Harvard Prof: “Islam is not the major obstacle . . . for democratization in Muslim societies”
by Andrew Harrod
“Islam is not the major obstacle . . . for democratization in Muslim societies,” declared Jocelyne Cesari, a Harvard and Georgetown University professor of Muslim politics, on January 27 at George Washington (GW) University. Cesari’s presentation of her book, The Awakening of Muslim Democracy, before an audience of about thirty failed to justify her overconfident contention that the Muslim world’s authoritarianism has no basis in Islamic doctrine.
Opening her discussion of Islamic religion and rights, Cesari warned correctly that “political Islam is not going to die.” Muslims worldwide view the separation of religion and politics “as something that doesn’t fit . . . their national identity or culture.” She added that, “Islam is . . . appealing as a form of political mobilization” as opposed to other “alternative ideologies” such as that of “socialists.”
Cesari noted how the “politicization of Islam” extended to “so-called secular states” within Muslim-majority societies. She described a “certain brand of Islam” as having a “hegemonic status” in the “state institution” and a “central element of the new national identity,” such that “being a citizen is also being a good Muslim.” Even post-Ottoman Turkey, having “removed Islam from the public space,” sought to “nationalize Islam” by controlling religious institutions, a “breakdown with the Islamic tradition” that established Muslim scholars’ independence from rulers.
She pointed out a similar “institutionalism of Islam” in the areas of education and law in states such as the oft-touted “moderate” Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Other than Turkey, these states “did not let go of sharia,” but “changed” or “reduced” it to domains such as family law. “You cannot learn calculus without having references to Islam” in Pakistani schools, she added. Saddam Hussein also “paid a lot of attention to” a “completely instrumentalized” Islam in which he “built a fiction” that “never, never touched upon” Shiite-Sunni differences.
Strangely, Cesari’s commentary on the omnipresence of political Islam did not impel her to question the compatibility of Islamic faith with freedom. She asserted counterfactually that, for legitimating liberty under law, the “resources in the Islamic tradition are the same” as “in the Jewish tradition or the Christian tradition.” Contradicting Islamic history, she stated that, “nothing in Islam” demands an “Islamic state” and that “not even one part” of the “totalitarian project” in the current Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) “existed historically.” “The idea that Islam subsumes everything is a modern . . . not a traditional idea,” she later elaborated. In her imaginary conception of Islam, the “role of religion is not about state institutions,” but “improving the common good of the people.”
In her analysis of numerous national school curricula, Cesari found a “very intolerant” Islam, but “not because the Islamic tradition is intolerant” with any uniform theological “genetic or DNA deficit.” “The problem,” she declared, “is the lack of the Islamic tradition.” Thus, Europeans seeking to counter Islamic radicalism “need more Islam.”
Much of Cesari’s skewed perception of Islam stemmed from a misunderstanding of the Ottoman Empire, the only Islamic regime she viewed positively. She praised the alleged “built-in . . . pluralism” that gave Muslim legal schools “thought provoking, critical” debate at a time of European Protestant-Catholic strife, a “pluralism” that, in fact, included brutal Ottoman oppression of Christians and other non-Muslims. Contrary to Islamic doctrine, she claimed that non-Muslims counted under the Ottomans as “part of the umma” or Muslim community. Invoking this mythology of Ottoman multicultural coexistence, she described the oppressive empire as “very decentralized” among its various millet semiautonomous yet subordinate religious communities.
Cesari’s own statements contradicted her advocacy of governmental “equidistance” among all faiths for majority-Muslim countries. A “Westernized . . . secularized elite,” she observed, often created polities “more state-nation” than “nation-state” in newly independent Muslim-majority countries throughout history. Pakistan’s founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, for example, represented a “very tiny Westernized, British-ized minority” that, ultimately, had to recognize that “Islam has to play a role in the new nation.” Jinnah, she added, “would have a nightmare to see what Pakistan has become.”
In a conversation following the lecture, Cesari, relying upon her umma analysis, rejected this reporter’s suggestion that states in the Muslim world are weak precisely because widely recognized Islamic doctrine demands allegiance from the faithful to Islam above all others. Thus, governments in Muslim countries must always maintain Islamic legitimacy or face upheaval, as did Iran’s deposed Shah in 1979. Governments can seek this Islamic mandate of heaven through a combination of winning the dedication of the devout or controlling religious institutions, as in Turkey, so as to suppress dissent.
