Five superb and important questions formulated by radio host Dennis Prager. From the LA Times, with thanks to Brenda and Paul:
(1) Why are you so quiet?Since the first Israelis were targeted for death by Muslim terrorists blowing themselves up in the name of your religion and Palestinian nationalism, I have been praying to see Muslim demonstrations against these atrocities. Last week's protests in Jordan against the bombings, while welcome, were a rarity. What I have seen more often is mainstream Muslim spokesmen implicitly defending this terror on the grounds that Israel occupies Palestinian lands. We see torture and murder in the name of Allah, but we see no anti-torture and anti-murder demonstrations in the name of Allah.
There are a billion Muslims in the world. How is it possible that essentially none have demonstrated against evils perpetrated by Muslims in the name of Islam? This is true even of the millions of Muslims living in free Western societies. What are non-Muslims of goodwill supposed to conclude? When the Israeli government did not stop a Lebanese massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982, great crowds of Israeli Jews gathered to protest their country's moral failing. Why has there been no comparable public demonstration by Palestinians or other Muslims to morally condemn Palestinian or other Muslim-committed terror?
(2) Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian?
If Israeli occupation is the reason for Muslim terror in Israel, why do no Christian Palestinians engage in terror? They are just as nationalistic and just as occupied as Muslim Palestinians.
(3) Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country?
According to Freedom House, a Washington-based group that promotes democracy, of the world's 47 Muslim countries, only Mali is free. Sixty percent are not free, and 38% are partly free. Muslim-majority states account for a majority of the world's "not free" states. And of the 10 "worst of the worst," seven are Islamic states. Why is this?
(4) Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam?
Young girls in Indonesia were recently beheaded by Muslim murderers. Last year, Muslims — in the name of Islam — murdered hundreds of schoolchildren in Russia. While reciting Muslim prayers, Islamic terrorists take foreigners working to make Iraq free and slaughter them. Muslim daughters are murdered by their own families in the thousands in "honor killings." And the Muslim government in Iran has publicly called for the extermination of Israel.
(5) Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions?
No church or synagogue is allowed in Saudi Arabia. The Taliban destroyed some of the greatest sculptures of the ancient world because they were Buddhist. Sudan's Islamic regime has murdered great numbers of Christians.
Instead of confronting these problems, too many of you deny them. Muslims call my radio show to tell me that even speaking of Muslim or Islamic terrorists is wrong. After all, they argue, Timothy McVeigh is never labeled a "Christian terrorist." As if McVeigh committed his terror as a churchgoing Christian and in the name of Christ, and as if there were Christian-based terror groups around the world.
Excellent, concise questions and commentary.Too bad Praeger didn't lay these down directly as a challenge to CAIR and the other usual suspects.
WOw!! Right On!! Great work!
Superb questions... written by an infidel, being considered by an infidel audience. These questions would create far too much cognitive dissonance in that minefield called the Muslim mind to even be assimilated for analysis.
Prager's questions show a synoptic outlook one is always looking for. Factual and numerical macro-patterns.
The following is from page 104 of the Autumn 2005 edition of the "The American Interest," a journal whose editorial board includes Samuel "Clash of Civilizations" Hunybun, Zee Big Brzezinski, Francis "End of History" Fukyurmama, among many other luminoscopies. The quote from page 104 is in Mary Habeck's article, titled 'Reading 9/11,' which surveys a number of books written in the years since 9/11, and touches on Robert Spencer's work:
"The most contentious books are those focused on defining who the enemy is, and the most contentious of these see Islam as the source of terrorism and jihadi violence. All such books have predictably provoked hostile responses from Western scholars of the Middle East as well as from Muslims around the world.
I can't tell if she finds predictability in this case deplorable, or understandable -- is 'predictable' here a weasel word?
