The lady or the tiger?

presenceofmind.net ^ | December 7, 2002 | Greg Swann

[Greg Swann]

The lady or the tiger? by Greg Swann

Today, as a special treat, Islam offers us a choice. We can have the lady, King Abdullah II of Jordan writing in the Washington Post. Today Muslims must speak out boldly in defense of a dynamic, moderate Islam -- an Islam that upholds the sanctity of human life, reaches out to the oppressed, respects men and women alike, and insists on the fellowship of all humankind. This is the true Islam of the Prophet, and the Islam that terrorists seek to destroy. Or we can have the tiger in the form of Saudi Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Arifi, imam of the mosque of King Fahd Defense Academy, from MEMRI, the Middle-East Media Research Institute: "We will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce Islam in it. Yes, the Christians, who carve crosses on the breasts of the Muslims in Kosovo – and before then in Bosnia, and before then in many places in the world – will yet pay us the Jiziya [poll tax paid by non-Muslims under Muslim rule], in humiliation, or they will convert to Islam..." Before you choose the lady, think twice. The tiger is fearsome, but he's an honest warrior. King Abdullah is convinced we are so corrupt that he can slip in the actual truth about Islam and no one will notice: The Prophet Muhammad tells us that the "greater" holy war is not against others at all but against one's own failings -- the "war against the ego." This is twice true. The jihad of the would-be Vatican-sackers is called the lesser jihad. And Islam is utterly and eternally at war with the human ego--the source of all honor, of all goodness, of all wealth and beauty and purpose and integrity and happiness. King Abdullah may well be a decent man. His remarks are clearly well-intended, even if the doctrine he preaches is no less anti-human--anti-rational-animal--than that of Sheikh Muhammad. But there is no practical distinction to be drawn between the lady and the tiger. By one or the other, your ego will be eaten alive. By one jihad or the other, you will submit.

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