The Closing of the Arab Mind
By Jacob Thomas
8 July 2017
In his book, “ISIS and Islam: Through the Eyes of a Former Muslim,” Brother Rachid wrote that from its very beginnings, Islam’s grand conspiracy theory was to claim that any troubles it experienced, were because of the “Other,” particularly from Jews and Christians. Rachid cites Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 109, one of several other chapters, as an example:
“Many of the People of the Scripture long to make you disbelievers after your belief, through envy on their own account, after the truth hath become manifest unto them. Forgive and be indulgent (toward them) until Allah give command. Lo! Allah is Able to do all things.” Pickthall
Brother Rachid reminiscing about his own upbringing, adds, “a child grows up with this outlook ingrained within his memory: Jews and Christians are always plotting against the believers with the goal of turning them away from Islam.”
While conspiracy thinking denigrating Jews and Christians prevails among Muslims, they are also suspicious of others, within their own Muslim communities. For example, Rachid’s mother used to warn him not to share with his friends, any information about the good grades he got at school, because it would make them jealous of his achievements, leading to envy! Somehow, envy breeds harmful and mysterious effects on others. The best course is to keep good and bad news about one’s self, strictly within the family.
Another superstitious belief throughout Middle Eastern societies is related to one’s admiration or praise of children. Such an expression or sentiment, may be harboring envy! To ward off the “Evil Eye,” mothers pin a blue bead on the clothes of a baby. A rule must be followed regarding what you must always say, when remarking about the looks, or the health of a child, namely the invoking of the Arabic term, “Mashallah,” i.e. the contraction for “Oh, may Allah will that no harm would befall the child!” Unless this invocation is made, you have committed a serious faux-pas!
This topic discussed on 23 May 2017, on Al-Awan, the online reformist/liberal journal, with the headline: “The Conspiracy Theory and the Closing of the Arab Mind”
Here are excerpts
“The ‘Conspiracy Theory’ has almost become the interpretive lens through which Arabs view the world. It functions among various societal and political groups, both secular nationalists, and Salafists. Ignoring the serious nature of their domestic problems, Arabs blame Western Imperialists and Crusaders! This attitude has led to the ‘Closing of the Arab Mind.’
“Such an outlook reveals a basic mistrust in human beings’ ability to make proper decisions about critical issues that other cultures had succeeded in solving them. For example, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Western civilizations (the latter regarded by Muslims as Christian) had not been static. On the contrary, they have been impacted by philosophers like Spinoza, Leibnitz, Kant; and by theologians, like Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Nicholas Berdyaev, and Jacques Maritain. In other words, they had open minds to interact with other cultures, unburdened by suspicion of the motives of ‘Others.’
“As a result, several problematic issues have dominated Arab societies, both with respect to themselves, as well as to others. Unwilling to be open to world-wide civilizations, and being excessively suspicious, they give full credence to the Conspiracy Theory. The ‘Other’ must be eternally conspiring to inflict harm on Arab and Muslim societies.”
Both the insights of Brother Rachid, and the article on Al-Awan, dealt with the deleterious impact of conspiracy thinking and its derivatives, on Arab and Muslim societies. In fact, many of the problems in the Arab/Muslim world, could be ameliorated, were the participants able to deal with them realistically. We all know the difficulty of putting off old ways and concepts. Especially difficult, when the authoritative texts of Islam promote it. The collective memory of the Islamic Umma is pervasive and very controlling over the thought habits of its adherents.
For instance, an event that took place in the Middle East fifty years ago, is illustrative of how the conspiracy theory has maintained a tenacious grip on the Arab Mind. President Nasser relied on its hold over the Arab masses, when he decided to take on Israel in what is known as the Six-Day war. He claimed that it was not so much the Israeli Air Force that attacked Egypt’s airfields, but that they were joined by France and Britain on that fateful Monday morning, the 6th of June 1967. Eventually, his theory was proved wrong!
President Nasser passed away in September 1970, and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. On 6 October 1973, he launched a surprise attack on the Israeli forces on the east side of the Suez Canal, and managed to make headway in the Sinai, only to be thwarted by General Ariel Sharon, who crossed the Canal westward, encircling the 3rd Egyptian Army. In early November, a cease fire came into effect.