"Probably the most controversial book was written by a non-Muslim, Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch. Spencer's vision of Islam in Onward Muslim Soldiers (2003) is particularly bleak. He assumes that the historical definition of jihad-as-fighting is the only correct one, ignoring the many ways in which Muslims have re-conceptualized this term throughout the centuries. Spencer also ignores modernist and Sufi forms of Islam, concentrating entirely on intolerant and violent variants. In his view of Islam, extremists like al-Banna, Qutb and Mawdudi held deeply traditional views of Islam; theirs were not radical syncretisms born of anxious contact with the West.
"These are problematic views, to be sure, but Spencer is correct to argue that, while Muslims have been the victims of colonization and Westernization, they have not dealt honestly with their own history of imperialism against their neighbors..."
In Onward Muslim Soldiers does Robert, as Habeck claims, "assume that the definition of jihad-as-fighting is the only correct one"? I thought he argued not assumed, that one of the two main correct interpretations (not the only correct interpretation) of 'jihad' is military struggle? And perhaps he argues that of the two correct interpretations, the military one is the more commonly understood one in the Islamic world, but where does he argue that it is the only correct one?
That Prager's questions appear in, as some suggest, the left-leaning LA times is significant, for the Times is still the newspaper of choice for many in Southern California.
While his questions are direct, needed, and don't leave much wiggle room for those who may chose to answer, many will blame, with some validity, American foreign policy for the continued existence of Muslim dictators. And others will claim that honor killings are not strictly an Islamic practice.
However, a start. Especially, for those who've never given the subject much thought, now's a good time for them to ask the same questions.
I'll buy the Times for a week or so to read the responses.
Brilliant Mr. Spencer, as usual however I would like to ask a question of my own, one that been bothering me since day 1#
What's with the single reocurring factor of anti-semitism? What did Jews ever do to you?
Prager hits right on the head again.
Family Vacation Guide.
to Jade Dragoness:
When you ask,
"What's with the single reocurring factor of anti-semitism? What did Jews ever do to you?"
I assume you are addressing that question to Muslims, not to Robert Spencer, though it's not entirely clear from your post.
I think the Jews are a natural scapegoat for Muslims, in part because, worldwide, the Jews are a very small group. From a Jungian standpoint, one could say that many Muslims seek to purge their own inner psychological 'shadow' by projecting it outward onto Jews, who must then be destroyed, so the Muslim can resolve (though falsely) the difficult psychic conflicts that more mature cultures strive to deal with inwardly.
Ironically, what many Muslims need to learn about the 'shadow' and about benighted "us vs. them" thinking, PC Westerners need to unlearn or become more subtle about. PC Westerners, in trying so hard not to project the inner shadow outward, and in seeking to be so sensitive to the 'other,' forget that sometimes the actions of 'others' are evil. Sometimes, there really is a fairly clear division in the outer world between the 'good' guys and the 'bad' guys -- as in World War II. But PC Westerners can get so self-absorbed and provincial that they sometimes think the whole world is nothing more than a reflection of a typical Westerner's more or less benign inner state and his relatively benign, local, social conditions. Thus the PCer unconsciously projects his own inner state outward, and does so every bit as much as does any religious fundamentalist who projects his own shadow outward.
Muslims also wage jihad on Christians of course, but there are more than 100 times as many Christians as Jews -- much easier to pick on the smaller group, and very tempting, especially since that smaller group, through its many accomplishments in science, the arts, business, and entertainment, sometimes seems to epitomize Western culture's cosmopolitan individualism, creativity, and decadence. If Western achievement puts the jihadist's culture to shame, all the more reason he is driven to destroy Western culture, especially the tiny but outspoken Jewish strand, so as to get relief from that shame.
To eduardo odraude, Sorry for not making my post clearer, but thank you offering me the explanation. It seemed very rational and precise. What I agree with most with your idea of westeners "projecting" the idea of a generaly benign civilized world. As a young westerner, and young American especially, I was enormously ignorant about the true nature of evil. Until very recently it was inconcievable for me to imagine mass slaughter of people simply because they were Jews (or christian or whatever). The thing that changed my view most notacbly was 9/11 but even for a quite a while afterwards I bought into the standard CAIR nonsense "Islam is Peace" etc.
