Hamed Abdel-Samad is an Egyptian born political scientist, historian and author, now living in Germany. He is the son of a Sunni imam, but has dedicated the recent years of his life to warning against the political side of Islam. Via 10news.dk, translated by Sandra and Nicolai Sennels from Welt:
He claims Islam to have “fascistic characteristics” — and is therefore under threat: The German-Egyptian journalist Hamed Abdel-Samad challenges a religion of which he himself is a member. An interview by Dietrich Alexander.
The author Hamed Abdel-Samad lives in Germany, but he is not safe here. The 42-year-old needs permanent police protection, as he has enemies. Violent, fanatical enemies who want him dead because, in their view, he has insulted Islam and their Prophet Mohammed. The German-Egyptian states his opinion openly and criticizes those Muslims who put themselves above others and claim that their interpretation of Islam is the only true version. With his book Der Untergang der islamischen Welt (Eng.: The Fall of the Islamic World, Droemer, 2010, 18 euros), he earned a lot of criticism. His new book will be out on April 1 and is entitled Der islamische Faschismus (transl.: The Islamic fascism, Droemer, 18 euros). After publicly expressing his theses in Cairo, he got a fatwa on his head: “Wanted Dead” — not: “Wanted, dead or alive”, just “dead”. He had to go into hiding. But he was not silent, and he does not intend to be intimidated in the future.
Die Welt: Lately, 529 Egyptian Muslim brothers have been sentenced to death by a court in Minya, Upper Egypt, in a legally very questionable fast track process. 683 further defendants face the same fate. What is your opinion on these processes?
Hamed Abdel-Samad: That is not the way to deter terrorists, as it will just create new martyrs, who will be models for a new generation of holy warriors! The Muslim Brotherhood will benefit most from this verdict, because suddenly the world is not talking anymore about their ongoing terrorist attacks, but about the injustice that befalls them. Such verdicts are symptomatic of the Egyptian state’s incompetence in dealing with terrorism. In this way, the violence is not stopped, and the division and polarization in the country are deepened.
Die Welt: So you think that such processes will create problems for the future of Egypt and thus probably also the next president, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has just announced his candidacy and is a clear favorite?
Abdel-Samad: Al-Sisi is considered the new savior by many Egyptians. The expectations on him are very high. But he himself knows that the country has serious problems he cannot solve. He also knows that the same crowds that are cheering him now frenetically will be demonstrating against him, as they demonstrated against Hosni Mubarak and Mohammed Morsi, because they could not fulfill their desires for stability and prosperity. The era of dictatorship is over. But the absence of dictatorship does not automatically mean the arrival of democracy.
Die Welt: You are very pessimistic about the future of the Arab-Islamic world in general. You present a new book, your fourth one. It seems to me that you get more and more radical in your theses. Would you agree with that?
Abdel-Samad: No! I often hear that I was a radical thinker and a quarreler. I’m just a rational thinking person who calls a spade a spade. I have always been. I do not do it just to provoke when I say that Islam has fascist characteristics.
Die Welt: But that’s at least semantically sharper than anything you have written and said before. The term fascism in connection with political Islam is certainly new.
Abdel-Samad: For Germans this may sound bold and provocative. But what is fascism? It is a political religion, with truths, with prophets, with a charismatic leader who is equipped with a supposedly holy mission to unite the nation and defeat the enemies. That’s also exactly what Islam is. Fascism divides the world into friends and enemies. In Islam, there are believers and unbelievers. The conspiracy theories in fascism, the feeling of humiliation and having come off badly, this desire for revenge and the dehumanization of the enemy, are all found in Islam, especially in the language of political Islam. The mix of inferiority complex and striving for world domination, of impotence and omnipotence fantasies, links Islamism and fascism. In my book, I write on the 14 theses by Umberto Eco on Ur-Fascism. There, we find it all: the cult of tradition, the attitude to the modern age and the counter-revolution against Enlightenment, the conspiracy theories, the Machism. All that the Islamists are missing is the machinery for mass-destruction that was available to the Stalinists and the National Socialists. Islamism suffered several defeats, but has never been trounced — unlike fascism in Germany and Italy. That is the reason why Islamic fascism drags on.
Die Welt: Would you go as far as to say that the political, fascist Islam would drag the world into a Third World War, if it had the opportunity to get its hands on such destructive machinery?
Abdel-Samad: Yes, maybe not with a world war straightaway, but we will see a battle of apocalyptic dimensions. The Islamists would lead a campaign of revenge against the infidels. On a small scale, you can observe this where Islamists take power in Syrian towns. People are then killed just because they are Christians, even children. This is pure fascism, that people are executed only on the basis of their religious or national affiliation. We can watch that everywhere where Islamists take power, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria — no matter where.
Die Welt: And the so-called “moderate Islam”? Does it exist, anyway?
