[KDD]

And the problem is that so many Muslims want both stagnation and power: they want a return to the perfection of the seventh century and to dominate the twenty-first, as they believe is the birthright of their doctrine, the last testament of God to man. If they were content to exist in a seventh-century backwater, secure in a quietist philosophy, there would be no problem for them or us; their problem, and ours, is that they want the power that free inquiry confers, without either the free inquiry or the philosophy and institutions that guarantee that free inquiry. They are faced with a dilemma: either they abandon their cherished religion, or they remain forever in the rear of human technical advance. Neither alternative is very appealing; and the tension between their desire for power and success in the modern world on the one hand, and their desire not to abandon their religion on the other, is resolvable for some only by exploding themselves as bombs.

[the Real fifi]

He is such a remarkable thinker and writer. I can never pass by anything he writes without stopping to read it.

[rellimpank]

-- If they were content to exist in a seventh-century backwater, secure in a quietist philosophy, there would be no problem for them or us;--

--that apparently describes pre-Russian invasion Afganistan--I know an individual whose wife spent her high school years there (her parents were teachers in an Embassy school) thoroughly enjoying the experience--

[the anti-liberal]

Bookmarked for later reading, when I have time.

[King Prout]

bump for later

[Billthedrill]

This article was reprinted in Dalrymple's Our Culture - What's Left Of It, a book chock-full of such observations. Highly recommended.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Does anyone have a Dalrymple PING list?

[VOA]

bump

[tkathy]

Their death rattle is mighty loud.

[eazdzit]

A very Good read. BTTT

[Clintonfatigued]

This is a facinating outlook on a phenomenon. Very worth reading.

[BunnySlippers]

Good Article Bump

[T.L.Sink]

I first mentioned Dr.Dalrymple's essay "When Islam Breaks Down" in a post of 3/5 and wish to again thank neverdem for posting the full essay. Long before that (during the massive Islamic riots in France) I cited another of Dalrymple's essays - "Barbarians at the Gates of Paris" - to demonstrate how prophetic and insightful he was. That,too, was posted. Both these essays and many others are in his book "Our Culture, What's Left of It." By the way, David Brooks of the N.Y.Times named "When Islam Breaks Down" as the best journal article of 2004. Another fascinating collection of his essays is found in "Life at the Bottom." Although Dalrymple, like all psychiatrists, is an M.D. he actually practices medicine! He's widely traveled and all his essays reflect not just his clinical experience but his intimate first-hand knowledge of other peoples and cultures. If anyone wants to become acutely aware of the very dangerous social situation in Britain, read the essays in "Life at the Bottom." Again, my plaudits and thanks to neverdem.

[Paul_B]

Outstanding. Thanks for posting.

p.

[JDoutrider]

bflr

[caspera]

Islam can't reform because it is designed and engineered not to be reformable. Dalrymple doesn't seem to reflect much on the possibility that Islam is different because what the Koran says is different from what the Bible says. Because the Muslims he encounters do not talk about the text of the Koran themselves, Dalrymple directs his considerable analytical talents elsewhere in search of the problem, but I think this is a mistake. Even though they may be unaware of the Koran's text, young Mulsim men still absorb its precepts and attitudes by osmosis. If you ask a young Muslim man in prison which verse in the Koran is it wherein Allah through Mohammed stipulates that non-Muslim women in wartime can be taken as "temporary brides," i.e. raped, he will have no idea what you are talking about. If however you ask if Western women are whores and if it is not a big deal if they are raped, I believe you would encounter a response fully in concert with the spirit of the Koran. Such is the origin of tournante, which Dalrymple has written about. The fact that the Koran nearly explicitly licenses tournante doesn't seem to be interesting to Dalrymple. You don't have to be a scholar in Koranic hermeneutics to walk away with the impression that Koran offers to Muslims a free pass to do anything you want, no matter how cruel to people who do not self identify as part of the tribe of Muslims, especially women. This is simply not true of the Bible. The spirit of the Bible (mostly the New Testament) is to be kind to unbelievers. The spirit of the Koran is to be cruel to unbelievers.

Thus it is not a matter of merely time for Islam to temper itself. Islam can only 'reform' by becoming the opposite of what its core text mandates, i.e. by becoming vigorously un-Islamic. Given that this is the case, what is the point of even using such terminology?

I am beginning to think Islam will be 'reformed' the way Shinto was.

[Defiant]

Great piece. Thanks for posting.

[Tolik]

Theodore Dalrymple:

...the problem is that so many Muslims want both stagnation and power: they want a return to the perfection of the seventh century and to dominate the twenty-first, as they believe is the birthright of their doctrine, the last testament of God to man. If they were content to exist in a seventh-century backwater, secure in a quietist philosophy, there would be no problem for them or us; their problem, and ours, is that they want the power that free inquiry confers, without either the free inquiry or the philosophy and institutions that guarantee that free inquiry.

Theodore Dalrymple Nailed It !  

Read the complete article or an excerpt in the post 29. Don't miss the excellent commentary by  caspera in the post 23

This ping list is not author-specific for articles I'd like to share. Some for the perfect moral clarity, some for provocative thoughts; or simply interesting articles I'd hate to miss myself. (I don't have to agree with the author all 100% to feel the need to share an article.) I will try not to abuse the ping list and not to annoy you too much, but on some days there is more of the good stuff that is worthy of attention. You can see the list of articles I pinged to lately  on  my page.
You are welcome in or out, just freepmail me (and note which PING list you are talking about). Besides this one, I keep 2 separate PING lists for my favorite authors Victor Davis Hanson and Orson Scott Card.  

[quesney]

Outstanding.

[SuperSonic]

Bump.

[EternalHope]

bump to read later