Cesari’s combination of facts and wildly incorrect theories were redolent of cognitive dissonance. She perceived state-sponsored intolerant Islam, supposedly the result of theological misunderstanding, everywhere except in her mythical vision of the Ottoman Empire. Facts, however stubborn, cannot always overcome politically-correct, multicultural delusions.
Thankfully, various audience members retained a more critical view of Islam. One individual caustically described France, with its poorly assimilated Muslim immigrant population, as having been “invaded by a marauding force.” Cesari’s audience gives hope that such academics will not have the last word on Islam.
Andrew E. Harrod is a freelance researcher and writer who holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a JD from George Washington University Law School. He is a fellow with the Lawfare Project; follow him on twitter at @AEHarrod. He wrote this essay for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum
Georg says
Hmm… must be the water.
St. Croix says
Rocks in ze head.
Spot On says
If I was unqualified for any other job, maybe I could still get a job as a Harvard professor?
Mirren10 says
” If I was unqualified for any other job, maybe I could still get a job as a Harvard professor?”
Might as well set up as a pimp, since that is what the majority of ‘academics’ are; Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge … faugh.
Huck Folder says
She may be a pimp to her students, but does she in turn have a pimp?
Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud gave $20,000,000 to Harvard in 2005.
That buys a whole pile of brown noses!
They currently have a faculty of SIXTY! At $100,000 per year each, that’s $6,000,000 per year just for faculty – then add overheads… No wonder tuition is astronomical!
Question: Does that grant cover ALL running costs, or has Harvard received more?
Is that program now funded wholly or in part, out of general revenue, or subsidized by general (Christian and Jewish) donors and benefactors.
Can someone do a FoIA request on that, if it’s worth it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Waleed_bin_Talal
“Al-Waleed is an active ‘philanthropist’. [taqiyyameister?] Much of Al-Waleed’s ‘charitable’ activities are in the field of educational [propaganda] initiatives* to bridge gaps between Western and Islamic communities. [But ALL from the Western side!] Over the years, he has funded a number of centers of American studies in universities in the Middle East and centers of Islamic studies in Western universities, which has caused Campus Watch and Jewish American interest groups to question the centers’ academic autonomy.” [Good on them, and Wiki!]
“Controversial donation after the 11 September attacks:
Immediately after the September 11 attacks, Al-Waleed gave a cheque for $10 million to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He publicized a written statement upon his donation, stating, “At times like this, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause.” As a result of his statement, Giuliani returned the cheque. [Good]
Al-Waleed spoke to a Saudi weekly magazine regarding the rejection of his cheque by the mayor: “The whole issue is that I spoke about their position [on the Middle East conflict] and they didn’t like it because there are Jewish pressures and they are afraid of them.” [I bet he publishes the Saudi version of The Protocols.]
“Palestinians:
In 2002, Al-Waleed donated £18.5 million to the families of Palestinians during a TV telethon following Israeli operations in the West Bank city of Jenin. The telethon was ordered by Saudi King Fahd to help relatives of Palestinian. The operation was an attempt by the Israeli army to stop the increasing deaths from terrorist attacks, especially in suicide bombings. The spark that gave rise to the action was the March 27 suicide bombing during Passover Seder at the Park Hotel in the Israeli resort city of Netanya; a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 30 mostly elderly vacationers.”
Say, that’s nice company you keep there Jocelyne.
“Western Universities:
On 8 May 2008, Al-Waleed gave £16 million to Edinburgh University to fund the “centre for the study of Islam in the contemporary world.” An active center at the American University of Beirut is also established by a fund from Prince Al-Waleed, namely: The Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR). The Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medical College is named for Al-Waleed. The Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge also bears the name of Al-Waleed, as does the Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University.” [Quite a media whore]
* http://www.alwaleedfoundations.org/global/?project=/louvre-museum-department-of-islamic-art/
“In 2005, as part of his ‘dedication’ to foster Global Cultural Understanding, [propaganda] Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal donated $23m to support the construction of a new, architecturally stunning [halal?] hall at the Louvre to house and showcase Louvre’s remarkable Islamic collection to millions of visitors each year.”