Abdel-Samad: For a long time, we had this prime example of a supposedly moderate Islam in Turkey with Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the top. The political opportunism of the West has prevented this system from having to show its true face. Only now, in crisis, and under the real political and democratic test, we recognize fascist tendencies there as well.
Die Welt: A wolf in sheep’s clothing, then? Or as you call it in your book: democracy as a Trojan horse?
Abdel-Samad: Exactly. The Islamist who wants to come to power is not interested in democracy. He does not believe in it, he believes in the rule of God. He is not interested in fighting unemployment, but wants to enforce a particular moral order of society and then the rest of the world.
Die Welt: So a divine mandate?
Abdel-Samad: Yes. That’s the only thing that motivates him to engage in politics. He does not respect human-made structures such as parliaments and the judiciary, because God has set the law for him already 1400 years ago. It only needs to be applied.
Die Welt: That would mean that dialogue is not possible with these people…
Abdel-Samad: … dialogue, in this case, is actually a waste of time. With Erdogan, a dialogue has been conducted, but he has fooled the West. His so-called reforms were more like empowerment laws. “Moderate Islam” is an invention of Western Islamic scholars. Moderate and Islam is a paradox, they do not match. The truths of the Islamists are already determined. This is also a core characteristic of fascism.
Die Welt: What you say is surely not without danger. You have received death threats, live under police protection, bring family and friends into danger. In a way, you risk your life for your beliefs. Would you therefore describe yourself as a martyr?
Abdel-Samad: No. I like neither the term nor the mindset behind it. I like living very much, despite all the difficulties and problems that I have. But I have long searched for an access to this life and I sacrificed and lost a lot to get it. This life concept is called freedom. It means that no one can determine my morals, my way of thinking and speaking. The fact that there are people in this world who cannot live with that is really not my problem. I have not cut anyone’s throat and I do not intend to do so. I have never questioned the right to exist of any human. I do not think it is worth to die for anything. But I will not moderate or restrict my thoughts and comments just because others do not like what I say. I do not want nor need this “little life”.
Die Welt: Let’s come back to Islam and democracy again. The Egyptian President by the grace of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Morsi, was democratically elected and then undemocratically overthrown. What was wrong with Morsi’s rule?
Abdel-Samad: Morsi had no plan for Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood had only slogans. But suddenly they had to deal with the economy, foreign policy and tourism. They did that very amateurishly, they focused on the morals of society. The Islamist has no plan, but a moral corset. To this end, they limited freedom, particularly of women, and infiltrated the institutions.
Die Welt: Is a regime dominated by the military, a quasi Mubarak II, only the lesser evil?
Abdel-Samad: It’s definitely the lesser evil. It is not Mubarak II, though, but maybe “Mubarak light”. It is not democratic, either, because democracy is not created in a vacuum. The Arab-Islamic world as a whole is not yet ripe for democratic structures. But the military share at least a common denominator with the economy and society. Business, industry, tourism — areas where you can discuss and find compromises. The Muslim Brothers were in a completely different world. Their almost fatal mistake was to think that they could turn Egypt into a second Iran. Victory in a democratic election is not a blank check.
Die Welt: This is certainly true. Democracy must be filled with content. Is any Arab-Islamic country able to assume the role of a pioneer in this regard?
Abdel-Samad: No. Maybe Tunisia within the foreseeable future, as it is small, its civil society is quite well organized, and the West supports the development of civil and democratic structures.
Die Welt: In your book, you thank a boy who has written to you that he is thankful to the Islamists that their death threat against you has brought him in touch with your ideas. Was the death threat therefore useful to spread your message?
Abdel-Samad: Basically, yes, and this just shows the stupidity of the fanatics. They do not understand: If they want to ban a book or silence a writer, this brings about the opposite effect. They say: He must be killed! But then people start to ask why. What does he say? Who is he? Just because the Islamists live in their closed world and talk only to each other, they believe their threats could silence people. This is ridiculous and naive.
Die Welt: You say that you stirred up a hornet’s nest with your book. Usually, hornet’s nests are smoked out, they are burnt. What is your strategy to combat political Islam? Is there a means, perhaps the economic success of a rival — maybe democratic — system?
Abdel-Samad: The disease must be diagnosed correctly. A clear diagnosis has not been permitted in the past. I see myself as a diagnosing physician. As Karl Kraus said, “I cannot lay eggs, but I can recognize a foul one.” It’s about the chronic diseases of Arab societies: lack of education, lack of economic structures, corruption, paternalism…the list is long. This is the swamp in which fascist Islamism tries to catch people who are stuck in this swamp of frustration. They are light-years away from the modern world. It is much easier for them to withdraw to a ideological level, rather than to address the problems and solve them. A preacher who is considered moderate in the West seriously said that the economic decline has only started since we no longer take jihad seriously. He seriously suggests new wars of conquest against Christian countries, head tax for Christians and Jews, the enslavement of opponents. These are frighteningly clear parallels to fascism, this is inhuman. The helpless leaders are overwhelmed and tell fairytales. Just like an Egyptian general who has loudly proclaimed that they had discovered a secret weapon against AIDS recently. All of this feeds on the same myths, is quixotic, and stews in its own juice. This creates a transfigured world view from which you cannot break out.
