Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

So You Want a Holy War? (William F. Buckley Jr.)
National Review Online ^ | October 02, 2001 | William F. Buckley Jr.

Posted on 10/02/2001 1:07:50 PM PDT by Drew68

So You Want a Holy War? We have now Islam to deal with. October 2, 2001 1:25 p.m. hatever is or is not authentic transcription of Islamic dogma, we do know that the people who ran the airliners into the World Trade Center believed that a Koranic voice was telling them to do what they did. We have the four-page document that told them not only what to do, but what to think. "Kill them, as God said; No Prophet can have prisoners of war."

They would not cavil, their clerical dispatcher knew, but even so there was a reiteration of the sacradeness of their mission. "Recognize...what God has prepared for believers in endless happiness for martyrs.... Be steadfast and remember [that in] God you will be triumphant."

Here is a strategic suggestion from the Western high command. Declare in full voice that Islam is widely profaned and mistaught. That if it isn't — if the Koranic high exegetes are paralyzed with doubt whether such as the Ladenites are true to their faith — then the faith being practiced must be disavowed by the legitimists. Say as much and say also that the Western world is prepared to denominate the imposters as such and to call for a restoration of a Muslim religion consistent with civilized conduct.

We have done such a thing in the political world. Without using the language of excommunication as such, what we got around to doing in the postwar world was to exclude Communism as an acceptable model for the organization of political life. We did this because, by our experience with Communism in practice and by the exercise of reason, we judged it incompatible with irreversible advances in human behavior. When finally the United States abolished slavery, the word went out: No more. No Christianity cum slavery. One or the other.

We have now Islam to deal with. We do not need to make the point that its political and economic record is miserable, that only one of 18 Muslim states (Turkey) is democratically governed. There are those who are willing to advertise the individual hypocrisies. A spokesman from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, while calling on his faithful to overthrow the government of Pakistan for the sin of maintaining equable relations with the United States, sends his own two sons to the United States to school. The Taliban has taken unmarried women detected in pregnancy and buried them to neck level before execution. Where is Islamic condemnation of such practices? For that matter, where is condemnation of Saudis chopping pickpockets' hands off?

We read of the mobs in Karachi who denounce the United States and flaunt signs that call out to "CRUSH AMERICA." In a pinch, we have to gamble. Perhaps human nature isn't reliably self-interested enough to prefer liberal democracy to protracted tyrannical misery. But we have to hope that the raw instinct is there to welcome relief. There were Kuwaitis who prostrated themselves with gratitude to liberating GIs, even as there are millions of Afghans who flee the wretched world of their Muslim oppressors where they have been kept alive by American food shipments to Afghanistan and bank now on American food shipped to Pakistan, where they will reasonably hope that before America is entirely CRUSHED we will have stored enough food for them and their children.

It is thought to be a sign of toleration to defer to Islam as simply another religion. It isn't that. It is a form of condescension. Carefully selected, there are Koranic preachments that are consistent with civilized life. But on September 11th we were looked in the face by a deed done by Muslims who understood themselves to be acting out Muslim ideals. It is all very well for individual Muslim spokesmen to assert the misjudgment of the terrorist, but the Islamic world is substantially made up of countries that ignore, or countenance, or support terrorist activity. Mustafa Kamal Uddin, a 32-year-old body-and-fender man in Karachi, explained it to a New York Times reporter. You see, he said, holy wars come about only when Allah has no other way to maintain justice, times like now. "That is why Allah took out his sword" on September 11th.

We demand to know: Who taught Mustafa Kamal Uddin to reason in that way, and the crowds in Karachi to support such thinking? Pending an answer to the question, and the unmistakable assumption by reputable Muslims of the responsibility to extirpate such misteaching, renounce modern Islam. Either restore the proper Allah — or get ready for a holy war.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-114 next last
To: Kalashnikov_68
We keep calling Islamism a religion...it is a cult and Ann Coulter was essentially correct about "convert them to Christianity", except that she should have said "de-program them from their Cult of Islam teachings". She is correct also that RADICAL action is needed. Addditionally, the Islamic children have been taught from birth the "principles of Islam". What happens when we free them...who will de-program the children. Will my youngest children face a world where this fight has to be waged in a more horrific way than it would be today?

btw, I've been in a cult and feel somewhat qualified to know the signs: isolation, deprivation, contradictoy teachings, having others tell you what "God" says you should do, having leaders who set themselves up as virtual gods...Do these people see Osama bin Laden heading out to die a martyrs death while he tells them it is the greatest thing? Once under the spell of the great deceiver a person is blind to truth, reason, and even simple logic.

