Islam’s “uncomfortable truths”

From last week’s The Australian, a great commentary on some of the issues that Islam needs to face up to, by Tanveer Ahmed in Sydney: Islam must face its uncomfortable truths

Excerpts (emphasis mine):

THE latest attack in Britain shows how the Islamist threat is being driven by something much grander than mere foreign policy or feelings of grievance. The perpetrators believe they are soldiers in the perceived historical battle between good and evil.

The methods of attack are becoming more brazen, amateurish and desperate, illustrated most profoundly by the burning terrorist at Glasgow airport shouting “Allah” while struggling with a policeman, but the ideological roots are unchanged.

As a commentator on Muslim affairs and home-grown terrorism, I am often asked whether there is something in Islam itself that is contributing to terrorist acts. As someone who is not a theological expert, I shy away from strong pronouncements on the issue, preferring to discuss the sociological roots of alienation and the modern symbol of protest that Islam has become.

But the question is impossible to avoid and I believe that theology is central and not peripheral to the problem. It is grounded in history, but the sparks have been generated by the information age.

While the images of poverty and war in countries such as Sudan, Palestine or Iraq combined with the relative disadvantage of some Muslim communities in countries such as France or Britain may contribute to radicalisation, the foundation for their acts lies very much in the set of ideas called Islam.

..with hindsight, I can see that what we now call extremism was virtually the norm in the community I grew up in. It was completely normal to view Jews as evil and responsible for the ills of the world. It was normal to see the liberal society around us as morally corrupt, its stains to be avoided at all costs. It was normal to see white girls as cheap and easy and to see the ideal of femininity as its antithesis.

These views remain widespread, as research in Britain showed earlier this year: up to 50 per cent of British Muslims aged between 15 and 29 want to see sharia law taken up in Britain.

But the threat is very real. It was reported yesterday that up to 3000 young Muslims are at risk of becoming radicalised in Sydney alone. But when these views morph into the violent political act that is terrorism, it is very much based in theology.

At its core, Islam is deeply sceptical of the idea of a secular state. There is no rendering unto Caesar because state and religion are believed to be inseparable.

This idea then interacts with centuries-old edicts of Islamic jurists about how the land of Islam should interact with the world of unbelievers, known as dar ul-kufr.

The modern radicals then take it further, declaring that the whole world is effectively the land of the unbelievers.

They go as far as reclassifying the globe as dar ul-harb, “land of war”, apparently allowing Muslims to destroy the sanctity of the five rights that every human is granted under Islam: life, wealth, land, mind and belief. In dar ul-harb, anything goes, including the killing of civilians.

While it may appear absurd to most, this nihilistic but exclusivist world view is clearly attracting significant numbers of young Muslims the obvious absurdity of the set of ideas is still grounded in Islam, which, regardless of how theological experts argue, can be interpreted in many ways.

Muslim communities must openly argue precisely what it is they fear and loathe about the West. But thereafter, the argument must proceed rapidly to Islamic theology and all its uncomfortable truths – from its repeated glowing references to violence, its obsession with and revulsion at sex and its historical antipathy to the very possibility that reason can exist as separate from God.

Image courtesy: Speakersolutions.com.au

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6 Responses

  1. Solomon says:

    Are muslims needlessly blamed for violent acts everywhere. Is islam peaceful and does it truly advocates tolerance. Maybe, it does. But evidence points to the contrary! I came acroos a few videos the links to which I am posting below. Also, I have a few verses from the islamis scriptures, which do not attest to it being a peacfeul religion.

    So, my question is: can today’s islam co-exist with other major religions in the world? If so, how? What changes would the religion, per se, and its followers have to make? What would the other religions have to do? Because, is it not a universal truth that muslims are engaged in fights and violence everywhere in the world, with all major religions!

    Some quotes:

    Hadith # 284 The Muslim, volume one, says that any Jew or Christian, who heard of Muhammad but did not convert to Islam, and died in disbelief, would rot in hell! Thus Islam withdraws from all Jews and Christians the right to believe in their faiths, and pratice them as such.

    Jews and Christians, who spurn Islam, have been lumped together with the idolators such as the Hindus, and classified as ‘the worst of creatures’. Therefore the Koran commands: “O believers, take not as your friends those of them, who were given the Book before you, and the unbelievers, who take your religion in mockery and as a sport…” (V: The Table: 60)

    “Kill the idolaters wherever you find them, imprison them, besiege them, ambush them” (Sura 9:5); and, “Make war on unbelievers” (Sura 9:29). “When you come upon unbelievers, massacre them, tighten the bands of the captives that you will have taken. Then you will set them free, or you will release them for a ransom” (Sura 8:57).
    “To Allah, there are no animals viler than those who do not believe and remain unbelievers” (Sura 8:57). That is why it is necessary to Islamize them by force and by humiliation. And those who resist Islam and its founder must be chastised.

    “Do not display cowardice, and do not call the infidels to peace when you are superior to them” (Sura 47:22).

    Here are a few links…

    (***WARNING FOR THIS LAST VIDEO*** Please be advised that the images in this video are NOT EASY TO WATCH. They are NOT suitable for children or people with heart conditions.)
    http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/video.html

  2. Indian says:

    Islam is not a religion, it is political agends and that is the reason why religion keeps coming in everyday life of people one such example is Fatwa. There are many heroes in Islam and they are Salman Rushdi, Taslima Nasrin, Ali Sina and many more who have understood the true meaning of Islam and have left islam for all the time. They were scholars they read the Quran and figured out what is right and wrong with the religion of Islam. Havenot we seen many were killed after the publication of Salman Rusdhi’ s book.

    That is their level of tolerence and hate. No human life is important as religion for them.

    One can’t even edit or republish Islam, they have death penalty for that also.

  3. B Shantanu says:

    Looks like someone is in denial:

    From an article in the UK’s Telegraph: “Islamic charity linked to car bomb suspect“* dt 8th Jul ’07

    “Sejad Mekic, the imam at the Cambridge mosque which Abdullah also attended, gave a sermon on Friday condemning all acts of terror.

    However, he later said he had doubts that the incident at Glasgow airport was a terrorist attack, saying it could have been a car accident.

    “I still haven’t made my conclusion,” he said.

    When it was pointed out that containers of petrol were reportedly found in the car, he said: “Maybe they used to sell petrol.”

    * Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/08/nterr308.xml

  4. Solomon says:

    Yes, the guys at Glasgow were selling petrol and the guys on 9/11 were just lost in Manhattan and were trying to find their way home!

  5. rick says:

    Here too, typical muslim(sajed mekic) mind at work.

  6. Nandan says:

    I am afraid the perspectives of Sanatana Dharma and the Semitic religions are entirely different. While Sanatana Dharma deals with liberation, realization of knowledge and self and renouncing, the Semitic religions are concerned with Heaven, Justice and acquisition of material wealth. While one seeks to realize God, the other seeks ways to please God. It is for this reason that it becomes difficult to find a common ground for rational debate on any matter concerning what is right and wrong. The situation is similar to the plight of the blind men who set out to define the shape of an elephant.