Die Welt: So Islam and democracy are not compatible?
Abdel-Samad: Of course not. By claiming that they are, you prolong the disease and delay the healing process. True Islam is as true socialism: So great, but unfortunately, it is nowhere practiced around the world. The Islamic world deceives itself by thinking that an Islamic system could be democratic. Democracy means that the people decide. Islam means that God is the legislator.
Die Welt: That sounds hopeless and is hardly encouraging for the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world…
Abdel-Samad: The Arab-Islamic societies want to be modern and successful. But when I want to build a car, I first need to familiarize myself with the laws of physics, with the mechanics and even with the environmental regulations that apply in a modern world. Then I have to see what materials are available to me. But I do not have to re-invent the wheel. I just need to figure out which of my materials fit car manufacturing and which don’t. Cow dung and car do not fit. To insist that cow dung should be part of the car is a fatal fallacy. Applied to the Islam-democracy discussion: There are Western intellectuals who say that it will somehow work out with the cow dung. This is not to help one to help himself, but anesthesia. The Muslims did not invent the car, but buy it anyway. Why should that not be possible in the case of democracy? We insist on sharing our culture, even if this is a hindrance.
Die Welt: You call Islam a “belated religion” which got stuck in the year 1435 and thus lives in its own Middle Ages. Does this mean that the Islamic world will have to go through all that Europe has experienced in its Middle Ages?
Abdel-Samad: Absolutely. We are heading towards a religious war between Sunnites and Shiites of global dimensions. And we can only hope that afterwards, we will have a reformation, as was the case in Europe. We cannot get past it, but the price will be high. The juvenile masses without perspective and hope can only be fed, employed – and burnt — by religious wars.
Die Welt: Samuel Huntington once spoke of the “clash of civilizations” and meant Islam against Western culture. You speak of an “inner clash of civilizations”, an intra-Arab struggle. About what?
Abdel-Samad: The ideological war rages between a modern, Western-oriented class that got partly independent from the official knowledge and the religious supremacy of Islam, and the traditional forces which fear freedom. Fascism has always been feeding on this fear. The war is considered a chance of rebirth, by fascists as by Islamists. That world peace can only be restored if all people belonged to Islam. This is not Islamism, it is already written in the Koran. We can only counteract this by addressing the roots of this ideology, without taboos, and tear them out. Whoever calls that radical, belittles the problem.
Die Welt: When you disappeared without a trace end of November last year in Cairo for two days, many people were worried about you. What happened back then?
Abdel-Samad: I was just kidnapped in the street by four people in a car and held for two days. I was mistreated, beaten and forced, with a gun to the head, to sign papers whose contents I could not read. As the kidnappers released me, I came across the most stupid policemen in the world. The Egyptian police just want to prove that they did everything right. But the authorities have not adequately taken care of my personal safety. I have sued them. The investigations are ongoing. But as for this particular investigation, the police department that I sued is responsible, nothing happens.
Die Welt: And was this case connected to the death threat of the Islamists against you?
Abdel-Samad: No, it was about money. It was criminals who appeared to have acted on behalf of somebody else. After the revolution, in the phase of optimism, I had invested all my savings in an Egyptian company, which now employs 100 people and in which my brother played an important role. However, my brother’s partners gradually wrangled their relatives into the company. They got more and more corrupt and engaged in criminal and dangerous business. My brother then got out of the company’s management and I wanted to take my investments back. A first check of 27,000 euros was due and I told the debtors, either you pay or I will report you to the police. I did not get anything and also this case is still ongoing.
Die Welt: Do these events still stress you today?
Abdel-Samad: Yes. After my return to Germany, I was in psychiatric treatment for a week. I could not deal with daily life and had a great loss of confidence in everything. I thought the death threat was the worst thing you could experience in Egypt. But I was wrong. The Egyptian government loses control of the people and the people lose control of themselves. And the clergy sits there and deals with the question of whether the Prophet can be shown in a movie or not. This is far from reality. And someday someone comes and says, I know how it all works. This is how fascism comes into play.
The Islamist says
Zionism, Capitalism, Western DemonsCrazy also have fascistic characteristics.
I am warning you against Political West. Be aware.
Steffen Larsen says
“DemonsCrazy” ….haha, that’s the most forced joke I have seen in a long time. Even compared to Arab caricatures. Anyways, care to explain that one, please?