Unlike his predecessor, Sadat was a realist; he surprised the world on 19 November 1977, by his trip to Israel, which led eventually to a peace treaty between the two nations. Radical Islamists violently disapproved of his action. On 6 October 1981, while reviewing a military parade in Cairo, commemorating the 1973 victory, he was gunned down by a member of the Egyptian Army! A sad reminder that an anti-Jewish attitude, deeply entrenched in the holy texts of Islam, still motivates some Muslims to react violently against anyone who seeks peace with Israel!
In 2011, popular revolts against Arab dictatorial regimes broke out first in Tunisia, spreading east, to other parts of the Arab world. It was hoped that they heralded the beginning of an “Arab Spring.” However, by mid-2017, the much-needed reforms had not taken place, and that peace and prosperity remain elusive. The Arab Mind remains closed and crippled; a fact that cannot be blamed on external forces. The causes are internal; they spring mainly from a worldview that’s anchored in the sacred texts of the Qur’an, Hadith, abd Sirat (The Life of Muhammad), that instill suspicion and animosity toward all non-Muslims. What a grim commentary on millions of our fellow-human beings who are mired in a crippling worldview!
In classical work of ancient Greek literature, by Plato, entitled THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES it in written that Socrates had said that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Likewise, in may also be said that “An unexamined religion is not worth believing in.” This is said about all religions. Yet to be specific, in this case, the topic is about the religion of Islam. Furthermore, one man who was as a former a Muslim and had lived in one of the Islamic nations of the Middle East but now he is Christian and an American citizen had explained in a book he wrote that “Driving into depths of the word of reasoned thinking and research in Islamic societies has always been costly. Some Muslim who have done this have even been excluded from their social rights and even sentenced to death.” [1]
[1] ISLAM AND THE SON OF GOD by Daniel Shayesteh page 70.
The Muslim/jihadists, who make up the ISIS as well as other Muslims, are shackled within the Cave of Islam. What is meant by this statement is explained by the following. The Greek philosopher Plato is one of the contributors to Western Civilization. He may shed some light into the subject of those people who are shackled in the chains and darkness of Islamic thought. In Plato’s REPUBLIC he gave an allegory of a cave where “the condition of men living in a sort of cavernous chamber…Here they have been from childhood, chained by leg and also by the neck, so that they cannot move and see only what is in front of them.” This can fit into what the Imams do in the mosques and how they brainwash the young people in the madrassa’s by always programming Islamic doctrine into their victims and not exposing them to other worldviews. Furthermore, even in Islamic tradition when Muslims have their newborn child the father whispers words of the Quran into the infants ear so that that Quran verses are the first thing the newborn person hears. This programming process takes place all their lives. These are some of the chains that keep them bound in a mosque [cave]. The chains do not let them reach out for dialectic reasoning and let them examine the evidence both for as well as against, or even question whether Muhammad was a true prophet of God or not, and if the Quran is a hoax or not. As the chains and darkness of the cave blinds and holds the prisoners back from reality, so Islamic propaganda holds back the cognition to reason with the question if Islam is true or not. They are forbidden from even thinking to question Islam. Furthermore, if a Muslim by some miracle wakes up to the truth about Islam, it would be like the man in Plato’s cave allegory who was released from his chains and taken outside to the real world. At first direct light would be painful and disorienting, it would take some time for him to understand what the truth is all about, he even might cling to the shadows and still for a time believe some of the illusions to be real. But he would finally come to know “what he had formerly seen was meaningless illusion.” And that was “what passed for wisdom in his former dewelling-place.”And that the other cave prisoners also needed to see the light [the truth] for he “was sorry for them.” and he would re-enter the cave just to rescue them. Nevertheless, the cave prisoners wouldn’t understand and “if they could lay hand on the man who was trying to set them free.” And if they could “they would kill him.” Likewise, when someone escapes from the shackles of Islam, those still in the darkness of this religion would not understand and if possible kill him for leaving Islam, and even more so if he were to try to enlighten them about the truth about Islam. For these people in Islam are chained to an empty imitation of truth and godliness.