“Housed in their impressive new home, this greatly-prized [?] collection of historical pieces are expected to be studied by all enthusiasts of Islamic Art. Through this groundbreaking addition to its existing public works, the Louvre will become an outstanding world platform [wasn’t it before?] where the grandeur and beauty of Islam’s ancient culture can be celebrated in its full glory.
The exhibition will be housed in a striking gallery space, two-thirds of which was constructed underground, within in the Cour Visconti, a large courtyard within the Louvre grounds.
These contemporary and innovative new spaces, … will, according to HRH Prince Alwaleed, “assist in the understanding of ‘the true meaning of Islam’, a religion of humanity [gag]… and the acceptance [insinuation] of other cultures. It will reinforce ‘understanding’ between Western and Islamic cultures and civilizations.””
How about a reciprocal building and exhibition of Western sensual and depraved art and science in islamistan, say mecca, surrounding the black vaginal urinal?
PS, to Robert or Marc: My digging for information takes me quite some time, and I know that the results stay available on line. It would be nice if some time in the future, you had some historians sift through all the comments, as well as your own articles, to extract the most pithy parts for some kind of encyclopedia of islamofilth and taqiyya.
RonaldB says
Huck Folder,
I appreciate very much your factual information. Many of the bloggers here are old-fashioned, in that we like looking at facts and following reasoned arguments.
This is in distinction to the leftist academics, of whom Jocelyne Cesari is a prime example, who fulfill their academic requirements with reams of footnotes, selective references, and opaque allusions. What they do not do is question, or examine, their overall assumptions and models. What they do not do is allow any dissenting views, in any shape whatsoever, to intrude into their closed and comfortable clique of self-reinforcing academic snobbery.
Thus it is that nobody expects Jocelyne Cesari to read any critiques of her thesis, including Robert’s excellent analysis and your own factual demolition of her own objectivity in her academic field. This would be going outside of her closed clique, and could in no way benefit her. She would not gain any additional prestige or influence by winning an argument with ‘outsiders’, but she could well look foolish to her students and colleagues by being shown up. So, her predictable strategy, like virtually all the poseur ‘experts’ skewered by the real, non-academic experts, is to totally ignore any criticism from outside the circled wagons.
Jay Boo says
Welcome Western do-gooders
Come to Syria and Iraq to teach us about Islam. Visit us at http://www.ISIS/hostage.com
Show the world how much you care while you nurse injured camels back to health with organically grown cactuses and fair-trade harvested green tea.
Come visit us and experience a truly unforgettable ecco-friendly guided tour of our guest living quarters while supporting the ISIS plan to fund an exploration of multicultural sustainability.
St. Croix says
Yes, good one. Sadly there are many who would fall for the “offer.”
Western gov’ts should make it very plain: if you want to go over there and “do good” don’t count on being ransomed out of it–no funds will be forthcoming unless you took out your own “ransom insurance.” A vos risques!
Bezelel says
Free range jihadis are contributing to global warming and burning hostages leaves a nasty carbon footprint. Where’s the EPA?
dafydd Vyvyn says
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
― T.S. Eliot
vlparker says
Ah, another Harvard genius.
Alex says
How do the come up with such conclusions ?????? What the heck???? Did the most of the world just go delusional???? It is so simple and obvious what is causing the whole havock and they still trying to go around it. Meantime the situation is just getting worse.
Keil says
You are right; some make it more complicated just to put sand in our eyes.
Wellington says
Once again I would assert, a la Mark Twain, that there are fools, damn fools and then there are academic fools.
Sheri says
“Those who profess Islam do not understand their own religion or pervert it for their own political ends.” – Mohammad Reza Pahlav The Ex- Shah of Iran
Peter says
I wasn’t impressed when I heard her at an Ivy League school a few years ago. Plus ca change, ca change plus.
Harvard’s Pluralism Project includes a searchable directory of religious centers, including those of Islam:
http://www.pluralism.org/directory/search
More Ham Ed says
I wonder if this little statistic about the “tiny” “minority” would be an obstacle:
Penalty for Converting to Another Faith – The percentage that believe this is 67.60% based on ten Muslim majority countries in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa. Based on the Muslim population of those countries, that results in 353 million people (at a minimum) who currently, and firmly believe in the death penalty for leaving Islam. How “democratic” of them.
http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/
(Posted for newcomers, regular JW readers have seen this stated before)
(And that’s from the nothing-wrong-with-islam Pew ‘research’ Center)
jay says
Any problems Muslims have is the fault of the white person, duh. When white people commit mass suicide and let every non-white person take over their lands and their possessions and technology, then the world will be at peace. I just summed up millions of words of liberal rhetoric and policy in a few sentences.