Rob Crawford says
A little too close to home, eh, nutcase?
Kalliope says
@The Islamist
Well, let’s talk about who was REALLY “DemonsCrazy”…it was your man, Muḥammad:
A Bewitched Prophet?
http://answering-islam.org/Authors/Wood/bewitched_prophet.htm
MUHAMMAD AND THE DEMONS
http://answering-islam.org/Silas/demons.htm
Even Muḥammad knew he was possessed. He tried to commit suicide, after the vicious ‘revelation’ of “Gabriel” but was stopped by the demon masquerading as the holy angel. The violent nature of “Gabriel” should have evidence enough that he was dealing with an evil spirit. But alas, Muḥammad was mentally unstable, and had been targeted by Satan since childhood. He absolutely could not tell good from evil, God from Satan, angels from demons. This is why Muḥammad gave a revelation from Satan as though it was from God:
Satanic Verses (Gharaniq Incident)
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Satanic_Verses_-_Gharaniq_Incident
MUHAMMAD AND THE SATANIC VERSES
http://answering-islam.org/Responses/Saifullah/sverses.htm
Muḥammad was not man enough to commit suicide, and thus was used by Satan himself to persecute the true followers of God. He literally gave in to his demons.
So, let’s recap, Islamist:
1) Your pagan demon-moon-god, Allāh, is a blood-lusty, deceitful god. It is Satan, himself:
Allah the Best Deceiver
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Allah_the_Best_Deceiver
Allah – The Greatest Deceiver of them All
http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allah_best_deceiver.htm
2)Muḥammad’s morals came straight from Hell itself. And just as fittingly, although he was the “Apostle of Allah”, even he could not say he was going to Heaven:
Narrated ‘Um Al-`Ala
http://sunnah.com/bukhari/63/155
Now, Islamist, why are you Muslims following a deceitful trickster god and a false prophet? It is because you all strive to emulate murderous Muḥammad.
Muḥammad the demon-possessed man.
Kepha says
DemonsCrazy–hmmm.
Even Aristotle noted that rule by the many, when it works for the good of the dominant political faction, is called demokratia; if it works for the public good, it is called politeia–in the same way rule by the one can be either monarchy or tyranny, and rule by the few either aristocracy or oligarchy.
My problem with Islamist is that Islam is too polyanna-ish about a “rightly guided caliph”. It seems that whether you’re Sunnite or Shi’ite, you have too many of them being assassinated by their followers shortly aftet taking power. It’s a little like reading II Kings, with the short dynasties that followed Jeroboam son of Nebat in the northern kingdom of Israel, with numerous revolutions and assassinations until the Assyrians put and end to it all. I guess it’s been the same for revolutionary regimes (including Islam) ever since.
gravenimage says
The Islamist wrote:
Zionism, Capitalism, Western DemonsCrazy (sic) also have fascistic characteristics.
I am warning you against Political West. Be aware
………………………………….
And what might those “fascistic characteristics” be? I doubt “The Islamist” would answer.
My guess, though, is the idea that Western Democracy is “fascistically” preventing Muslims from oppressing, exploiting, and mass-murdering Infidels under Shari’ah…
duh_swami says
Now, that was heavy. This guy definitely has Allah’s number. His number is ‘unlisted’, and any kuffar that gets it, must be killed. So stay safe, and good luck.
KrazyKafir says
Until Hamed Abdel-Samad can show me how he is going to convince Muslims that the Allah’s words, and Muhammad’s actions in the Qur’an, are wrong, then he is still just a carrier.
Carmen Sporidis says
he just claimes what do many Germans, nothing about his own faith. You can guess what he believe, but you cannot read tea leaves and decid what he really believe in
Transmaster says
I must have this book. He has is right. Can you imagine a world with Sunni, and Shia’ trying nuking each other to extinction.
umbra says
That is being arranged by iran at the moment.
Petey says
There are new theories of this exact scenario in Bible prophesy circles on YouTube, just Google Islam and beast, it should come up. quite fascinating if your into a good Illuminati theory (for our devout atheist friends) or quite eye opening for the Judeo/Christian types (and just so we’re not confused I’m talking a huge war between Sunni and Shiite possibly nuclear)
bob says
the Welt reporter misspoke in saying that Islamism as fascism is somehow an iconoclastic statement to make. Islamism in the 1920s–the Muslim Brotherhood, the activities of the Mufti, and his fellow Muslim collaborators , the creation of the Baath party–all had plenty to draw on from within Islam and did not need Nazism to create them— The defeat of Germany’s Empire in WW I kindled the rise of Nazism, just as the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the dismantling of the caliphate kindled modern Islamism–the jihadist genocide by Turks and Kurds of the Armenians–and the would be genocide by the Turks of the Jewish community in Palestine (thwarted by the Germans in WW I) very much pre-dated the rise of Nazim.
bob says
the Welt reporter misspoke in saying that Islamism as fascism is somehow an iconoclastic statement to make. Islamism in the 1920s–the Muslim Brotherhood, the activities of the Mufti, and his fellow Muslim collaborators , the creation of the Baath party–all had plenty to draw on from within Islam and did not need Nazism to create them— The defeat of Germany’s Empire in WW I kindled the rise of Nazism, just as the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and the dismantling of the caliphate kindled modern Islamism–the jihadist genocide by Turks and Kurds of the Armenians–and the would be genocide by the Turks of the Jewish community in Palestine (thwarted by the Germans in WW I) very much pre-dated the rise of Nazim.