21 posted on 10/02/2001 1:48:39 PM PDT by thunderdome
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
Excellent piece! Thanks for posting it.
22 posted on 10/02/2001 1:51:00 PM PDT by B Knotts
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: Kalashnikov_68
It is thought to be a sign of toleration to defer to Islam as simply another religion. It isn't that. It is a form of condescension. Carefully selected, there are Koranic preachments that are consistent with civilized life. But on September 11th we were looked in the face by a deed done by Muslims who understood themselves to be acting out Muslim ideals. It is all very well for individual Muslim spokesmen to assert the misjudgment of the terrorist, but the Islamic world is substantially made up of countries that ignore, or countenance, or support terrorist activity. Mustafa Kamal Uddin, a 32-year-old body-and-fender man in Karachi, explained it to a New York Times reporter. You see, he said, holy wars come about only when Allah has no other way to maintain justice, times like now. "That is why Allah took out his sword" on September 11th. We demand to know: Who taught Mustafa Kamal Uddin to reason in that way, and the crowds in Karachi to support such thinking? Pending an answer to the question, and the unmistakable assumption by reputable Muslims of the responsibility to extirpate such misteaching, renounce modern Islam. Either restore the proper Allah — or get ready for a holy war.

In short, if bin Laden is teaching falsely then why don't mullahs get up as a BODY and say so. If they remain silen, then we will assume that silence implies that thay consent to Bin Lden's teachings.

24 posted on 10/02/2001 1:54:34 PM PDT by RobbyS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
"In a pinch, we have to gamble. Perhaps human nature isn't reliably self-interested enough to prefer liberal democracy to protracted tyrannical misery. But we have to hope that the raw instinct is there to welcome relief."

This sums it up. Let's Roll.

25 posted on 10/02/2001 1:57:59 PM PDT by bigdog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wardaddy; KarlH
"Believing my lying eyes" is a phrase that has crossed my mind quite a bit recently. I've also been reading up on Islam in light of everything. It just isn't a religion (or political movement if you like) that I can tolerate in it's current form. It is wholly uncivilized, barbaric and counterproductive. The Taliban and their Wahabi version of Islam make the Dark Ages look like Star Trek.

Yet, if someone points this out (even here on FR) they are accused of "intolerance". Many threads have been yanked because posters aren't as articulate as Buckley while saying the same thing. To ask me to tolerate a religion whose main tenant is the eradication of Western culture under the guise of "diversity" is preposterous! It would be akin to asking of the Jews to accept Nazism as an "alternative political lifestyle".

And yet the "99% of moslems are peaceful American-loving people" crowd continue guide the debate. All I ask is where is the evidence? Where is one photo of a pro-American demonstration in a moslem (or Western) country? I've begun to doubt the existence of such.

I hope this reply isn't a thread-killer.

26 posted on 10/02/2001 1:58:44 PM PDT by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
This is the best article I've seen from NRO on the subject. Buckley is one of the few that has the guts to at least ask the question "Is Islam itself the problem?" Now all Buckley has to do is offer some suggestions as to what we should do if the answer is in the affirmative.
27 posted on 10/02/2001 1:59:32 PM PDT by independentmind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibertarianLiz
ping!

You posted a link to this article on another thread. I read it and thought it might be a good article to post here.

28 posted on 10/02/2001 2:02:24 PM PDT by Drew68
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: Kalashnikov_68 dennisw TheOtherOne Lazamataz Oneidam Maewest constitutiongirl Veronica Dog Gone LBGA
BUMP!
30 posted on 10/02/2001 2:08:11 PM PDT by Cool Guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: independentmind
"Now all Buckley has to do is offer some suggestions as to what we should do if the answer is in the affirmative."