Today, unfourtunately many Westerners young and old alike still remain largely naive about the nature of evil and of Islam. Living in a world largely without the cruelty that stems from irrational, primitive idealogy and the brutality that forms in a bare kill-or-be-killed world Westerners simply assume that everybody is largely civilized, excluding the occasional crazy or "fringe minority" that has "hijacked a religion"
To JadeDragoness
Might I suggest you go to Aish.com, and purchase the audio
'Why the Jews' by Rabbi Ken Spiro
This is a very well put together lecture, mostly of course using the classic antisemitism of the Western world, but since Islam now claims it's own nazi version of antisemitis, the lecture is quite instructive.
Dennis Prager's book- 'Why the Jews' - is another very well written explanation.
One more, is the free internet download by Wallid Shoebat, on the entirety of the relationship between Islam and the Judeo-christian world with which it is at war. It is his treatise and available for download.
I think it's titled, "Israel, and the World's Mock Trial" which is his compendium of historical and theologic issues and causation.
eduardo, great post! I think your theories about muslims hating Jews are partially correct, but the animosity actually began when the Jews in Arabia rejected Muhammad and his fabricated religion. It's been downhill ever since but as you pointed out, the Jews have excelled in every field of endeavor despite overwhelming hardships and persecution. When muslims are confronted with the amazing accomplishments of the Jews, they are beseiged by raging resentment and envy. AFter all, muslims believe they are superior to all other people, the rightful rulers of the world. Excepting the ones who have invaded Western countries, muslims have nothing to show for almost 1400 years of Islam but death, destruction, poverty, illiteracy, tyranny, and utter misery. Muslims blame the Jews and/or the West for their own self-inflicted misery and problems. They are truly the most pathetic of all people; if they were not intrinsic homicidal maniacs, I might almost feel sorry for them.
Muslims have despised the Jews since the days of Muhammad because they were the first to reject Islam. With the establishment of Israel, muslim hatred for Jews evolved into a disease that has turned millions of Palestinian Arabs into seething, raging, feral, sub-human monsters.
"The Last Hour would not come till the Muslims fight against the Jews, and the Muslims will kill them until the Jews hide themselves behind the stones and trees, and the stones and trees would speak up saying: "O Muslim! O slave of Allah! There is a Jew hiding behind me; come and kill him." The _Ghardaq_ tree would speak, for it is the tree of the Jews." (Muhammad the prophet of Islam, narrated by Abu Hurraira).
"If the statistics are correct, the Jews represent merely one percent of humanity - an irrelevant spark in the light of the Milky Way. Normally speaking, the Jews should hardly be heard of, and yet we heard and hear of them again and again. They can rival any people on earth in fame, and their significance in economy and trade are in no ratio to their population. Their contribution to the list of great names in literature, natural science, art, music, finance, medicine and profound learning is just as amazing. They have done extremely well in this world - with their hands tied behind their backs. They could rightly be proud of themselves. The Egyptians, Babylonians and Persians came into power, filled the earth with their glory, but perished. The Greeks and Romans followed, "made a lot of noise," and then disappeared. Other nations rose up, their torches burned for a while, and then they were extinguished, and today they sit in the twilight or have completely disappeared. The Jews saw it all. They beat them all, and are today what they always were, showing no decay, no aging, no weakening, no decline of energy, no blunting of their wide-awake dynamic spirit. Everything is mortal except the Jew. All other powers perish but he remains. What is the mystery of his immortality? " (Mark Twain, 1899).
-"Israel, and the World's Mock Trial"
I'm starting to like this treatise ;)
Eduardo,
Mr. Durie responded to your concern.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/008938.php#comments
See the last post in that thread.
