I am persuaded that there is no such “thing” as “ordinary Islam.”
Sir Winston Churchill captured the essence of the Islamic culture and the nature of the individual Moslem’s character in 1899:
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.
“The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
“A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.
“No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.
“It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.”
Sir Winston Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50, London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
Wir Winston was right in 1899 and his words are germaine and, perhaps, even more pertinent today.
We MUST be made aware of the dangers of minimalizing the intenntions of the adherents to Islam. We do so at our own peril, as Sir Winston warns us in his last paragraph.
For more information, please see http://www.politicalislam.com/
I am persuaded that there is no such “thing” as “ordinary Islam.”....OHHHH, yes there is. A moderate Muslim is an Islamic terrorist that hasn’t come to bat yet. A liitle sports lingo there for you.
A viewpoint enhanced by the fact that troublesome Muslims and Muslim societies were those he had his nose most rubbed into. And that he did not have a world wide web to search.
Such bias is understandable and explainable and errors it introduces are forgivable but we shouldn’t call it the same thing as dispassionate sociological study.
What Islam could be in principle and what it manages to actually be in practice are (and due to the blessings of God even towards unbelievers, in common grace — not due to any praise of men) not equivalent.