Wrestling with Islam

David Warren Online ^ | December 3, 2002 | David Warren

[wretchard]

...

"And the strangest thing -- but I must ask you to indulge a fairly wild generalization. It is a commonplace today that Christians in the West have lost their faith, whereas Muslims in the East are still believers; that what we now have is a confrontation between decadent post-Christian secularists, and sincere if possibly misguided Muslims. The first part of this proposition often seems true enough, especially of contemporary Europe. But I really think the second proposition is false. I think one of the reasons Islamism has erupted with such gale force in the Muslim world is indeed the very loss of faith, and the fear that comes from this.

They are, again to speak very crudely, in a position a little like that of our own ancestors of the later Victorian and Edwardian era, those many who had lost their faith, but continued to observe the outward forms of religion. It is exactly this kind of mind that creates the biggest welcome for the devil. I have often thought that the violent combustion of Europe in the 20th century was, at the deepest level, the fallout from the loss of faith; of the transformation of spiritual into political energy. Communism and Nazism were themselves pseudo-religions; and indeed all ideological systems, including political Islamism, are pseudo-religions -- replacements for the real thing. They take infinite longings and turn them towards finite ends, and seek a new redemption not in heaven but on earth."

[wretchard]

David Warren displays what to my unfamiliar eye seems a deep knowledge of Islam. Whether you regard Islam as the enemy or just another religion, read this article. It is wise. It is merciful without being foolish.

[The Raven]

This quote on the A. Suillivan site is great.

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It is a commonplace today that Christians in the West have lost their faith, whereas Muslims in the East are still believers; that what we now have is a confrontation between decadent post-Christian secularists, and sincere if possibly misguided Muslims. The first part of this proposition often seems true enough, especially of contemporary Europe. But I really think the second proposition is false. I think one of the reasons Islamism has erupted with such gale force in the Muslim world is indeed the very loss of faith, and the fear that comes from this.

They are, again to speak very crudely, in a position a little like that of our own ancestors of the later Victorian and Edwardian era, those many who had lost their faith, but continued to observe the outward forms of religion. It is exactly this kind of mind that creates the biggest welcome for the devil. I have often thought that the violent combustion of Europe in the 20th century was, at the deepest level, the fallout from the loss of faith; of the transformation of spiritual into political energy. Communism and Nazism were themselves pseudo-religions; and indeed all ideological systems, including political Islamism, are pseudo-religions -- replacements for the real thing. They take infinite longings and turn them towards finite ends, and seek a new redemption not in heaven but on earth.

[happygrl]

But as a practical person, using everything I know to understand the present order of cause and effect, I must tell you, that this clash is unlikely to end well.

Yes, his analysis is merciful,but also truthful. Thanks for a truly valuable posting on Islam.

[livius]

A lengthy article, but worth reading. He makes so many good points that it's hard to know where to begin.

One observation that should be made, however, is that Islam has always showed this pattern: it begins to relax, and then it radicalizes again. The people who drove out the first Muslims who established themselves in Spain, for example, were other Muslims: more violent, radical Muslims from North Africa, who overwhelmed what they regarded as the decadent Islamic rulers of Granada who had come from the more sophisticated parts of the Middle East.

Because Islam has violence built into its essence (in its scriptures and in the life of its founder), and because it is a religion that sees itself as a political system as well, this constant re-radicalization of Islam is always going to be a part of it, regardless of anything done by the world outside of it.