Tim says
Hamed Abdel-Samad was kidnapped by MB members in Egypt a few months ago for ‘insulting Allah’. God knows if he’s even alive anymore.
Steffen Larsen says
Abdel-Samad has 2013 been declared a heretic by an Al-Azhar professor, who said that Abdel-Samad must recant his heresy or killing him will be legal according to islamic law.
eib says
Abdel-Samad is INNOCENT.
Anyone threatening him is lower than the Infernal Serpent.
God protect this man.
Let him find peace in the West.
Protect him, Lord God.
mortimer says
The dysfunctionality of Islamic societies is well illustrated by Hamed Abdel-Samad’s anecdotes of trying to obtain justice in Egypt.
Remember that Egypt is one of MOST well-functioning of ALL Islamic countries. The rest are five times more corrupt!
voegelinian says
“Hamed Abdel-Samad is an Egyptian born political scientist, historian and author, now living in Germany. He is the son of a Sunni imam, but has dedicated the recent years of his life to warning against the political side of Islam.”
If “political side of Islam” are Samad’s own words, then we cannot trust him and must assume he is doing sabotage in the “battle space of the war of ideas” (as Frank Gaffney has so aptly put it). Not to mention that the mere fact Samad is a Muslim makes him suspect in his motives for “warning” us.
On the other hand, knowing Sennels and his degree of asymptotic spasm, that artificial, erroneous, and counterproductive (if not reckless) distinction (“political side of Islam”) may be his.
Salah says
“If “political side of Islam” are Samad’s own words, then we cannot trust him”
Wrong. The political side of Islam is ALL we should care about. Violent jihad, stealth jihad, sharia, islamic supremacism etc. are direct products of the political side of Islam.
Why should we care if a Muslim believes that Muhammad was a perfect man or that the Qur’an is the perfect book of Allah or that Islam is a religion of peace?
Of course, I would prefer to see him reject Islam altogether. But if he sincerely rejects violence and does not try to impose his sharia laws on the other, if he abides by the law of the land, if he’s simply trying to live and let live, then he’s a decent person and should be respected.
Islam is evil, but the political side of Islam is what should really concern us security-wise.
Dennis Trisker says
Thank you Salah. I agree. If a person wishes to believe in Allah or Jehovah that has nothing to do with me. It is the political side of Islamist expansion that we must deal with. For this we cannot be black and white. , Emotionally motivated or religioys
Y biased. we must be reasonable human beings. i am against any theocratic expansion, any relugion which wishes to create world empire. Remember that when Christianity ruled Europe killing innocents, murdering entire Jewish communities, burning witches and non-conformists, that time is known as the Dark Ages. Against Islamic cruelty yes. Against a persons right to believe? No. As long as his or her belief is not imposed on me!
voegelinian says
It’s odd that Salah, who comes out of the Muslim milieu and the Muslim world, doesn’t seem to know basic facts about Islam. In Islam, there is no separation of politics and religion. Therefore, in our analyses, we should not be superimposing our enlightened views of such a separation onto their worldview. To do so could have disastrous consequences, and could cost lives – in fact, it already has been costing lives, because such a view is part of the dominant and mainstream PC MC paradigm by which Western government continue to develop their misguided policy with regard to the problem of Islam.
Salah says
“In Islam, there is no separation of politics and religion.”
I know, I also know that in Islam, EVERYTHING is pure evil. I’m not talking about Islam, I’m talking about decent Muslims who wrongly believe that Islam is peaceful. They were born Muslims and they firmly believe that Muhammad was indeed the perfect man, and, most importantly, they behave decently.
As long as they behave this way, they deserve our respect. They also deserve more non-PC education about Islam, they deserve protection if they choose to quit their dark prison. They will, sooner or later, leave Islam altogether.
As for the jihadists, supremacists, terrorists etc. they must be deported, rot in jail or killed.
Salah says
“..such a view is part of the dominant and mainstream PC MC paradigm..”
Wrong again, voegelinian.
According to the MSM, the vast majority of Muslims are decent BECAUSE Islam is a religion of peace.
What I’m saying is exactly the opposite, I’m saying that the vast majority of Muslims are decent DESPITE of their violent religion.
