Neo-Americanism and the Quran Neo-Americanism and the Quran

When asked about the Quran, surprisingly, most Americans were like the young store clerk who replied, "North or South Korea?" After years of involvement in the Middle East, and more recently initiating and fighting two major wars in Afghanistan and Iraq-predominantly two Muslim countries, I assumed Americans would have a lot to say about the Quran, or Islam's holy book. I was wrong! On main streets and at convenient and department stores, and even in churches, when asked what they knew and thought of the Quran, the majority of Americans claimed they had never heard of it. Neither did they know it contained the words of Prophet Mohammad and is sacred to 1.5 billion Muslims.

So I narrowed my interviews and selected people who kept abreast of news and world events. A fellow educator shared how even though he had heard a lot of propaganda in the news media and at church about the Quran, he thought it was a book of goodwill and compassion. A police officer thoughtfully said the Quran had a legitimate place in the world, and he respected the fact that it promoted a belief in one God. He also believed the Quran was a book about love and mercy. A farmer told me he believed the Quran meant the same to Muslims as the Bible means to Christians, and their views should be respected.

One religious fundamentalist thought the Quran was an evil book that caused wars. Others alleged Islam was a false religion and the Prophet Mohammad plagiarized the Quranic scriptures by using the Old and New Testaments. One individual claimed she had no problem with the Quran, but was troubled by the Wahhabi interpretation as practiced by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other extreme sects. She believed Wahhabism was not only a belief adhered to by the ruling family in Saudi Arabia, but its followers funded the hatred of women and a violent belief system. She added, though, that just like the Spanish Inquisition did not resemble Jesus, Wahhabism does not reflect Prophet Mohammad's life.

After interviewing many people on their views of the Quran, and after realizing that very few knew of what the Quran and Islam were, I realized that perhaps the problem might be Neo-Americanism. Unlike Americanization-which tried to assimilate newly arrived immigrants by teaching them English, history, and the responsibility of citizenship, and unlike Americanism-which became a new religion to militarily spread American civilization and its monopolistic values around the world, Neo-Americanism is only about "me" and my needs and wants. It consists of the latest fashions, music, foods, movies, and sports teams. It is apolitical in nature. Its adherents are unfortunately historically illiterate.

It is concerned only with the materialistic present and the values of entertainment and of Corporate America. It is a system that redefines purpose and meaning. When internalized, Neo-Americanism censors out all other ideas, including other faiths and others histories. In other words, there is no meaning outside of consumerism, materialism, and a corporate culture that regulates thinking and behavior. History, politics, religion, philosophy, and the quest for God and truth, are crowded out. Even on college campuses, when I asked students about the Quran, they said they never heard of it. After explaining the Quran and Islam, they claimed their professors did not teach such things. Their entire view and knowledge of the current Middle East consisted of: "It was a mess. Why bother!"

Ironically, I just purchased a used book: The Dictionary Of Cultural Literacy, What Every American Needs To Know. It was a national best-seller and claimed to define fundamental information everyone needs to know. The first chapter under Contents is The Bible (pages 1-26). The Quran is not mentioned until page 95 in the World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion section. This is what it says: "The sacred book of Islam, Moslems believe that the teachings of the Koran were revealed by God to the Prophet Mohammad." On the same, and adjoining, pages, Jehovah Witnesses, Judaism, Juggernaut, justification by grace through faith, Franz Kafka, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard, King James Bible, and kosher, have much larger and more informative articles.

The Mapping Global Muslim Population has revealed that one in four people practice Islam. Americans had better start taking notice of the Quran. They had better understand how Prophet Mohammad ended centuries of retaliation, and how the Quran promoted highly advanced Islamic civilizations which have enriched the world. They had better recognize how the Quran has improved human rights, just laws, a better understanding between men and women, and the concept of ummah, or the global community of all Muslim believers. They had better realize too that just like Jews and Christians, there are some in Islam who impose their own militant and sexist views on scripture. And finally, Americans had better learn to tolerate devout religious devotion and the sacred belief of others, instead of trying to militarily force its brand of secular individualism and corporate hubris-which is teetering on the brink of irresponsibility and mayhem-onto others.

I have to say, why am I shocked when this is what folks are writing about after the tragic events of Ft Hood.

I will be interested what other freepers think of this but I can say without reservation the following has angered beyond all words to say "they had better" in the final paragraph of this opinion propaganda, but hey he did put his email at the end!!--FMC

People are scared to admit to frightening, uncomfortable truths.

The Al Gores of the world make movies about "An Inconvenient Truth," when the reality is that he is pushing a very, very convenient "truth"--the point of view of that movie has made him a millionaire many times over.

A TRULY inconvenient truth would be that he profits from "global warming," and if he found facts that showed it didn't exist, THAT would he VERY inconvenient...so he of course ignores all evidence pointing to that.

