Unhappy Muslims
By Alan
Caruba
I hear from a lot of
unhappy Muslims these days. Most are unhappy with the views I express
about Islam and some are unhappy about the way good or “moderate”
Muslims are painted with the same brush as those who regularly show up
on television in ski masks, preparing to behead some poor soul or just
“celebrating” some new carnage in the streets by shooting off their
guns.
Of late, the headlines
have been filled with news of the barbarism being perpetrated in the
name of Islam. Russian children on their first day back to school are
taken hostage along with parents and teachers. Earlier, two Russian
passenger jets had been blown up. Also in Russia, a female Jihadist blew
herself and ten others at a subway station. In Iraq, French journalists
were taken hostage by way of forcing their government to change a law
forbidding any outward displays of any religion. Even some Muslim groups
denounced that. In Israel, a Palestinian “martyr” killed two
busloads of passengers.
In short, the sole
source of the murderous attacks on civilians around the world in just
the passed few weeks was done by Muslims, Muslims, and Muslims.
The images and the news
out of the Middle East are, I suspect, baffling to most Americans and,
in particular, so is the religion claimed by 1.3 billion Muslims around
the world.
There are certain
factors common to the correspondence I receive from Muslims. One is
their absolute certitude that Islam is the one, truth faith and,
presumably, that all people should convert to Islam. Concomitant with
that is a moral and, sometimes, intellectual arrogance that obliquely
suggests they are dealing with me as someone who is inferior to their
grasp of history and religion. Lastly, despite statements to the
contrary, there is a deep contempt for Christianity, Judaism, and any
other faith.
Among those Muslims who
write to me are those who sincerely urge me to learn Arabic in order to
read the Koran in the original language Allah passed it along to
Mohammed. Yeah, sure. I will do this right after I learn Latin and Greek
to read the early texts of the Roman Catholic Church or Hebrew to read
the Torah. Life is short. Use a decent translation.
However, the notion
that the Koran can only be fully appreciated when read in Arabic is an
example of how central to the Arab culture it is and how well it
reflects it. While worshipped now around the world, Islam offers the
views of a seventh century Arab, Mohammed, on the way personal and other
affairs should be conducted. Everything from the direction in which to
spit to the belief that Islam is the only acceptable form of government
can found in the Koran or its interpretation known as the Haddith.
The Koran is
Arab-centric and, despite the fact that Arabs haven’t enjoyed any
success in the world since being driven out of Europe in the late 1600s,
its worldwide adherents are convinced Islam is due for a big come-back.
The problem is that
they believe world domination can only be achieved through a holy war, a
Jihad. Central to that war is the overthrow of the United States of
America, a predominately Christian nation. The people who write to me
offer plenty of examples of animus toward America, Israel and the West
in general.
There is no denying
that I do find fault with a religion that is the basis for acts of
aggression against the United States, its allies, and anyone else
including Muslims. A look at the recent history of Islam reveals it was
the excuse used to slaughter thousands of people in Algeria. It is the
cause of further slaughter and starvation in the Sudan and it provokes
Muslim Africans to slaughter Christians. In India, it has never ceased
to be a cause for strife. Take away Islam and this history of
bloodletting would not have been cited.
The US has been
subjected to a long series of attacks going back to the 1970s and the
final wake-up call, 9-11. I frankly could care less about battles fought
long ago by either Christianity or in ancient Jewish history. Watching
the Twin Towers collapse was sufficient for me to focus on what new,
fresh hell some devout Muslims have in mind for us.
Some Muslims who write
to me adopt the tone of pity. It seems I am just too ignorant to
understand what a peaceful religion Islam truly is. Moreover, I don’t
seem to understand the differences between Shi’ites and Sunnis. And
furthermore don’t I understand that neither Saddam’s Iraq, nor the
current dictatorship in Syria, are Muslim because it was the Ba’ath
Party that was or is in charge. These are, apparently, very bad Muslims
who prefer socialism as opposed to Sharia law based on the Koran. The
Turks, too, who have a secular, democratic society, are apparently bad
Muslims.
To tell the truth, I
don’t give a damn about Sharia law. I surely don’t want to have to
live under it. It is biased against the human rights of half the
population of the world, women. And it has a lot of other stuff in there
that doesn’t come close to laws whose basis begins in the Torah and
which have been refined through Western culture over the centuries. One
thing’s for sure, Saddam will get a fairer trial than the hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis who were tortured and/or summarily executed under
his regime.
In Saudi Arabia, you
can be arrested for trying to bring in either the Old or New Testament.
The practice of any other religion will get you in trouble and publicity
renouncing Islam to join another faith will get you dead.
One writer asked me,
“Why don’t you write an article about Islam’s respect and
reverence for Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) and his mother?”
One reason I don’t do this is that, while some Pakistani or
Iraqi Christians gathered in their churches to worship, some Muslims did
their best to kill them. In Afghanistan, while under the control of the
Taliban, ancient statues of the Buddha, carved into the sides of
mountains, were destroyed. For that matter, synagogues in Argentina,
Morocco, and Turkey have also been attacked.
It isn’t that Islam
merely disagrees with you if you have another faith. It wants you to
convert. Or die.
Muslims are an unhappy
lot. It is not their religion, they will tell you, that is responsible
for their misery. It is the “oppression” of America and Israel. This
is the same “oppressor” that liberated Kuwait when Saddam attacked
and then returned to liberate Iraqis from Saddam.
In the same fashion as
we are now withdrawing our forces after having brought the former Soviet
Union to its knees, freeing Eastern Europe and Russia from Communist
oppression, fifty years hence we shall begin to withdraw our forces from
the Middle East and elsewhere that the “peaceful and benevolent”
religion of Islam currently permits dictators, slavery, and butchery of
every description.
You
can make a donation
to Anxiety Center and The
Caruba Organization, 28 West Third St., Apt 1321, South Orange, NJ
07079.
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