Speaking of Islam and Muslims the "peace loving Islam" how about the first genocide in the world made solely by Muslims?In 1915 the Muslim turks exterminated 1.5 milion armenians.That was the first mass class genocide in the worlds history.But as a true muslim they will never except the fact that they have killed so many,by their word the ppl just died,and the muslims are clean!!Unfortunatly the nazis learned from them.In 1942 the imam of Jerusalem Haj Amin el Husseini meet Hitler pacting with the Satan to exterminate the Jews in in Palestina!!!http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/muftihit.html
He tried hardly to get reed of the Jews in Palestina(Isreal).Wasnt he a Religious leader?The most high ranking Muslim leader in those time,eqivalent to Osama bin Laden?Ploting against the Christian English and Jews?So much for the Islams piss loving truth!
To PRCS,
Thanks, yes, Durie emailed a response to me and I saw his response here too. Mohammed's words in Bukhari 1:7:331 show that Durie's paraphrase was pretty precise.
To Susanp,
Thanks. I have enjoyed your posts. You are right to point out that Muslim hatred of Jews has to do with the early rejection of Islam by Jews. I am partly guilty of the very thing I was accusing PCers of, i.e., unconsciously projecting one's own psychology onto everything. As an explanation of Muslim antipathy to Jews, I pushed too much my own notion of Jung's 'shadow' theory.
I would qualify this that you said though:
"[Muslims] are truly the most pathetic of all people; if they were not intrinsic homicidal maniacs, I might almost feel sorry for them."
Maybe this is approximately true of Islam and of all those who follow Islam to the letter -- maybe -- but it is surely not true of all "Muslims." They are not all intrinsic homicidal maniacs, nor are they all pathetic, I imagine you'll agree. Most of them I would suppose are decent enough people, though perhaps that decency is directly proportional to the degree of their carelessness about, or apostasy from, Islam...
JadeDragoness, I am so impressed with your post, you have put your words together so well and intelligently...
eduardo odraude says....I think the Jews are a natural scapegoat for Muslims... I have often wondered what excuse did Muslims used for their hatred, tortures, slaughters, plundering, etc before Jews came back to Israel... I supose the same excuses that they are using world wide today for their horrific behaviour, but they dont seem to have the brains to stop and think that other races are having the same sort of oppression, lack of jobs, hopelness etc, even christians living in Muslim countries...but they are the only ones causing horrors in the world.
It concerns me that the media, and our politicians are placating these people,...., I am wondering if anyone knows why?. It is the only religion which has consistently for 1400 years, tortured the people around it.
Perhaps we could explain a few of the differences between Islam and Christianity.
"Islam is a religion in which their god requires you to send your son to die for him."
"Christianity is a faith in which God sent His Son to die for you."
Christians gather money to help anyone.
Islam gathers money to kill the Infidel,
The Bible says to love your neighbours.
The Quran says to kill those who wont submit.
The Bible teach love and peace,
The quran teaches hate and slaughter.
The Bible teaches tolerance of other people and faiths,
The Quran teaches intolerance of anyone who isn't Muslim.
The Bible teaches that a persons has free will, as to whether they
want to follow God, or not,
The Quran teaches, submit or die.
The Bible teaches that God loves everyone, no matter what or who.
The Quran teaches that everyone who is not Muslim is hated by Allah...and must be destroyed...
The Bible says that we must not steal from others,
Muhammad said it was ok to plunder and kill.
From time to time, people in the name of God have done terrible things, even though it was against the Ten commandments and the Bible, .
However, by the order of Allah, Mohammad throughout Islam's 1400 years of existence has Consistently raped, tortured, plundered, and slaughtered those around them who are not Muslims or who wont
submit, ...
The God of the Bible is NOT the god of Islam.
Mohammad's great, great, great grandfather also started a religious scam. In his grandfather's time there were 360 gods, one of who was called Allah, spelt differently but sounded the same. This god was chosen by Mohammad because he was the god of agriculture, war and the sword, which shows that Mohammad had no intentions of their being peace in his so called religion. I believe he raided and plundered caravans after his much older rich wife died, perhaps to keep him in the riches that he had become so used to having. His merry men were allowed to keep a portion of the bootie and he kept the rest, along with some of the beautiful captured women as his slaves, or ????.