Bradamante says
This is an excellent and very useful interview. I’m going to do my best to pass it along to people who aren’t yet convinced. He does a great job of explaining things matter-of-factly yet clearly so that even people who don’t want to be “Islamophobic” can hardly miss the point. Kudos to the translators as well.
Boston Tea Party says
Die Welt: So Islam and democracy are not compatible?
Abdel-Samad: Of course not. By claiming that they are, you prolong the disease and delay the healing process.
***
In the US, this simple, objective statement of truth is one that about 98% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans stridently, passionately dispute. And that’s why we’re in trouble.
Sam says
Another lonely soldier is telling the truth about Islam and his life is ruined. When are we going to start fighting really? Against Islam I mean..
Debi Brand says
Amen.
A fight for our survival, clearly so, yet a war we are yet to declare.
Islofob IS-1 says
A interesting interview..
Would like to hear him explain just why , or if, he considers himself a musllm, just how do you avoid the teachings of the qur’an?
Also, islam itself is the enemy, and every attempt to remove the commands of death to all but those who follow the right path, will not find sucess. At best, a new sect would be founded, but will itself become as endangered as the free west is today.
The “faith” of islam must be rejected, in every way, and seeing this will begin the journey , to the only answer.
A world without islam , one way or another, it will happen.
smart guy says
Killing people of a different faith has been going on ever since the remains of a Doctor of Theology from Oxford England were burnt at the stake.
I am of course talking about Wycliff who translated the latin Bible into English. His teaching of the Gospel went to Bohemia the capital of which was Prague. In order to crush the teaching of the Gospel Rome organized 3 crusades against them. Rome lost all three crusades. The advent of the printing press centuries later accelerated the reformation. In 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered America Spain was the world power. But in 1588 the Spainish amarda that was sent to crush England was defeated. Their flag ship was called “St Peter” The idea that St Peter would support outlawing the Gospel is absurd. “Many will come on the basis of my name saying “Did we not prophesy in your name and expell demons in your name and perform many powerful works in you name” yet I will confess I never knew you get away from me you workers of lawlessness.” Jesus.
England and other stupid countries have fogotten that religious freedom has come to the world only as a result of the enemies of religious freedom being defeated on the battlefield. After winning the English Civil War of 1644-1645 by the Roundheads religious freedom spread to all English Colonies. That freedom is now being threatened by politicians who support the importation of cheap labor, and as a result they are traitors to the Reformation. The war agaisnt Islam starts with our own house, “A man’s enemies are members of his own house.” Jesus
Inchoate says
Surely, from what we’ve seen and are seeing, all of our Judeo-Christian based erudite criticisms of Muslim root thinking based upon their Koran is a waste of time. They seem […these Muslims] to understand only force applied brutally and swiftly. We here in the West cannot organize that at all, with the “Nations United Against America” and with threatened and already infiltrated countries in Europe consumed with organizing their own very limited resources fighting their own interior political dilemmas.
The traditional, since 1917, and conventional wisdom of “let the Americans handle it” is now quite beyond our own limited resources. [How they became so limited is another subject.]
So, let’s face this reality:
With West- and Central-Asia firmly in the literally bloody grasp of the Koran, and China with it’s billion-and-counting restless masses along with the mercurial North Koreans planning who-knows-what, we Americans are in one helluva and very singular mess.
This leaves the Indians with their own separate billion-and-counting who seem to waver from socialism to capitalism and are now emerging prominently within our computer World. They’ve already fought their bloody separation…Hindu from Muslim.
Why can’t we Americans learn anything from this?
The realistic trend is obviously towards North American self-protective Isolationism. The World has to learn, right now, that “diplomatic” palaver and shiploads of American cash are simply a waste of time and are a thing of the Past. “Talk” [accompanied by the accustomed American cash] with Muslims only grants Muslims time for nuclear development. We Americans are learning gradually that we are alone in the ability to defend ourselves.
Any Nation out there willing to stand by….really stand by….. America?
Jay Boo says
Imagine the non-religion of Islam without an enemy to hate.
“Mirror, mirror on the wall
Who should Muslims hate today most of all”
gravenimage says
He claims Islam to have “fascistic characteristics” — and is therefore under threat: The German-Egyptian journalist Hamed Abdel-Samad challenges a religion of which he himself is a member.
…………………………………
The usual: if you say Islam is oppressive and violent, they will kill you.
Poster Tim wrote:
Hamed Abdel-Samad was kidnapped by MB members in Egypt a few months ago for ‘insulting Allah’. God knows if he’s even alive anymore.
…………………………………
Luckily, he seems to have dodged that bullet:
“German author Abdel-Samad resurfaces in Egypt after kidnap fears”
http://www.dw.de/german-author-abdel-samad-resurfaces-in-egypt-after-kidnap-fears/a-17256338
Being kidnapped in the brutal and chaotic Muslim world is pretty much par for the course. He’s “lucky” that his kidnappers were not acting specifically ideologically.
