Posted on 09/08/2004 5:43:45 AM PDT by LTCJ
... With me now to take a closer look at Muslim reaction to Beslan, Fouad Ajami, director of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University.
...
ZAHN: Let me pose that question.
...
ZAHN: Is there something fundamentally wrong with Muslim society that continues to spawn these terrorists?
AJAMI: Well, I think this is a question that's haunting ordinary Muslims. ... Ben Wedeman has done a good job giving you a sense of the responses in the Muslim world.
And there was this editorial in one of the leading papers in the Arab world, "Al Asharq Al-Awsat," where a very thoughtful Saudi commentator basically probed the question that you have put forth. Is there something wrong in the modern condition of Islam today? Is there something wrong in the Arab world itself?
ZAHN: Is there?
AJAMI: And I think there is something ... the one answer is to say, Islam is innocent of all this. The other answer is to say, well, look, we have to look very carefully at the conditions of modern Muslims today.
And that's what Sam Huntington once said when he described what he called the bloody borders of the Islamic world, that wherever Islam rubs up against other civilizations, there seems to be trouble. There is something problematic in the Muslim world today, which is the rise of these new preachers. They're not religious. They're actually terrorists...
unless Muslims, mainstream Muslims, ordinary Muslims, establishment Muslims, scholars, rulers, intellectuals and journalists, reclaim the faith, this faith, it has become an instrument of radicalism.
ZAHN: But what evidence have you seen that would suggest that any of those subsets you're talking about are willing to do that? ...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Basically Muhammed is an early day version of L. Ron Hubbard.
Excellent interview indeed, for having asked the right question, and for supplying the right answer. As the guest said, the answer must come from within the Muslim community. Only they can decide the true nature of their religion and ethnic beliefs. Indeed, my Christian belief is that the redeeming purpose of the current distress we are in is to bring Light to a people who walk in darkness.
Quran 9:29 Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender, paying the protective tax in submission.
Quran 8:39 Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.
No they don't. They are typical schoolyard bullies trying to steal milk money. The stakes are much higher in the big yard though, and they really do not want to loose their meal tickets.
Yes.
Well...yes, now that you mentioned it.
But being Moon God worshipers and followers of a baby-raping pedophile shouldn't matter, right?
This is a war between civilization and animals that walk on two legs.
No it's not. Muslims do not think about it. That is the job of their Imam. Muslims simply do what the Imam says. On many issues they simply do not think for themselves.
The best place to learn about the REAL Islam is Ask the Imam. This site (no, it is not a joke site) should be required reading by every American. (note that it looks like part of the site is down this AM. Just read the main page.)
One of the more interesting things about Islam is the "zakat". Which is money each Muslim must give based on what they have. There is a whole list of things the money can be used for. The main thing being to help the "poor". Maybe this happens. Maybe not. But if you read enough about Islam you will see that not only does it have multi-level marketing techniques built in to it but also it's own taxation and financial services aspects.
For example, buying insurance is taboo. But the "zakat" can cover things that insurance might have. The person (amil) or person collecting the zakat get paid from what they collect. Interesting, huh?
So, each Mosque is basically a money-making franchise. No big deal. Not unlike some other religions. But, since the zakat is mandatory the more Muslims the more cash!
Whoever thought up Islam came up with a structure that once it gets a foothold in any territory and is left unchecked it will grow like a fungus. Covering up and replacing whatever it touches.
I have done all within my power to avoid L. Ron Hubbard and his "teachings".
Therefore, I cannot comment on the veracity of your observation.
However, if you claim that L. Ron and Muhammad have acted in a similar manner, I have no reason to dispute you.
Well, in a relative manner of speaking, perhaps. Its just that it is fundamentally antithetical to Western Civilization and all that we hold to be right. So, from my point of view, yes, there is something fundamentally wrong with Muslim Society.
These Islamic Warriors are indeed cowards and bullies who wont even show their faces and hide in Holy Sites to escape the just retribution of the civilization they attack.
(Actually, they kind of remind me of democrats in the sense that they can be as abusive as they please, but woe unto you should you fight back!)
At any rate, the enemy is plain for anyone to see . . . what will they have to do to us before we acknowledge the fact that they are the committed and unrepentant force of evil that they daily demonstrate themselves to be?
To a point:
The unspoken corollary to this, which needs to be made explicit by the West, is that unless the Muslims weed the radicals out of their faith, the West will HAVE to assume ALL Muslims are (at least sympathetic to the) radicals.
The consequences of the West being unable to distinguish between "good" Muslims who do not seek to destroy the West and "bad" Muslims will be disasterous for ALL Muslims: the West will be forced to choose between being defeated and working on the assumption, to paraphrase General Philip Sheridan: The only good Muslims I ever saw were dead.
We'll never see that.
Here in the West, our leaders
are businessmen and
lawyers. Our leaders
primarily believe in
deals. It's no matter
who those deals are with.
(Sadr's alive and kicking.)
The only thing here
continued terror
will accomplish is pushing
our leaders into
more convoluted
bargaining situations.
All we have is prayer.
Excellent points, all. I do believe, however, that at some point (and I do fear the horror of the act(s) to be perpetrated) The People will have had enough and elect leaders who will fight back. To believe otherwise would be to give up and I havent reached that point, yet (I have children).
My friend, IMHO I believe you have hit the nail square on the head. There is no Pontiff in the religion of Islam. There is no official, and officially recognized, Islamic Curia. Lacking these things, there is no official intrupration of the Koran, no set rules, rulings, instructions, etc. for clerics to follow, to direct their flock, etc. Say what you will about the RCC but as far as human nature would allow it kept everyone playing in the same key. With Islam you do not have this.
If the RCC is a ladder, Islam is a tumbleweed. It branches off in a hundred directions and having no roots [meaning a Curia with both precedence and permanence] it is either free or doomed, depending on your point of view, to roll where ever and whenever.
dfwgator wrote:
Basically Muhammed is an early day version of L. Ron Hubbard.
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