Modern Islamic Values
Impassioned Islamists point to the godless West as exemplifying a valueless society whose mores and culture have degenerated beyond tolerance. Even while the West bends itself inside out to accommodate the traditions and social mores reflective of Islam in an effort to prove to themselves how tolerant and accommodating they are, fundamentalist Muslims sneer in derision at the lack of religious commitment and resulting social failures.In Afghanistan the Taliban threatened to destroy ancient vestiges of the Buddhist tradition that so offended their sense of religious aesthetic and worthiness. Despite worldwide pleas that they desist, the Taliban destroyed priceless relics, ageless Buddhas of huge dimensions, treasures of the past. But offensive to Islam.
In Jerusalem the Islamic Waqf intentionally demolished priceless Jewish artifacts, including remnants of the Second Temple. The destruction marks an ongoing campaign to erase any evidence of the historical Jewish connection and claim to the Temple Mount. Such deliberate destruction of Jewish holy sites are not uncommon in the Arab world of Islam.
Within Saudi Arabia other religions are not permitted to openly conduct their business. There is no freedom and security offered to Christians within the country of whom there are an estimated 1.2 million, mostly Catholic migrant workers. They must worship in private homes beyond the sight of the public, and they're forbidden from wearing accoutrements signalling their faith in public. It is strictly forbidden to build houses of worship other than mosques.
Strictures on the practise of religious faiths other than Islam occur in other Muslim and Arab countries, although not quite on the scale of Wahhabist Saudi Arabia. Strict sharia law prevails there as it does in Iran, with capital punishment and public hangings the order of any day. Islamic punishment tends toward the gruesomely primitive in its exaction of the state avenging insults to Islam.
Sunni Islamic law is applied literally, the punishment for murder, rape, drugs smuggling and armed robbery becoming an occasion for public beheadings. An accused sorcerer was recently executed. An Egyptian had his sentence proclaimed in Mecca for stealing within the confines of the Grand Mosque, as amputation of his right hand in reflection of Islamic punishment.
Such harsh and inhumane measures don't quite seem to measure up to the efficacy claimed in deterrence value. Organized crime in the country has increased exponentially. Fervent clerics control the judicial system and insist on mandatory and extreme punishments in agreement with sharia law, and executions proliferate. Drug abuse is reaching epidemic proportions. For the crime of organizing an escape from prison, a Shiite was executed.
Desecrating the Koran is grounds for capital punishment. In a country which decrees that an extreme form of fundamentalist Islam be practised, and which brooks no public presence of foreign religions, and which insists on a rigid dress code, and which denies women the right to work and drive a vehicle, the detestable lawlessness and crumbling of the social fabric which they ascribe to Western decadence, appears to equally infect their well-honed society.
Furthermore, for countries which claim their superior position with respect to religious adherence, and social mores, along with respect for tradition, they appear to bypass the reality of their own morals-conflicted public. Where, for example, the United Arab Emirates appear on a U.S. State Department watch list for failing to make any kind of effort to arrest trafficking of women for prostitution, as well as the protection of workers trapped in slavery.
Dubai, as an example, has become a vibrant financial and tourist destination. Wealthy Saudis, expatriate Western professionals and oil workers paid handsome salaries, turn to the nightlife and the bars for entertainment. Alcohol readily available in a country whose religion forbids the imbibing of alcohol as a unforgivable sin.
Labels: Middle East, Realities, Religion
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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