But, of course, he is certainly still in danger.
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The author Hamed Abdel-Samad lives in Germany, but he is not safe here. The 42-year-old needs permanent police protection, as he has enemies. Violent, fanatical enemies who want him dead
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This is also true of Geert Wilders, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and anyone else who dares to tell any kind of truth about Islam.
And why—and in what way—is Abdel-Samad still a Muslim? He seems to understand how ugly the creed is.
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Die Welt: You are very pessimistic about the future of the Arab-Islamic world in general. You present a new book, your fourth one. It seems to me that you get more and more radical in your theses. Would you agree with that?
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Oh, good grief. Homicidal Muslims are “radical”, and those who would dare criticize them are also “radical”. This is calumny.
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Abdel-Samad: For Germans this may sound bold and provocative. But what is fascism?…That’s also exactly what Islam is.
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Yes—Islam is fascistic in every way. There’s nothing outrageous in saying this.
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We can watch that everywhere where Islamists take power, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria — no matter where.
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*Very* true. There is nowhere where Islam has gained power that is not oppressive and horrifically violent.
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Die Welt: And the so-called “moderate Islam”? Does it exist, anyway?
Abdel-Samad: For a long time, we had this prime example of a supposedly moderate Islam in Turkey with Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the top.
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Of course, Turkey never had “moderate Islam” Under Atatürk and those who succeeded him, Islam was imperfectly *suppressed*. Turkey’s being *comparatively* civilized had everything to do with this suppression of Islam. Now, of course, Erdogan has been dismantling secular safeguards for the past ten years.
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Die Welt: A wolf in sheep’s clothing, then? Or as you call it in your book: democracy as a Trojan horse?
Abdel-Samad: Exactly. The Islamist who wants to come to power is not interested in democracy. He does not believe in it…
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Yes—and this is what the West failed to understand about the Muslim Brotherhood. This was classic “one man, one vote, one time” model. And that is the very basis of fascism.
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Die Welt: So a divine mandate?
Abdel-Samad: Yes. That’s the only thing that motivates him to engage in politics. He does not respect human-made structures such as parliaments and the judiciary, because God has set the law for him already 1400 years ago. It only needs to be applied.
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This is true—but, really, the who goal of any pious Muslim is to impose Shari’ah. This is not just the goal of those who are “political”, but of every believing Muslim. As noted many times, there is no separation of mosque and state in Islam.
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Die Welt: That would mean that dialogue is not possible with these people…
Abdel-Samad: … dialogue, in this case, is actually a waste of time. With Erdogan, a dialogue has been conducted, but he has fooled the West. His so-called reforms were more like empowerment laws.
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*Yes*. Any “dialog” will just be used to further the power of Islam and to fool the credulous Kuffar. It has no other purpose in Islam.
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“Moderate Islam” is an invention of Western Islamic scholars. Moderate and Islam is a paradox, they do not match.
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All this is very true. But it begs the question—what is Abdel-Samad? A would-be reformer? A closet apostate?
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Die Welt: What you say is surely not without danger. You have received death threats, live under police protection, bring family and friends into danger. In a way, you risk your life for your beliefs. Would you therefore describe yourself as a martyr?
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Good God. More witless moral equivalence—as though telling the truth were just the same as strapping on a suicide vest.
And doesn’t it occur to Dietrich Alexander that there is something very, very wrong with Islam if it threatens anyone who dares speak honestly about it?
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Die Welt: Let’s come back to Islam and democracy again. The Egyptian President by the grace of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Morsi, was democratically elected and then undemocratically overthrown. What was wrong with Morsi’s rule?
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Sadly, another twit who appears to believe that democracy is no more than mob rule with a ballot box. True democracy (and no, I am not using this term in the ancient Greek sense, but in the modern Western sense) entails checks and balances, limits on power, and legal safeguards for minorities and the individual.
Why do so many Westerners fail to understand this elemental point? Even many would-be champions of democracy such as George W. Bush was clueless about this.
And this is why you have the bizarre spectacle of otherwise decent men like John McCain believing that the horrific Muslim Brotherhood represented democracy. What fools these dhimmis be…
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Abdel-Samad: Morsi had no plan for Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood had only slogans. But suddenly they had to deal with the economy, foreign policy and tourism. They did that very amateurishly, they focused on the morals of society.
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This only gives part of the picture. This was not just “amateurishness”—they wanted to destroy the tourist industry, since it is made up almost entirely of Infidels, and of Infidels mostly coming to see Egypt’s “Jahillya”—ancient Egyptian and Greek and Roman ruins, all pre-Islamic work. Oh, sure—the tourists might drop by a mosque or two during their stay, but even that is problematic, since they would probably be more interested in the architecture and the history than in Islam itself.
