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The Trouble With Islam
The Wall Street Journal ^ | April 3, 2007 | TAWFIK HAMID

Posted on 04/02/2007 11:23:28 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

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.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: crushislam; islam; islammustdie; muhammadsminions; muslims
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To: MinorityRepublican

How do we wage a war against a religion? Except for bombing Mecca to glass and making Islamic teachings illegal in the US what can the rest of the world do about Islam?

I firmly believe its evil and it sucks up the weak and discards their souls, weak minded leaders cower when confronted by it, will it take militias to confront it in our homeland, doing something illegal but fighting for the good? I fear our country is going to split apart soon, those that support Islam and those that oppose.


41 posted on 04/03/2007 9:41:09 PM PDT by Eye of Unk
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To: MinorityRepublican

BTTT


42 posted on 04/04/2007 12:05:49 AM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: MinorityRepublican
The grave predicament we face in the Islamic world is the virtual lack of approved, theologically rigorous interpretations of Islam that clearly challenge the abusive aspects of Shariah. Unlike Salafism, more liberal branches of Islam, such as Sufism, typically do not provide the essential theological base to nullify the cruel proclamations of their Salafist counterparts. And so, for more than 20 years I have been developing and working to establish a theologically-rigorous Islam that teaches peace.

1400 years and no solid theological base to counter Salafism. That's a problem. Working on it for 20 years. That's a problem. There may, in fact, be no basis within Islam for what he seeks.

43 posted on 04/04/2007 1:28:49 PM PDT by siunevada (If we learn nothing from history, what's the point of having one? - Peggy Hill)
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To: dennisw; watchin; VOA; timestax; xJones; justshutupandtakeit; TopDog2; ThomasMore; Publius6961; ...
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.

Islam-list

If people want on or off this list, please let me know.

44 posted on 04/04/2007 2:25:25 PM PDT by knighthawk (We will always remember We will always be proud We will always be prepared so we may always be free)
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To: Lurker

You are right and right and right!

Islam is a political ideology cloaked in the jargon of a cult...and even worse than Marxism...it’s been around too long and has butchered too many.

It’s time to liberate the muslims from themselves.


45 posted on 04/04/2007 2:33:06 PM PDT by eleni121 ( + En Touto Nika! By this sign conquer! + Constantine the Great))
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To: lentulusgracchus

This “extremist” thing happens in Islam periodically. It is not a one time thing. It happens when some portion of the Islamic world becomes powerful enough and has enough resources and time on its hands to dream of Islamizing all the world in a generation. The Koran tells them that it is required of them to convert, subjugate or kill all who are not Mohammedans. When the Jihad is stopped decisively with great destruction, it does not end. It sort of goes into remission for a time, Moslem culture becomes lethargic, but it will be back. It will always be back so long as there Mohammedans alive. It is inherent in the Koran and the Sayings and the Biography. Mohammedans are more fatalistic than any other large group in the world. There own deaths do not concern them in the least. It is Allah’s Will. Putting a temporary halt to Jihad absolutely requires that Jihad suffer a defeat so destructive and complete as to convince diehards that Allah does not will Islam to prevail right now. Poitiers and Vienna and Lepanto were such defeats. They do not come at us in great armies as in the past so the nature of the defeat they must suffer is not the same but is more difficult to inflict, must be more general, and is just as necessary.


46 posted on 04/04/2007 7:44:35 PM PDT by arthurus (Better to fight them over THERE than over HERE)
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To: lentulusgracchus
If so, how did this former Salafist come to his senses?

He is wishing away one of the most basic tenets of his religion.

47 posted on 04/04/2007 7:45:49 PM PDT by arthurus (Better to fight them over THERE than over HERE)
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To: lentulusgracchus

Mahdism was a local outbreak. Its effects were local. It was beaten locally. If it had not been beaten there on the Nile it would have continued to spread into EArabia and Egypt and across Africa generally. The nature of the modern technological age is such that local outbreaks do not spread with the speed of conquest, but rather with the speed of airplanes and cell phones. The defeat necessary to force Jihad back into its spore stage is far more widespread and far more complete than in the past. If that defeat does not come quickly, the cancer will only grow rapidly and soon will control the resources of Europe and Russia. Those assets will be used against America. Do we want to go all out and destroy the thing there around the Persian Gulf or do we want to put it all off until we have to fight Europe and Russia, too? Do we let it get so huge that we must ally with China to hope for survival? And what good for ultimate survival is an alliance with China?


48 posted on 04/04/2007 7:57:42 PM PDT by arthurus (Better to fight them over THERE than over HERE)
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To: arthurus

Well put.


49 posted on 04/09/2007 10:20:05 AM PDT by bayouranger (The 1st victim of islam is the person who practices the lie.)
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To: lentulusgracchus

Why can’t you accept what the Koran and the Muslim International Confrence says. You can defend so-called moderate muslims until you lose your head.


50 posted on 04/09/2007 10:24:34 AM PDT by JayAr36 (No Party, just a Conservative.)
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