Similarly, it is scary, terrifying to see the piles of evidence that this is a religion incompatible with this nation's founding principles BUT we are currently being run by people who live not on logic but strongly-held EMOTIONAL "TRUTHS". They JUST KNOW we're "all alike under the skin". (A ludicrous position for the multiculturalists--if we are all alike under the skin, then what they believe in is the exact opposite of "multiculturalism".) So they live as if their beliefs are the same as facts. Just look at their legislative actions this year--they KNOW they're doing the right thing, and so they enact these things which are killing the economy because they so, so SO believe they are good. All evidence to the contrary be damned.

So we have people denying that a man who called suicide bombers heroes and who shot unarmed American soldiers while shouting "Alley Alley Akbar Free!" or whatever is a terrorist.

If I were a Muslim, I would be secure in the knowledge of one thing about America--if push came to shove, the Americans wouldn't take up arms to stop the implementation of sharia law. They'd argue about it, they may even deny it in the courts. But they'll do anything to avoid an armed conflict with a group with over a billion members because that group isn't just out there, it's right next door.

We won't have the stomach for what might ultimately have to be done until it gets to the point where there will be no controls, just unleashed horror. The Muslims will push us, and push us, and push us, and they are far more patient than we ever could be. They know that they now have a better foothold in America than they did 50 years ago, and 50 years from now they'll have a better one, and 100 or 200 years from now, incrementally, they will win.

“They had better understand how Prophet Mohammad ended centuries of retaliation, and how the Quran promoted highly advanced Islamic civilizations which have enriched the world. They had better recognize how the Quran has improved human rights, just laws, a better understanding between men and women, and the concept of ummah, or the global community of all Muslim believers.”

Uh, sure buddy. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I look at countries like Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Syria... NOT!

From the website “Islam, what the west needs to know” (the movie is available on NetFlix) -

“Main Idea
Virtually every major Western leader has over the past several years expressed the view that Islam is a peaceful religion and that those who commit violence in its name are fanatics who misinterpret its tenets. This claim, while widely circulated, rarely attracts serious public examination. Relying primarily on Islam’s own sources, this documentary demonstrates that Islam is a violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the destruction or subjugation of other faiths, cultures, and systems of government.

Content
The documentary consists of original interviews, citations from Islamic texts, Islamic artwork, computer-animated maps, footage of Western leaders, and Islamic television broadcasts. Its tone is sober, methodical, and compelling.

Outline of the Documentary

Introduction
We hear from prominent Western leaders that Islam is peaceful and that those who commit violence in its name are heterodox fanatics.

Part 1: ‘There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet’
Our interviewees affirm their belief that Islamic violence is entirely orthodox behavior for Muslims and stems directly from the teachings and example of the Prophet Muhammad and the commands of the Koran. We learn that the example of Muhammad is one of a violent warlord who killed numerous people. The Koran – the verbatim words of Allah – prescribes violence against non-Muslims and Muhammad is the perfect example of the Koran in action.

Part 2: The Struggle
We learn that jihad, while literally meaning ‘struggle’, in fact denotes war fought against non-Muslims in order to bring the rule of Islamic law to the world. Violent death in jihad is, according to the Koran, the only assurance of salvation. One of our interviewees tells of his personal involvement in terrorism and his leaving Islam.

Part 3: Expansion
Following the death of Muhammad, his ‘rightly-guided’ successors carried his wars to three continents, fighting, enslaving, and massacring countless Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, and others. Islam did not spread through evangelism or through its natural appeal, but through aggressive wars of conquest. The Crusades were largely a belated response on the part of Christian Europe to rescue Christians in the Holy Land suffering under Muslim oppression. The Muslim world today, while no longer the unified empire of the Caliphs, is exceptional for being responsible for the vast majority of conflicts around the world and for almost all of international terrorism.

Part 4: ‘War is Deceit’
A great problem with Western efforts to understand Islam is due to the Islamic principle of ‘religious deception’, which enjoins Muslims to deceive non-Muslims in order to advance the cause of Islam. Muslim groups today in the West employ deception and omission to give the impression that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’, an utter fiction.

Part 5: More than a Religion
The most important characteristic of Islam not understood by the West is that it is more a system of government than a personal religion. Throughout its history, Islam has never recognized a distinction between the religious and the secular/political. Islamic law governs every aspect of religious, political, and personal action, which amounts to a form of totalitarianism that is divinely enjoined to dominate the world, analogous in many ways to Communism.

Part 6: The House of War
Islamic theology divides the world into two spheres locked in perpetual combat, dar al-Islam (House of Islam - where Islamic law predominates), and dar al-harb (House of War - the rest of the world). It is incumbent on dar al-Islam to fight and conquer dar al-harb and permanently assimilate it. Muslims in Western nations are called to subvert the secular regimes in which they now live in accordance with Allah’s command. Due to political correctness and general government and media irresponsibility, the danger posed by observant Muslims in the West remains largely unappreciated.”