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This is HOW Christianism started:
‘GENESIS AND CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY
Some historians in the West have serious doubts about the very existence of a man called “Jesus Christ”.
And, almost all historians agree that if he existed at all, nothing can be known about his person or teaching because all contemporary sources, Christian and non-Christian, are either silent or unreliable regarding the subject.
Thus, all we have is the “Jesus of the Gospels” which are now regarded as theological statements rather than a record of historical events.
And “Jesus of the Gospels” is a questionable character!
He makes tall claims about himself, and curses all those who do not accept those claims.
He denounces his own people as sons of the Devil and killers of prophets.
In due course, Christian theology came to proclaim that Jesus was the only-begotten son of the only true “God the Father”; that “God the Father” had been sent down in order to wash with his own blood the sins of mankind by mounting the Cross; that Jesus had risen from the dead on the third day and appeared to his apostles in flesh and bones; that Jesus was the same as his “God the Father” whose divinity he shared in full; that those who accepted Jesus as the only savior had all their sins washed by Jesus’s blood; that Jesus had entered his apostles as the “Holy Ghost” and entrusted them with the mission of saving all mankind from eternal hell-fire; that the Christian Church founded by the apostles and joined by the converts was Jesus’s body and bride; and that the whole world had been mandated to the Christian Church by the “Father” and the “Son” and the “Holy Ghost”.
What one finds striking about these ridiculous and absolutely laughable statements is that none of them can stand the test of human reason or experience.
The Christian Church declares them to be mysteries beyond the reach of human understanding!
The apostles had tried to sell these “mysteries” to the Jews in Jerusalem.
The only response they met was dismissal with contempt from the Jews.
Next, the apostles tried these “mysteries” on Jewish communities settled in Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece.
The apostles had some small success, but most of the time met with considerable resistance.
Finally, the apostles took this “merchandise” to the metropolitan mart at Rome where their business found some firm footing for the first time!
It was in Rome that the methods of Christian missionary salesmanship were matured over a period of time.
The structure of the Roman Empire provided a model for the structure of the Christian Church.
The Christian missionaries got busy building a state within the state!
In the next two centuries, the Church became a rich and powerful organization with members in many leading families of Rome.
It found many adherents among politicians who wielded power, among military commanders who were superstitious or in need of political support, and among merchants who had money, but no brains for philosophical questions.
The mother of Emperor Severus (222-235 AD) became a Christian.
So did Emperor Philip the Arabian (244-249 AD).
Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, was also a Christian convert.
Now the Church extended the “Divine Right” to rule as a despot to anyone who was prepared to declare Christianity as the sole state religion and suppress all Pagan religions.
Emperor Constantine who wanted to secure a dynastic succession for his family — a practice unknown to Roman politics so far — saw his opportunity in this new doctrine, and proclaimed in favor of the Christian Church.
The common people in Rome resisted this royal renegade.
So, Emperor Constantine removed his capital from Rome to Byzantium which was renamed Constantinople!
The precedent set by Emperor Constantine in consolidating a dynastic despotism with the help of the Church was copied by many crowned heads all over Europe in subsequent centuries.
The king in Pagan societies was only the first among equals.
The Church enabled him to become an unbridled autocrat who derived his authority not from the community over which he ruled, but from “God the Father”.
The conflicts which developed between these autocrats and the powerful Christian Church with a Pope at its head, came much later, after the common people all over Europe had been enslaved and deprived of their traditional institutions which safeguarded their fundamental freedoms.
For quite some time, the Christian Church cooperated with the kings to convert the common people everywhere into hewers of wood and drawers of water!
This was just one part of the Christian history.
Another was a large-scale destruction of ancient religions all over Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa where the Church spread its tentacles with the help of despotic rulers.
All Pagan schools were closed, all Pagan temples were demolished or converted into churches, and all Pagan images were publicly defiled and destroyed.
Pagan books were burnt and Pagan priests were killed, mostly by Christian monks who led Christian mobs after lecturing them into fevered frenzy!
That is how Christianity triumphed over Pagan religions and societies — not by the power of its moral or spiritual superiority or the logic of its doctrines, but by the power of the sword wielded by despicable Christian despots.’
