The Decline and Fall of Islam

The Canada Free Press ^ | October 20, 2003 | Alan Caruba

[quidnunc]

Islam is dying. In its death throes, it has turned not just on its perceived enemies, the modern world, but upon itself, killing with seeming indifference both Muslim and non-Muslim as it thrashes about, filling each day with new corpses, the last of which will be its own.

It took hundreds of years for the Roman Empire to be built and to come to an end. During that long period in the early history of Western civilization, the populations under its control throughout the Mediterranean and up into England were largely permitted to worship any of the many gods in local areas, although they were expected to also honor the state gods of Rome.

By 312 AD, the emperor Constantine began his ascendancy, attributing it to the God of the Christians and, in 325 AD, he called the Council of Nicaea, the first council of bishops to formalize a Christian creed. After that, Christianity, one of many faiths in the vast empire began its path toward becoming, not just the religion of the empire, but one that now numbers more than two billion people worldwide.

In 610 AD, Mohammed began to create Islam to gain control over the desert tribes of Arabia. He built his religion on the wealth acquired through raids on caravans and attacks on cities such as Medina and Mecca. Islam’s text, the Koran, was said to supercede both the Old and New Testaments, disputing the laws of Judaism and the divinity of Jesus.

Following Mohammed’s death in 632 AD, the religion, a warrior cult built around adoration of Mohammed, quickly spread throughout North Africa and into Spain. Today, Islam is estimated to have more than 1.2 billion adherents around the world, although most are largely located in the Middle East and Africa. There are some 31 million in Europe, more than 845 million throughout Asia, and 323 million in Africa. A little over a million are in South America and approximately 2.9 million in North America. It remains a distinctly "Arab" religion.

Islam has literally been at war with all other religions since its inception. It looks at the world as being divided between Islam and the world of the infidel, the unbeliever. The central prayer of Islam, the Kalima, spoken daily, states "There is no God by Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet." A militant religion. Mohammed said, "The sword is the key to Heaven and Hell." By contrast, six hundred years earlier, Jesus said, "He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword."

A Muslim’s first allegiance is to Islam. One’s nationality and other allegiances are secondary. In the latter half of the last century, Middle Eastern Arabs strove to establish a national identity and it proved a failure from its inception. In late October, 35 heads of state will gather for a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in an effort to achieve a unified voice for Islam and to try to offset perceptions that Islam is linked to the violence being perpetrated worldwide. Observers, however, note that the OIC is unified only in its support for the Palestinian attacks on Israel.

-snip-

[quidnunc]

Quote:

Most Westerners are unaware that Islam is unable to adapt, to change, and to evolve. These attributes have been the hallmarks of the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, Judaism, and of Christianity which experienced its own Reformation. Instead, Islam is locked into the dictates of the Koran and of the Hadith, a collection of observations based on the life of Mohammed whose rules dictate the most minute aspects of a Muslim’s life. The death of Islam was written into its birth.

Modern Islam (a contradiction in terms?) is in thrall to malign Muslim fanatics whose idea of utopia is drag the world down into a dystopian medieval hell where a latter-day Caliph will rule over a global theocracy in which every last man, woman and child on earth will be subject to the barbarities of Islamic Sharia law

[MarineDad]

The death of Islam was written into its birth.

Can't happen soon enough for me.

[2banana]

Islam, however, is the primary reason that the Middle East has long been a cesspool of ignorance, poverty, and oppression. Even Islamic scholars are beginning to openly warn that the path on which it has set itself can only lead to its predictable decline and end.

Just wait until Middle East countries actually start hearing the word of Jesus. There will be mass conversions no matter what the state law is and the islamic fundamentalists in power know this.

[freeangel]

The death of Islam and all of its fanatical adherents might be a nice thought. However, it happens to be the fastest growing religion in the U.S. according to Cond Rice from a program this weekend.

[Capt. Tom]

In late October, 35 heads of state will gather for a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in an effort to achieve a unified voice for Islam and to try to offset perceptions that Islam is linked to the violence being perpetrated worldwide.