Slobbering Fits says
A Harvard and Georgetown University professor of Muslim politics ? The qualifications must have something to do with must have highly inventive thinking skills and wildly vivid imagination with an aversion to facts . Im sure it pays well but not enough for me to lie about Islam.
IQ al Rassooli says
No one should wonder WHY most so called educated Americans are so STUPID when discussing Islam
Harvard and other top level university professors are as knowledgeable of Islam as a pig’s knowledge of the science of personal hygiene
This utterly imbecile ‘professor’ sees the monster (Islam & Muslims) filling the room but DENIES its existence
Sharia (based upon Muhammad’s Quran & Sunna) is the nemesis of all forms of freedoms (thought, religion, inquiry, law etc)
Any decent human being with TWO brain cells of logic having read ONLY the first NINE chapters of Muhammad’s Quran must come to the following conclusions~
Muhammad, his Quran, his Sunna, Sharia & his followers are Hatemongering Warmongering Disloyal Racist Intolerant Duplicitous Deceitful, Treacherous, Misogynist Vile & hence totally Ungodly
If readers can find other suitable adjectives, please send them for me to read
Jocelyne Cesari should be in a Mental Institution NOT a University
IQ al Rassooli
Kafir & Proud!
Jaladhi says
Agree with your last line!!! Islam is evil, evil, evil…No matter how much these delusional professors they cannot prove otherwise. Islam has no redeeming value to human beings!!
St. Croix says
I would even say that pigs know MORE about personal hygiene than the stellar exemplars of learned ignorance such as Ms. Cesari know about Islam. I would say even PIGS know more about ISLAM than she does.
pumbar says
The Police over here don’t they haven’t got a clue.
somehistory says
“Harvard and other top level university professors are as knowledgeable of Islam as a pig’s knowledge of the science of personal hygiene”
When provided with the right conditions, a pig will be very clean in its hygiene.
******************************************************************************************************
And it seems these persons who *know everything* and proceed to *educate* the rest of us, always must bring in Judaism and Christianity in order to make islam palatable and just down-right okay with all of its attendant atrocities, *because it’s just the same as these other two.*
The beast of Revelation has so many cheerleaders and they are all using the same slogans and rah rah rah.
Jaladhi says
Another delusional professor from Harvard. I wonder where these guys come from – are they from Mars that they don’t know anything about Islam. Muslims cannot live under democracy – they can only live under a dictatorship – just look at Muslim countries around the world. How many Muslim countries are governed by democracy. Perhaps, one can say Indonesia is a kind of democracy but the rest can barely qualify. Look at Pakistan – what kind of democracy does it have now – before this it has spent more tah 80% of its life under military dictatorship. Iraq under the monster dictator Saddam Hussein was much better off than its present democracy.
Islam and Muslims cannot function under a democracy!!!
Robel says
Hm, as far as I know, Tunesia can also count as a democracy. But that’s about it…
Huck Folder says
Nah, just another antisemite/Jewbasher and islam brown-noser:
http://www.thetakeaway.org/story/how-extremists-captured-islams-message/
“Free Speech & The Prophet Muhammed: Fighting Radical Islam January 13, 2015”
The good Jocelyne Cesari* gets the last 5 min. of this 12 min. audio with dhimmi John Hockenberry:
(7:00) She starts. (7:35) She brings in the Jews as a party to the demonization of islam.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jocelyne-cesari/egypt-post-morsi_b_3658288.html
Typical HuffPo article, but this ‘prof’ wants to have six different cakes, and eat them too:
“…most of the senior leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) lack the skills for governance because running a social movement is very different from professional politics.”
Ah, on that we can agree: The ‘acorn’ post turtle becomes Chief Execrable Officer of USA Inc.
“Morsi lost his popularity because of his incapacity to provide economic and social solutions that would have assuaged the demands that led to the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in the first place.”
