undergo clitorectomies. Gays hang from the gallows under the approving eyes of the proponents of Shariah, the legal code of Islam. Sunni and Shia massacre each other daily in Iraq. Palestinian mothers teach 3-year-old boys and girls the ideal of martyrdom. One would expect the orthodox Islamic establishment to evade or dismiss these complaints, but less happily, the non-Muslim priests of enlightenment in the West have come, actively and passively, to the Islamists' defense.

These "progressives" frequently cite the need to examine "root causes." In this they are correct: Terrorism is only the manifestation of a disease and not the disease itself. But the root-causes are quite different from what they think. As a former member of Jemaah Islamiya, a group led by al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, I know firsthand that the inhumane teaching in Islamist ideology can transform a young, benevolent mind into that of a terrorist. Without confronting the ideological roots of radical Islam it will be impossible to combat it. While there are many ideological "rootlets" of Islamism, the main tap root has a name--Salafism, or Salafi Islam, a violent, ultra-conservative version of the religion.
It is vital to grasp that traditional and even mainstream Islamic teaching accepts and promotes violence. Shariah, for example, allows apostates to be killed, permits beating women to discipline them, seeks to subjugate non-Muslims to Islam as dhimmis and justifies declaring war to do so. It exhorts good Muslims to exterminate the Jews before the "end of days." The near deafening silence of the Muslim majority against these barbaric practices is evidence enough that there is something fundamentally wrong.

OpinionJournal - Featured Article

[/FONT][/QUOTE]

To some extent he's right. However I've noticed that when Muslims do protest against the actions of their extremist counterparts they don't make the news. I wonder why?

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

To some extent he's right. However I've noticed that when Muslims do protest against the actions of their extremist counterparts they don't make the news. I wonder why?

How often does that happen?

 

[Ikari]

Yup...theocracies suck.

 

[Hatuey]

How often does that happen?

Why does it matter how often it happens? The fact that it might not happen often is what would make it worthy of news. SgtRock posted the videos of a meeting of some of the foremost experts on Islam denouncing the violence. I spent an entire day watching all the mayor news networks in the hopes one of them would at least mention it. Not even a sound bite.

 

[Trajan Octavian Titus]

Why does it matter how often it happens? The fact that it might not happen often is what would make it worthy of news. SgtRock posted the videos of a meeting of some of the foremost experts on Islam denouncing the violence. I spent an entire day watching all the mayor news networks in the hopes one of them would at least mention it. Not even a sound bite.

They may denounce terrorism, but will they vocally oppose Sharia law and terrorist organizations by name?

 

[Hatuey]

They may denounce terrorism, but will they vocally oppose Sharia law and terrorist organizations by name?

You obviously didn't see the videos. They denounced radical Islam as a whole and agreed that those who try to force Islam unto others or kill the innocent for Islam are not true Muslims.

 

[Kandahar]

Who is "they"?

The only well-known Muslims who frequently criticize Islamism are Ayaan Hirshi Ali and Salman Rushdie...and they both have to constantly look over their shoulder so they aren't murdered.

There is also Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq, who should have got the Nobel Peace Prize.

But aside from that, there aren't many prominent Muslims willing to condemn these acts.

 

[Hatuey]

Who is "they"?

The only well-known Muslims who frequently criticize Islamism are Ayaan Hirshi Ali and Salman Rushdie...and they both have to constantly look over their shoulder so they aren't murdered.

There is also Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq, who should have got the Nobel Peace Prize.

But aside from that, there aren't many prominent Muslims willing to condemn these acts.

Secularists of Islamic Societies Gather for Summit In St Petersburg, Florida :: Understanding Islam :: Hyscience

Speakers include Mona Abousenna, Magdi Allam, Shaker al-Nabulsi, Nonie Darwish, Afshin Ellian, Fatemolla, Tawfik Hamid, Shahriar Kabir, Nibras Kazimi, Irshad Manji, Walid Phares, Amir Taheri, Mourad Wahba, Ibn Warraq, and others.

Just because you haven't heard of them doesn't mean they're not there.

 

[Binary_Digit]

That was a good read, I agree with almost all of it.

On the point of how often terrorist acts are condemned by "mainstream" Islam, it reminds me of Navy Pride's "left spews deadly venom" thread. He found an example of extreme whacko idiots who said some stupid things, and he expected all liberals to come forward and condemn it. When very few did, he started impying that the others must support it because of their silence.

Having been on the receiving end of that logic, now I can understand why "mainstream" Islam might not feel excessively compelled to condemn every single act of terrorism that happens. When was the last time anyone condemned Chinese women for killing their newborn girls in hopes of having a boy next time? Some things are so obviously wrong that it shouldn't be necessary to point out that you don't support it every single time it happens. The only reason someone would expect that from you is if they've already made assumptions about your position.

Anyway, here's a list of about 200 Muslim organizations and leaders who condemned the 9/11 attacks:

Muslims Condemn Terrorist Attacks

It's the first hit when you search Google for "Muslims condemn terrorism", and there are 10 more pages.