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This is HOW Islam started:
‘GENESIS AND CHARACTER OF ISLAM
Muhammad followed in the footsteps of Jesus in making the same sort of claims for himself, cursing his own people in the choicest language of “Mono-Theism”, and threatening them with slaughter.
Muhammad, however, did not have to struggle against a centralized state when he found that his prophethood had no attraction for the Pagan people of Mecca.
Muhammad migrated to Yathrib — was later renamed “Medina” from Madinat al’Nabi — which was more receptive to “Mono-Theism” because of a large presence of Jews in that town (i.e., Yathrib), and emerged as a powerful potentate.
Muhammad, however, ended by exiling or brutally killing en masse the Jewish “Mono-Theist” populations of Yathrib which resisted him as soon as Muhammad came out in his true colors!
Meanwhile, Muhammad had amassed much wealth by plundering merchant caravans and scattered Pagan Arab settlements.
Muhammad created the nucleus of a standing army out of the toughs and desperados who flocked to him in increasing numbers for committing crimes and sharing the loot.
In short, Muhammad built the apparatus of a military state in “Medina” and used it for imposing his closed creed on the tribal settlements of Pagan Arabia by means of armed force.
The doctrines of Islam were tailored to the needs of this galloping tyranny, and sold with the help of the sword.
And the sword was stamped with the name of an almighty “Allah” in whose service the ancient religion and culture of Arabia were destroyed root and branch.’
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What 99.99999997 percent Muslims never know?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c15EmERsZg
In classical work of ancient Greek literature, by Plato, entitled THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES it in written that Socrates had said that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Likewise, in may also be said that “An unexamined religion is not worth believing in.” This is said about all religions. Yet to be specific, in this case, the topic is about the religion of Islam. Furthermore, one man who was as a former a Muslim and had lived in one of the Islamic nations of the Middle East but now he is Christian and an American citizen had explained in a book he wrote that “Driving into depths of the word of reasoned thinking and research in Islamic societies has always been costly. Some Muslim who have done this have even been excluded from their social rights and even sentenced to death.” [1]
[1] ISLAM AND THE SON OF GOD by Daniel Shayesteh page 70.
The Greek philosopher Plato is one of the contributors to Western Civilization. He may shed some light into the subject of those people who are shackled in the chains and darkness of Islamic thought. In Plato’s REPUBLIC he gave an allegory of a cave where “the condition of men living in a sort of cavernous chamber…Here they have been from childhood, chained by leg and also by the neck, so that they cannot move and see only what is in front of them.” This can fit into what the Imams do in the mosques and how they brainwash the young people in the madrassa’s by always programming Islamic doctrine into their victims and not exposing them to other worldviews. Furthermore, even in Islamic tradition when Muslims have their newborn child the father whispers words of the Quran into the infants ear so that that Quran verses are the first thing the newborn person hears. This programming process takes place all their lives. These are some of the chains that keep them bound in a mosque [cave]. The chains do not let them reach out for dialectic reasoning and let them examine the evidence both for as well as against, or even question whether Muhammad was a true prophet of God or not, and if the Quran is a hoax or not. As the chains and darkness of the cave blinds and holds the prisoners back from reality, so Islamic propaganda holds back the cognition to reason with the question if Islam is true or not. They are forbidden from even thinking to question Islam. Furthermore, if a Muslim by some miracle wakes up to the truth about Islam, it would be like the man in Plato’s cave allegory who was released from his chains and taken outside to the real world. At first direct light would be painful and disorienting, it would take some time for him to understand what the truth is all about, he even might cling to the shadows and still for a time believe some of the illusions to be real. But he would finally come to know “what he had formerly seen was meaningless illusion.” And that was “what passed for wisdom in his former dwelling place.”And that the other cave prisoners also needed to see the light [the truth] for he “was sorry for them.” and he would re-enter the cave just to rescue them. Nevertheless, the cave prisoners wouldn’t understand and “if they could lay hand on the man who was trying to set them free.” And if they could “they would kill him.” Likewise, when someone escapes from the shackles of Islam, those still in the darkness of this religion would not understand and if possible kill him for leaving Islam, and even more so if he were to try to enlighten them about the truth about Islam. For these people in Islam are chained to an empty imitation of truth and godliness.