Mission impossible. - tom

[EggsAckley]

IslamThe Democratic Party is dying. In its death throes, it has turned not just on its perceived enemies, the modern world, but upon itself, killing with seeming indifference both MuslimDemocrats and non-MuslimRepublicans as it thrashes about, filling each day with new corpses, the last of which will be its own.

I kinda like it THIS way!

BTW: love that word, dystopia.

[Wings-n-Wind]

Modern Islam (a contradiction in terms?) is in thrall to malign Muslim fanatics whose idea of utopia is drag the world down into a dystopian medieval hell where a latter-day Caliph will rule over a global theocracy in which every last man, woman and child on earth will be subject to the barbarities of Islamic Sharia law

You're always beating around the bush and trying to sugarcoat your feelings....
Just tell it like it is.... (/sarcasm off)

VERRRRYYYYY well said... thanks

Regards

[MarineDad]

Just sheer coincidence, no doubt. Folks just gotta stop believing their own lyin' eyes, that's all.

[I still care]

That's what happens when you have a state religion that allows you to kill people who even mention another faith, or who try to convert.

As the leader of Saudi Arabia proclaimed, "There will never be a church in Saudi Arabia". I'm not recommending it, but if we outlawed Islam here in America, and killed anyone who tried to convert, I would imagine it would stop growing too.

[Modernman]

Islam is reaching the point that communism reached in the 60's-70's. Unable to convince people of the rightness of its ideology, Islam is reduced to violence and swordpoint conversion, rather than conversion by convincing.

[princess leah]

I hope Mel Gibson's movie (due out next March) will be widely broadcast in Muslim nations! They need to hear the GOOD NEWS and be liberated from a religion of DEATH and destruction!

[RightWhale]

try to offset perceptions that Islam is linked to the violence being perpetrated worldwide

Kucinich ought to look at Islam while he is looking at native reparations. Islam owes a lot of reparations to everyone they have ever overrun. India, Africa, Byzantium, Iran, etc, on and on.

[WackyKat]

Islam is dying

Complacent foolishness. Islam is growing rapidly in Africa. Asia, and Europe. And it is becoming more fundamentalist, not more moderate.

Islam has been a serious threat to the West for 1300 years, and I think will be for the next 500, at least.

[tkathy]

Really good point, except Islam has been using violence to convert since its beginnings.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I don't believe Allah is the God of Abraham.

[untenured]

My impression is that the religion of Islam is growing very fast. This is particularly so, albeit from a very small base, in developed countries. Thorough evidence is practically nonexistent, but anecdotes suggest that conversions from Christianity to Islam, particularly in Europe, exceed conversions in the other direction. Perhaps the ostracism and punishment (including death) attaching in Muslim countries to conversion from Islam combined with a confidence that Islam is the natural culmination of monotheism makes Muslims largely uninterested in adopting other faiths. In addition, religion seems upon a casual glance a much bigger part of life in Muslim countries than in the Christian West, especially post-religious Europe, although the West is admittedly less and less the center of Christianity as time goes by.

The political creed of Islamism is another story, but the author seems to be making claims about Islam itself. If anyone has non-anecdotal evidence that the faith itself is dying or that people are leaving Islam itself in large numbers I would be interested to see it.

[cookcounty]

There's a free press in Canada? On this subject? I though this was **** speech!

[Thebaddog]

I don't really see the basis for the writer's assertion of the fatal flaws of Islam. And where are the signs of it's demise?

Don't get me wrong, I oppose them. But I want to make rational assertions and reach logical conclusions that will realize the demise of the religion that wants to kill me.

[machman]

Islam is reaching the point that communism reached in the 60's-70's. Unable to convince people of the rightness of its ideology, Islam is reduced to violence and swordpoint conversion, rather than conversion by convincing.

Reduced to violence? Can you show me where in history they have not used the swordpoint and instead even tried "convincing".