Yawn. How many times has that canard about ‘poverty’ been shot down? Why don’t other, desperately poor regions of the world, revolt. It’s islam – you idiot ‘professor’.
“…the argument of the small secular elite — often echoed in Washington political circles — that the reactions against the Morsi government were primarily caused by the islamization of the state, is simply not confirmed by the facts.” [Read HER ‘facts’ if you please.]
“It has even been argued [LOVE that passive voice!] that the military entered a phase of passive resistance against the Morsi regime that contributed to the paralysis of major state institutions.”
“Intriguingly, [conspiracy?] the frequent power blackouts that plagued Egyptians’ life in the last months of the Morsi regime “miraculously” stopped after June 30.”
https://twitter.com/jocelyne_cesari
“Jocelyne Cesari @jocelyne_cesari · Jan 15
MY book, Why the West Fears Islam, wins the 2015 World Book Award of the Islamic Republic of Iran”
No comment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Islam
“Jocelyne Cesari, research associate at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, says that while Islam is perceived as colliding with European secular values “Islam is simply a religion.” [Simply a CULT with a pseudo-religious négligée] According to Cesari, Muslims need to reveal the “genuine tolerant [?] face of Islam, to show its diversity [? Stonings/Beheading/Immolations…] and reveal to the world that an intellectual such as Muhammad Abduh is the best example for a modern thinker.”
“Cesari talks of the secularization of individual Islamic practices and of Islamic institutions, as well as the efforts Muslims are making to maintain the relevancy [?] of Islamic legal systems [sharia?] and what she calls the “gender jihad” She thinks that Islam should be merged into European culture and that Islamic ‘culture’ [worse than a Yersinia Pestis culture] should be added to Europe’s educational curricula.”
How’s that working out in UK schools Jocelyne?
* Sounds like she’s from the country which gave us the great Oriana Fallaci.
RonaldB says
Thank you for your excellent and well-researched factual material.
The real mystery is why professors who have some intelligence, and who are tenured into cushy, well-compensated positions, insist on presenting a very obviously misleading view on their subject specialty.
If you will forgive me, it makes me think of a class of problems in computer science, called np-complete. An np-complete problem at this time can only be solved by going through the possible solutions, one-by-one. If you have a complex problem, it can entail billions of solutions, or more.
What is unique about np-complete problems, is that if you can solve one np-complete problem, you can solve them all. There may not be a solution, but if there is, and someone finds it, all of a sudden, extremely complex problems can be solved, and our civilization advances.
The np-complete problem of concern to us here is “why do intelligent professors with nothing to lose, consistently whitewash Islam”? Variants of this np-complete problem are “why do leftists support Islamic practices which will, and have, resulted in the death and persecution of leftists when Islam comes into power?”, “why do gay rights organizations focus on protesting ‘Islamophobia’ when the first thing Islamists do on coming into power, is execute gays by torture?”, “why do feminists fight publicizing the vicious, unimaginable oppression of women under Islam?”…..
You get the idea. If you can solve one of these riddles, likely you will be able to solve all of them.
AJ Liberphile says
Point of information Robert:
“Thus, governments in Muslim countries must always maintain Islamic legitimacy or face upheaval, as did Iran’s deposed Shah in 1979.”
Iran was a secularish democracy in 1950 until it attempted to take control of its own oil reserves from the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co (BP). The US & UK (Churchill) deposed the Prime Minister and supported the (existing) Shah’s kleptocracy in order to continue their access to cheap oil. The Shah, since he owned a vast proportion of the country’s industry and assets (supported by his feared secret police) can be said to have been running a fascist state. Thus the Iranian 79 revolution was not simply about Islam.
Iran ended up a bit of a forerunner for Iraq. It would be interesting to visit an alternate universe where the US & UK did not puppetise Iran in 1952.
duh_swami says
professor of Muslim politics
While she was writing all that, another hundred or so innocent children and adults have been murdered by Islamic agents.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
… a Harvard and Georgetown University professor…
Prestige + Tenure –> Stupidity squared
When one no longer be laughed or thrown out of the room, that person becomes a menace to the group’s well being. Welcome to the modern university, where everybody gets the benefit of supposedly being smarter than factual common sense, and nobody gets fired.