The most revealing item in the movie was the principle of naskh. In his book Islam and Terrorism, Dr. Mark Gabriel described naskh in this way, “Naskh is based on the fact that the Quran was revealed to Muhammad at different times over a period of about twenty-two years. Some parts of the Quran came later, and some parts came earlier. To solve a contradiction, they [Islamic scholars] decided that new revelations would override (nasikh) previous revelations.”

The writings which were written earlier in the Quran were more peaceful, but all the jihad crap is later, and supersedes the earlier writings. The movie points out that to add to the general confusion the Quran is not laid out chronologically. Watch the movie and draw your own conclusions. After watching it I have researched the material from other sources, and have confirmed their findings. It is sad to watch our country’s leaders falling for the lies of Islam.

The Mapping Global Muslim Population has revealed that one in four people practice Islam.

A considerable exaggeration.

Americans had better start taking notice of the Quran.

Quite true. It is always wise to know thy enemy.

They had better understand how Prophet Mohammad ended centuries of retaliation, and how the Quran promoted highly advanced Islamic civilizations which have enriched the world.

Accurate historically. However, Islam has done remarkably little to enrich the world in the last 500 years or so.

They had better recognize how the Quran has improved human rights, just laws

Again, somewhat accurate historically. The Koran and Islam were an improvement over what existed previously. The problem is that what was an improvement in the 7th centuty is not an improvement today, it's a considerable decline.

a better understanding between men and women

Yet again, Islam improved the condition of Arab women over their previous condition. Also that in many of the conquered lands. The problem is that this isn't saying much.

and the concept of ummah, or the global community of all Muslim believers.

This is one of the more admirable teachings of Islam. Of course, it has never prevented them from fighting horrific wars, slaughtering other Muslims.

They had better realize too that just like Jews and Christians, there are some in Islam who impose their own militant and sexist views on scripture.

Quite true. When they start blowing up other people to express this belief, I'll come after them too.

And finally, Americans had better learn to tolerate devout religious devotion and the sacred belief of others, instead of trying to militarily force its brand of secular individualism and corporate hubris-which is teetering on the brink of irresponsibility and mayhem-onto others.

No one is forced to adopt "Americanism" in this sense. Most people given the chance seem to go for it voluntarily. The author probably means certain groups around the world should be forced not to buy into it.

We should also admit that while there is much in this type of Americanism that is less than admirable, Islam, particularly in its virulent extremist forms, is not a good alternative.

All told, a rather strange article. A reasonably good although somewhat inarticulate critique of Western civilization. Until the last paragraph which turns somewhat threatening.

They had better recognize how the Quran has improved human rights, just laws, a better understanding between men and women, and the concept of ummah, or the global community of all Muslim believers. They had better realize too that just like Jews and Christians, there are some in Islam who impose their own militant and sexist views on scripture. And finally, Americans had better learn to tolerate devout religious devotion and the sacred belief of others, instead of trying to militarily force its brand of secular individualism and corporate hubris-which is teetering on the brink of irresponsibility and mayhem-onto others.

First of all, where is the "BARF ALERT?"

Secondly, is the Commander-in-Least, DEAR LEADER, posting under the pseudonym Dallas-darling?

The first part while informative and nothing we who have made an effort to educate ourselves about the "Religion of Peace" are not aware of, is completely overshadowed by the last par quoted above.

I could care less who the author is, but obviously someone who wants to paint a different picture of what Islam is, has been for 1,400 years and continues to adhere to for it's followers.

the Quran has improved human rights, just laws, a better understanding between men and women

Say what???

I wish the author like so many apologist and pseudo-intellectuals who want to pass themselves off as students of Islam, the Q'uran, Hadith and Sura would be so kind as to give us a few examples, of WHEN these magnificent gestures and advancements took place, cuz I have yet to see one in the last 13 Centuries.

On the other hand, I can cite HUNDREDS of the opposite, which occur daily throughout the world (including here in the US) to dispute and overcome these false assumptions.

“I wish the author like so many apologist and pseudo-intellectuals who want to pass themselves off as students of Islam, the Q’uran, Hadith and Sura would be so kind as to give us a few examples, of WHEN these magnificent gestures and advancements took place, cuz I have yet to see one in the last 13 Centuries.”

Before islam, there was Amalek. Same everything.

Gen. 14:7 (which refers to the “land of the Amalekites”) is said to mean that the Amalekites existed as early as the time of Abraham, in the region that would later become the Roman province of Arabia Petraea.

This view corroborates Nachmanides’ claim of an origin for the Amalekites earlier than Esau’s grandson. However, the passage in question does not require this interpretation as it may be referring to the region by a name from a later era.

The Arab historian Abu al-Hasan citing ‘traditional’ Arab history, relates that the Amalekites did indeed exist at this early period having originated in the region of Mecca before the time of Abraham.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.