Oil And Water
Islam simply does not mesh well with other types of ideologies, social systems, politics, religions. It's possible that the crux of the problem is that Islam represents all of those things; it is a blueprint for life in and of itself. It is a religion that infuses into its worshippers the belief that to worship Allah and to submit to Islam is to surrender one's entire life to that singular enterprise. Embracing Islam is to forfeit individuality, it is to accept total conformity.Islam dictates the way people must think, behave, how they anticipate their lives will unfold, that they must dedicate themselves completely to Islamic precepts, accept without question its dictates, act in complete submission to its manifold directives. Peace will be found only in complete acceptance of limitations placed on one's freedom to think, act, believe and the need to practise innumerable daily acts of submission.
This entire mode of control is so completely at odds with liberal democracies where the prevailing religions are maintained separately from the political system, unlike Islam, which demands that religion transcends and is superior to politics, that it's little wonder the two collide instead of meshing. Muslims are so accustomed to living Islam that they accept its total control over every aspect of their lives.
Acclimated to a social, cultural, religious and political climate of instruction, demand and restrictive behaviour, Islam is the driving force behind the life and life-styles of Muslims. Little wonder that Muslims are so deeply offended by criticisms at any level, of their dearly-held values and customs. If the most compelling portion of someone's life is adherence to a supreme deity dictating every facet of life, outside commentary is insultingly, personally, demeaning.
And if lives and lifestyles and apprehensions and comprehensions are so acutely defined and accepted, there's little room for other modes of thought. All the more so when among the precepts of the Koran are those which warn of the corrupting effects of other, false religions, along with the divine injunction to keep oneself apart from unbelievers, to distance unilaterally from the kufars.
So wouldn't it be fine if the solitudes remained distant from one another under those circumstances, neither one troubling the other, each going their way without interference from the other...? It's not to be; as with any kind of human construct, there is always the human emotional element to deal with. One's own group considered to be superior than the adversaries; for adversarial is what they become to one another.
Where once, in ancient history, Islam was on the march and was successful in asserting itself over a large swath of the globe, achieving hegemony over geographical territory far from its source, in the process usurping a more ancient religion, and feeling itself triumphantly successful, it now seethes in an agony of grievance against what it perceives to be an unfairly dominant religion in Christianity.
And by extension the countries of the West. Those countries which embraced a period of intellectual and religious enlightenment, abjured and resolutely forbidden by Islam.
Islamists look to the modern world with especial loathing, blaming its Western representative countries for somehow curtailing opportunities for Islam to advance, for its countries to enrich themselves through trade and enterprise. While on the other hand, moderate Muslims have advanced into the world at large to extend their horizons and fit themselves handily as still-practising Muslims into a more generalized society.
Earning themselves the raging anger of fundamentalist Muslims who, over decades, have established a school of violent jihadism insistent on re-establishing a globally resurgent Islam, spreading Sharia law where it goes.
Islamist terrorists have secured for themselves an especial place in the modern world, claiming to represent the ideals of Islam by waging holy war against the corrupt influences of the West. They've preyed on Muslims insufficiently pious, in their belief, just as they viciously attack symbols of the West.
Gradually, moderate Muslims who live outside the Arab world of stultifying authoritarian rule and who have established a rapport with non-Muslims, and who have accepted the reality of egalitarianism in religion, culture and traditions, respecting others, and conceiving of a loyalty to their adopted countries, are beginning to voice their utter rejection of Islamism.
They understand how fanatical Muslims have been exploiting their loyalty to Islam. They reject the abuse of Islam through violent interpretation.
It is only through the gathering together and combined determination of Muslim moderates to finally speak en masse, and to deny the extremists among them that the world will be able to shrug off the vile depredations of Islamist terrorists.
Labels: Political Realities, Religion, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, July 31, 2008
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