Terribly ignorant article. Islam cannot exist without Mecca. Should Mecca be destroyed Islam would need to be reinvented and its religious rites and pilgrimage transferred to Medina. Then if Medina were likewise destroyed, that new version of Islam would cease to exist, and Islam would be reinvented and its religious rites like Hejira would be directed to Jerusalem.
Islam is a "holy place" religion. It is not at all like global Christianity or post-Second Temple Judaism which can function well with only a symbolic or metaphorical reference to the Holy Land and Jerusalem.
Every good Muslim who can MUST go to Mecca. So the precepts of the religion are fundamentally different from contemporary Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, etc, and the bombing, nuclear or otherwise, would be a devastating blow to Islam's core identity.
As I outlined, there would be leaders and scholars who would transfer devotions to Medina, but this would not be universal and Islam would fracture into a wide variety of smaller sects some more spiritualised, some built on exacting blood revenge by eliminating all Americans.
Terribly ignorant article. Islam cannot exist without Mecca. Should Mecca be destroyed Islam would need to be reinvented and its religious rites and pilgrimage transferred to Medina. Then if Medina were likewise destroyed, that new version of Islam would cease to exist, and Islam would be reinvented and its religious rites like Hejira would be directed to Jerusalem. Islam is a "holy place" religion. It is not at all like global Christianity or post-Second Temple Judaism which can function well with only a symbolic or metaphorical reference to the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Every good Muslim who can MUST go to Mecca. So the precepts of the religion are fundamentally different from contemporary Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, etc, and the bombing, nuclear or otherwise, would be a devastating blow to Islam's core identity. As I outlined, there would be leaders and scholars who would transfer devotions to Medina, but this would not be universal and Islam would fracture into a wide variety of smaller sects some more spiritualised, some built on exacting blood revenge by eliminating all Americans.Yes, that's exactly what I've been trying to get across to posters for the past hour or so on this thread. It's just too politically incorrect for some people to handle.
But the hand-wringers have no reason to fear. Mecca will never be touched by America. We're too weak to do what is required to win this war.