They also wanted to choke off foreign investment, since if is “un-Islamic”.
Their main concern with foreign policy was breaking the treaty with Israel.
All of this was very deliberate.
As for their focus being on the “morals of society”, this has to be understood in purely Islamic terms, since the “morals” they were promoting included FGM, pedophilia, and the oppression and murder of the Copts.
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…this just shows the stupidity of the fanatics. They do not understand: If they want to ban a book or silence a writer, this brings about the opposite effect. They say: He must be killed! But then people start to ask why. What does he say? Who is he? Just because the Islamists live in their closed world and talk only to each other, they believe their threats could silence people. This is ridiculous and naive.
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This *only* works in the free West—and then only to some extent. People in Iran, Yeman, and Somalia are not as a rule rushing out to buy the books of people with Fatwas on their heads—nor did they in Taliban-era Afghanistan.
And make no mistake—pious Muslims want to turn the whole world into such Shari’ah sh*itholes.
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A preacher who is considered moderate in the West seriously said that the economic decline has only started since we no longer take jihad seriously. He seriously suggests new wars of conquest against Christian countries, head tax for Christians and Jews, the enslavement of opponents. These are frighteningly clear parallels to fascism, this is inhuman.
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Yes, it is—but this is also what the “Golden Age” of Islam looked like—conquest, tribute, booty, slavery, and Jizya—and *many* Muslims look back to this period as their ideal, and want to revive it.
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Die Welt: So Islam and democracy are not compatible?
Abdel-Samad: Of course not. By claiming that they are, you prolong the disease and delay the healing process. True Islam is as true socialism: So great, but unfortunately, it is nowhere practiced around the world. The Islamic world deceives itself by thinking that an Islamic system could be democratic.
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I’m sure some Muslims do—but with many more, the idea that Islam is compatible with democracy is nothing more than Taqiyya. Imam Rauf’s meretricious “What’s Right with Islam is what’s Right with America” is a classic example.
But many Muslims—the “fast Jihadists”—just come right out and condemn democracy as un-Islamic”.
That was, in fact, on of the few criticisms that the Salafists in Egypt had for the Muslim Brotherhood—that they had used the trappings of democracy to take power.
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Die Welt: That sounds hopeless and is hardly encouraging for the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world…
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This is a *very, very* common response in the West—to ignore reality when it comes to Islam, because it just seems too depressing.
This was a common reaction to Germany during the rise of Hitler, as well.
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Die Welt: You call Islam a “belated religion” which got stuck in the year 1435 and thus lives in its own Middle Ages. Does this mean that the Islamic world will have to go through all that Europe has experienced in its Middle Ages?
Abdel-Samad: Absolutely…
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This is one of those stupid tropes that *drives me nuts*.
Several points: firstly, Islam *does not* consider itself a new religion at all, but the true religion that dates back to creation.
Then, this only makes even the vaguest sense when compared to Christianity—it makes no sense whatsoever as a timeline when compared to Judaism or Buddhism or any other faith.
Moreover, let’s look at “Christendom” in 1435—yes, it could be a brutal place, but the Renaissance was in full swing, with a flowering of art, letters, and the foundation of science. There is *nothing* like this going on in the arid Islamic world.
Overall, in fact, the Muslim world is getting worse, and is moving backward. Islam idealizes the Dark Ages and seeks to return to that time—there is no such urge with other faiths.
Not only is the reference to the Reformation ridiculous, but Islam has essentially already *had* its “reformation”, and that resulted in the rise of “fundamentalism” that we are still seeing today.
One last point—not only is the “timeline” inane when it comes to older faiths like Judaism and Buddhism, but to younger ones, as well.
After all, Unitarians, New Agers, and Scientologists are not running wild in the streets, raping and pillaging and stoning heretics to death.
The whole concept is absurd—and yet, it has shown remarkable staying power.
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Die Welt: Samuel Huntington once spoke of the “clash of civilizations” and meant Islam against Western culture. You speak of an “inner clash of civilizations”, an intra-Arab struggle. About what?
Abdel-Samad: The ideological war rages between a modern, Western-oriented class that got partly independent from the official knowledge and the religious supremacy of Islam, and the traditional forces which fear freedom.
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True to a point—but often when polled we find that all too many in that “Western-oriented class”—whether in the West or in Dar-al-Islam—is all too “traditional” itself, and wants to see the imposition of Shari’ah, including the judicial murder of apostates.
Over all, Hamed Abdel-Samad has some interesting things to say, and it would be well if Germany and the rest of the West paid attention—certainly, he is more savvy about Islam than many Infidels are.
But—as his naïve and insanely optimistic act of investing all his savings in an Egyptian company in the wake of the revolution there show that he is hardly without some pretty serious illusions of his own.