Shomer Israel says
more than a serious research this looks like a wishFOOL thinking
Angemon says
Muhammad, the Übermensch of islam, never won any elections. He took what he wanted by the sword.
Huck Folder says
@Angemon:
Kind of ‘legitimizes’ hamas.
One vote, one person, one time.
Haven’t heard of AI or HRW complaining about that.
Too busy with Israel.
TH says
I suppose she ultimatley gets her salary from Saudi Arabia. She had to present a cocktail of fact and fiction in order not to seem to be like an ignorant idiot before an audience which didn’t seem very recptive to her theory.
Mark says
She’s an idiot
Johnny Canuck says
Islam is an ideology that appeals to losers who would rather exist in a state of holy slavery than to step forward and take responsibility for their lives, thereby contributing to the advancement of world civilization. This explains why every Islamic state is a failed state–it is easier to sit on one’s ass and believe in in’shallah than to perform the hard work required to create a strong, democratic and progressive nation such as Israel. Little wonder that antisemitism is so rampant in Islam. Losers don’t like to be shown up by people with a work ethic.
MKG says
Good comment Johnny.
The socialist politicians also recognize that poverty does play a roll in jihad, and are trying to fixate our attention on the poverty factor in an effort to rally our support for socialism. But, poverty is just one little piece in the overall puzzle of jihad.
Huck Folder says
@MKG:
“…poverty does play a roll in jihad…”
You have solid statistical proof of that?
Are there not many studies which show that there is an inverse correlation between jihad and poverty, that jihadists are more likely to be well educated and not poor?
Or did you mean poverty of soul?
There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of pockets of poverty around the world – favelas, refugee camps, … but NO jihad.
But correlate jihad and islam and the probability is 1.0000…!
MKG says
“poverty is just one little piece in the overall puzzle of jihad.”
Don’t take my comments out of context please.
Yes wealthy people are involved in jihad, usually in the leadership positions unless they feel compelled to blow themselves up. Poverty does play a part in jihad but not the only part. Africa comes to mind.
I have read the statistics and many reports. I take them all with a grain of salt. There are too many politically driven statistics and reports. Every thing I post is based on personal experience.
You see, when the sight of death and the smell of roasted flesh is still fresh in your memory, you wouldn’t give two shits about statistics. You place your trust in your experience, what you have seen, heard and smelled.
DhimmiNot says
Harvard, Georgetown and numerous others:
Follow the money….
Someone needs to audit the source of funds that is distributed to the universities and professors who act as shills.
Millions, billions have a way of influencing people
Tom Cook says
This is ugly enough to be a Harvard Professor and has the appropriate level of inanity. Wonder if she is Iriquois pr Sioux?
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Well, what we do know is that Elizabeth Warren is a Cherokee.
Elias says
This is the intellectual dishonesty (bought and paid for by the $audis) one now finds at Harvard:
Expansion of Islamic Civilization
“It was only after several centuries of Muslim rule that the majority of the people in these lands became Muslims, for conversion to Islam is by choice and not compulsion.”
http://pluralism.org/religion/islam/introduction/expansion
Clearly, Islam is historically the religion most misunderstood by its own adherents because even Muhammad forced people (e.g., Arabian polytheists, and Muslim apostates) to convert or be murdered and didn’t get Harvard’s memo.
katherine says
PROFESSOR ??? Delusional Academic more like – she probably lives in virtual reality in outdated library books and magazines.
Suggest she take a break and visit the Far East: perhaps drop in on Professor Al-Atas at the University of Singapore to understand what’s REALLY happening in the world.
Reasonably peaceful countries such as Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia are being undermined by Saudi-funded fundamentalists DEMANDING the removal of their secular Constitutions, using the institution of democracy in a prejudicial manner to destroy itself.
There is widespread activism to restrict religious freedom and human rights and, like Europe and North America, the population is generally clueless on how to defend their freedoms. Using the same tactics employed by the communists they slowly infiltrate every government institution to eliminate the instruments of Democracy.
This is already happening in the west. It’s a full-scale war sort of and the Western leaders are mostly clueless – just like this ‘professor’. And shame on Harvard.
Peggy says
So what’s a degree from Harvard worth now?
