Pipe dreams. Sallah says that Allah blessed Saudi Arabia with oil, and ties that to its adherence to Sharia. So how, then, to explain the poverty of the Sharia-enforcing areas of Somalia and Nigeria? Pakistan is very nearly a full Sharia state, and yet economically it compares quite unfavorably to India. Islamic law actually instills no work ethic and teaches Muslims to live off the dhimmis — hence the need for jihad conquest. When jihad conquests and dhimmi wealth are not in the offing or the dhimmis have been bled dry, Sharia states stagnate economically. This creates an everlasting conundrum for Muslims like Sallah. Sayyid Qutb, the great 20th-century jihad theorist, also taught that adherence to Sharia would bring prosperity — yet the evidence of his eyes was everywhere disconfirming, so he had to find a scapegoat. Sharia adherents know their countries are poor, and they think Sharia will bring wealth. When it doesn’t, they inevitably turn to conspiracy theories: their continuing lack of prosperity must be the work of the Jews.
“Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Sallah: Implementing Religious Law Will Make Egypt the Mightiest Country in World, Richer Than Sweden,” from MEMRI, May 4 (thanks to Wimpy):
Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by Egyptian cleric Sheik Muhammad Sallah, which aired on Al-Hekma TV on May 4, 2012:
[…]
You are wrong in your assessment that if Islam comes to power, people’s hands will be chopped off. This would mean that we are thieves. Are we really thieves? They say that Islam will stone people. This would mean that we are fornicators. Are we really fornicators? They say that people’s hands and feet on alternate sides will be chopped off. This would mean that we have committed hiraba. But we are not like that. This people rejects sin and rebels against tyranny. The shari”a of Allah is the way to resolve crises.
[…]
If we accept the demands of Allah and implement His laws, we will live according to His words: “If the people of the towns had but believed and feared Allah, we should have opened for them all kinds of blessings from heaven and earth.”
The best proof of this is Saudi Arabia. Abraham said [to Allah]: “My Lord, I have made some of my offspring dwell in a valley without cultivation, near Thy Sacred House.” But this “valley without cultivation” exports wheat, this “valley without cultivation” received bounty from the skies. Thus, airplanes carrying pilgrims in their millions have landed there. The people in that country live a life of plenty, after having lived a life of hardship, poverty, and deprivation. The land gives forth minerals and petroleum, and it has become one of the wealthiest countries. Why? It is thanks to the law of Allah.
If a country with no potential for wealth can live in such abundance and joy, it is needless to say what would become of a country full of natural resources, if it implemented the law of Allah. By Allah, [Egypt] would be the mightiest nation of the world. It would be richer than Sweden, and its per capita income would be higher than any European country. Hence, our enemies do not want us to have stability, prosperity, or security, and they are constantly instigating civil strife, which afflicts the people like wildfire.
Therefore, you must be vigilant. Be vigilant.