Posted on 08/28/2010 10:41:38 PM PDT by Nachum
Robert R. Reilly is the author of The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist. A former director of Voice of America, he now serves as a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. Reilly recently agreed to answer 10 questions about his book and other topics of interest for The Daily Caller:
1) Why did you write the book?
I was fascinated by Bernard Lewis’ book What Went Wrong, in which he chronicles the decline of the Muslim world. I wanted to find out why it went wrong. And, like most Americans, I was galvanized by 9/11 and wanted to search more deeply into the wellsprings of violence in Islam. Since 9/11, I was also working professionally in the area of the Middle East, most particularly on Iraq for the Defense Department.
After years of study and work, I concluded that the Islamism we see today is a spiritual pathology based on a deformed theology that has produced a dysfunctional culture. That is a lot to say in one sentence, but I take 200 pages to explain it. I trace the roots of Islamism back to an intellectual crisis in Islam in the ninth century.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
It began with Mohammad. He told his followers not to read books, that books were unnecessary. So the little muslim acorns didn’t fall far from the Mohammad tree.
He made an exception for the Koran, of course.
The dehellenization of the Muslim mind is paralleed by the dehellization of the Western mind. Which underlies more philosophy is skepticism.
Actually, I think what he said was, to the extent books do not support Allah’s will, they should be banned and destroyed. To the extent they do support Allah’s will, they are superfluous and there is no reason to read them. OWTTE.
bookmark
A lot of muslims can’t read and rely on self-ordained imams little more educated than themselves to relay the words of the Quran and Hadiths to them, which leaves the faithful vulnerable to just about anything the “imam” says.
True as that is, the book itself exhorts its readers to carry out acts of murder, rape and treachery in the name of Allah.
If they could read it, I don’t think it would make a difference.
Ping
Very good article. Thanks for posting. Now I want to read his book. I learned alot just from the excerpt. I have always been convinced that the Muslims who hold lofty titles/power are intent on killing all of us infidels(per the will of Allah) and any sign of weakness on our part just encourages them. I don’t believe ‘dialog’ will change this nor do I believe we ‘created them’. I knew my understanding was very basic but more detailed information is hard to come by because of PC sensibilities. Oh I’ve read analysis of the Koran -what it does and does not say but that never explained the ‘personality’ of the common enemy. This author takes it on and spells it out in a way that is interesting and usable - IF our wishful ‘negotiating politicians’ will read it.
I logged off and turned out the lights after posting #11. Then I got so angry I turned on lights and logged back in.
My last sentence “IF our wishful ‘negotiating politicians’ will read it.” was going to keep me awake tonight if I didn’t come back and violently reject it. The people who still want us to negotiate with Islamists can’t POSSIBLY be persuaded by a well written book when the grisly video of the decapitation murder of Daniel Pearl...even the planes of 9/11 themselves... have done NOTHING but harden politician’s firm resolve to cave in and crawl in dhimmitude, ‘reach out to Muslims’, and even BOW to the murderers.
“I trace the roots of Islamism back to an intellectual crisis in Islam in the ninth century...a process of hellenization preceding it — especially during the ninth and tenth centuries. It was a pivotal period for Islam and the world. It was then, toward the end of this period, that the Muslim world took a decisive turn in the wrong direction.”
Must read this to see why he (apparently) thinks the Fatimids of the 10th century constituted a “turn in the wrong direction.”
I am amazed that, given all the abuses and inhuman acts the Muslims have committed over the years, they remain convinced that they are due any respect at all. I have asked myself many times what, if anything, they have contributed to the well being of mankind and always draw a blank. If there is anyone out there who can erase this negative image of Islam from my mind, please do so.
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