Well, it's not Buckley, but I think NRO has already made a suggestion:

Relentlessly and Thoroughly: The Only Way to Respond

31 posted on 10/02/2001 2:09:13 PM PDT by browardchad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
What few Muslims who have actually spoken against the slaughter of thousands of innocents on 9/11 have used very mild denouncements.

Only non-Muslims have used words such as savage, mass-murder, barbarians and uncivilized. I guess the general view of the so-called moderate Muslim is that the terrorists "just got a little carried away!" in their faith.

How can we ask a Saudi Arabian government to denounce the savagery of the WTC attack when they cut off the hands of thieves?

We have to face the brutal truth. Islam teaches that only Muslims are on Allah's side. Anyone not a Muslim is not just morally inferior but the ENEMY OF GOD. God, in their view has no problem with his faithful, the Muslims, slaying the unfaithful (everyone else). From their perspective, killing a Muslim is wrong. Killing Jews and Christians, by contrast, is simply ridding the world of the unfaithful.

32 posted on 10/02/2001 2:10:25 PM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gracey attagirl Bryan JohnHuang2 CathyRyan dead beowolf Ymani Cricket Hillary 666 Nita Nupress Basil
BUMP!
33 posted on 10/02/2001 2:10:48 PM PDT by Cool Guy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
As I've posted before, I've been thumbing through the Koran (which means "RECITE"). It's a control-freak religion. The mistake is to assume your notion of God is the same as theirs. It is not. It is very different, very dark.
34 posted on 10/02/2001 2:15:28 PM PDT by lds23
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #35 Removed by Moderator

To: GottliebBerger
I'd like to see some citation for the statement you're attributing to WFB. I have a hard time believing that he said that he'd self-describe himself as a socialist.
36 posted on 10/02/2001 2:17:40 PM PDT by AZPubbie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
Quote from Buckley:

He [Cassius Clay] became a Black Muslim, which is a pseudo-religion for unbright neurotics who feel the need to hate all white people.

37 posted on 10/02/2001 2:17:46 PM PDT by That Poppins Woman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
We have now Islam to deal with. We do not need to make the point that its political and economic record is miserable, that only one of 18 Muslim states (Turkey) is democratically governed. There are those who are willing to advertise the individual hypocrisies. A spokesman from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party, while calling on his faithful to overthrow the government of Pakistan for the sin of maintaining equable relations with the United States, sends his own two sons to the United States to school. The Taliban has taken unmarried women detected in pregnancy and buried them to neck level before execution. Where is Islamic condemnation of such practices? For that matter, where is condemnation of Saudis chopping pickpockets' hands off?

Exactly right! Where is Islamic condemnation of thousands upon thousands of Christians who have been first converted to Islam, and then sexually mutilated with kitchen knives and razor blades to make them conform to Muslim standards? Where is Islamic condemnation for the murder, terror, torture and subjugation of non-Muslims to convert to Islam? Where is Islamic condemnation of Muslims' violence and savage killing of their neighbors to advance their cause of global conversion?

38 posted on 10/02/2001 2:17:50 PM PDT by Victoria Delsoul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
How can we ask a Saudi Arabian government to denounce the savagery of the WTC attack when they cut off the hands of thieves?

Well, it's arguable that that is the law of their land (Wahhabi (extremist) Islam) so how they treat convicted thieves is their business. Don't like it? Don't go there. But their beliefs belong within THEIR borders. When they infringe upon the rights of those in other countries, they're destined for a slapdown.

You know and I know that the vast majority of people in Muslim states would ultimately be better off as citizens of a democratic state with elected officials, but that's unlikely.

Regarding punishment for crime, again, I don't think Canada should be able to decide that since the death penalty in the US is "extreme" that we shouldn't be allowed to employ it.

39 posted on 10/02/2001 2:18:01 PM PDT by TheFilter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Kalashnikov_68
Will Islam renounce the Code of Omar?
40 posted on 10/02/2001 2:18:39 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-114 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson