This is very difficult, if not impossible, because
the behavior of their Prophet Mohammed was in contradiction with the
notions of the Enlightenment. For Muslims, he is the perfect example for
them for all time even though he lived in the 7th century. His behavior
may have been normal for a 7th century ruler of semi-barbaric people but a
person behaving like him today would be jailed for a long list of crimes -
including murder and pedophilia. In fact, the murderer of Theo Van Gogh
was only trying to imitate his Prophet's behavior by killing someone who
insulted Islam.
Therefore, a case can be made that Islam as it is
currently practiced in the majority of Muslim countries is incompatible
with the values of western societies. For example, apostates in Muslim
countries suffer varying degrees of persecution, including the death
penalty. Thus it follows that Muslim migration to a non-Muslim country
will put western societies under stress. Perhaps the
Paris
riots were the first shots of an European civil war that will make
Yugoslavia
look like a schoolyard brawl.
Why allow people in when they reject your values?
Perhaps, it was thought that once over in the new country, they will
embrace new values after one generation. But this has not happened with
many and probably most Muslims. The Muslims who took part in the 7/7
attacks in the
London
subway were born in
Britain
. Although most Muslims disagree with their actions, the fact that the
suicide bombers were British born shows that even after one or two
generations, they have more in common with Muslims in the Mid East or
Pakistan
than with their countrymen. It should be noted that converts to Islam
sometimes also start acting this way. J Walker Lindh, the American
Taliban, is an example. Somehow, Islam has a way of instilling 7th century
Arab warrior values into people.
However, putting such a case forward in the open
would create problems. Firstly, European leaders will have to consider
their Muslim voters. Secondly, it will worsen relations with Muslim
countries whose help we need to fight the Jihadists. Telling Muslims that
their faith is a retrograde force will not win friends and also drive
moderates into the hands of the radicals.
But there is more than one way to skin a cat. Instead
of making it so obvious, western governments can limit immigration to the
top 50 countries of the Human Development Index. The public argument would
be that a country must only admit people from progressive nations. In that
way, we can be assured that they can adapt to a modern society. Culture,
is the main determinent on whether a people succeed or not. To illustrate
this point, let me again take a look at
Britain
.
In the The Income of Ethnic Minorities ,
a study conducted by
Essex
University
, it can be seen that Chinese and Indians have done well in the
UK
but not the Pakistanis and Bangla Deshis. It reported that 60% of
Pakistanis and Bangla Deshis are poor. Unlike poor Chinese and Indians who
tend to be found in depressed areas, Pakistanis and Bangla Deshis are poor
everywhere - even in rich neighborhoods. Indians, Pakistanis and Bangla
Deshis are racially similar and so the problem is not racial
discrimination. They all started migrating to the same country -
Britain
- from the 1950s onwards. So nobody had a head start. All three countries
had the same colonial master which taught them English. Thus language is
not the problem. The only major variable that is different is religion.
The Indians are mostly Hindus while Pakistanis and Bangla Deshis are
mostly Muslims. This is evidence that Islamic culture hinders progress as
I argued in my earlier essays.
There is no good reason to welcome immigrants whose
culture does not produce productive people. Immigrants should benefit the
receiving country. Otherwise, the host will soon suffer economic decline.
A case could be made that immigrants should come only from countries from
the top 50 of the Human Development Index without mentioning Islam or
Muslims. You will see that apart from a few small oil rich countries (
Saudi Arabia
not among them), the other countries are non-Muslim. The top 50 comprises
mainly western and east Asian countries. Because a few Muslim countries
are in the list, politicians can argue that they are not targeting
Muslims.
Though my quick study on Muslim immigration only
focused on one western country -
Britain
- I think the experience of most western countries are about the same.
Stopping Muslim immigration to rich countries may help Muslims in the long
run. Immigration to rich countries is like a safety valve for
dysfunctional societies allowing them to defer reforms. By letting the
steam build up, the governments there might be forced to change. Or things
could explode. One last point. If western governments cannot restrict
Muslim immigration now, when they are a small percentage of the
population, how can they when their numbers grow larger?
4)The Military Front
What to do with an
Iran
that is determined to have nuclear weapons? Remember that
Iran
is a fundamentalist Islamic nation. People who welcome martyrdom cannot be
deterred by the assurance of Mutually Assured Destruction. If they get
nukes, they could pass them to terrorists who would then smuggle them
thought the porous Mexican-US border. They are also interested in missiles
that can reach
Europe
.
Though Shiites, the Iranians share the same Islamo-fascists
world view that Al-Qaeda and other terrorists have. In other words, the
world is divided into two parts - darul Harb (land of war) and darul Islam
(
land
of
Islam
). It is the duty of all good Muslims to ensure that the whole world obeys
Allah's law. I will let
Iran
's founder, Ayatollah Khoemini do the talking:
"Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males,
provided they are not disabled and incapacitated, to prepare themselves
for the conquest of (other) countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed
in every country in the world."
The economy produces nothing worthwhile apart from
oil (and maybe Persian carpets) which will run out in 20 years' time. The
Iranians are Shiites. Though Shiites are about 15% of the global Muslim
population, they are concentrated around the
Persian Gulf
. More than half of Iraqis are Shiites and the oil rich provinces in
Saudi Arabia
are in mainly Shiite regions. Perhaps, the Iranians harbor ambitions to
redraw the map.
[1]
http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/sprN48.asp
Income of minorities
[2]
See page 11 of the book, "Why I am not a Muslim".
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