Dave J says
Come on people, every right thinking liberal university needs a few (at least, maybe more, how about a whole Department) of Islamic “scholars” to lecture us (mostly the young impressionable next generation) about how noble are the aims of Mohammed.
While the beheadings, burning alive and other killings, rape and enslavement continue.
Not buying it. These Universities have failed the test of Critical Thinking and should forfeit their licenses to be Public Educators.
Islamism should be made illegal, all Muslim Brotherhood activities halted and all Imams deported.
patrick roy says
The top 20 WORST countries in the world for women, are Muslim dominated. I think she should take a tour of all these countries, instead of talking trash.
M S case says
JUST ANOTHER LEFTIST PROFESSOR……….THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY OF THEM SPOUTING THERE RHETORIC IN OUR SCHOOLS OF HIGHER LEARNING THROUGHOUT THE WESTERN WORLD, A LOT OF THEM ARE DIED IN THE WOOL MUSLLIMS TOO AND IT DON’T JUST RESIDE IN THE COLLEGES IT COMES RIGHT ON DOWN TO K THROUGH 12 ALSO AND THAT IS WHERE ITD GETS STARTED AND JUST BUILDS FROM THERE……HOW DID WE LET OUR SHCOLS GET HIJACKED?
ayatollahowmany says
Perhaps Muhammad was right- women ARE deficient in intelligence; at least this numpty academic is!
particolor says
She forgot to Mention their Worship of Western Welfare ?
rocks says
This academic does not know what she’s talking about. If it was possible to create a democratic society under the rule of sharia law, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk the founder of modern Turkey would not have established a secular state and abolished the caliphate. Islam as it is, is not compatible with the democratic values of western societies and never will unless it passes through a serious phase of reformation and enlightenment. Islam has diverted from its core values and has been highly politicised after coming to power of the Umayyad caliphs. The autocratic system that they have established during the 7th and 8th centuries is still valid today in countries ruled by sharia law. Democracy can only be attained by separating religion from state affairs, establishing a secular legal system based on human rights, gender equality and freedom of expression.
somehistory says
The saying, ‘if mo won’t go to the mountain, the mountain should go to mo’…or some variation thereof is to me an irritant. Moses willingly went to the mountain. Jesus went “up into the mountain” on several occasions.
Someone said to me after hearing that old phrase about mo, “Bring the mountain to mo and have it fall on him.’
This woman, professing to know something, has an open mouth and dead eyes. So common with those who cover for islam.
Simon Néhmé says
Islam is the major obstacle for spreading out Liberties in muslim societies among them democracy values.
Stop masscarade from Mme Cesari or Mr. Esposito and many others, etc… we know who finances their « studies and researches» and for what motives. Don’t take everybody for Disney land muppets.
There is some limit to their ridiculous propaganda unproperly labeled « academic ».
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQvtJihSVwk
Simon Néhmé
Mike G. says
Respectfully– I am a combat veteran who completed 12 deployments to the Middle East and Africa, I have also met Dr. Cessari and had very detailed conversations about the Middle East or Muslim culture and she is brilliant. There is a lot we could learn from her that would benefit our strategies and goals. People who have not lived in their culture and not fought for the protection of ours are making judgements they frankly are not qualified to make. Just my opinion.
RonaldB says
” I have also met Dr. Cessari and had very detailed conversations about the Middle East or Muslim culture and she is brilliant.”
MIke G
Thank you for your comments and in particular, thank you for your service to the country.
Because of your comments, I slogged through an entire on-line article by Dr. Cesari:
Islam in the West:
From Immigration to Global Islam
Jocelyne Cesari
Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review 8 (2009), 148–175
http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/files/u1/HMEIR08_pp148-175.pdf
Brilliant, she may be. Her focus was on the need for an adequate methodology of study of the diverse and widespread Muslim communities, including movements for individual interpretation and acceptance of Westernization.
Make no mistake, though. Dr. Cesari has a definite viewpoint:
“In the accommodation process, there has been a growing research
interest in the backlash of anti-Islamic attitudes that have resulted in different
strands of Islamophobia. It should be noted that the term
Islamophobia emerged as early as 1997 during the discussions in Great
Britain on the topic of anti-Muslim discrimination.” (page 152)
“Most of the works on Islam that are published in France are consequently
attempts to combat Islamophobia and deconstruct the misrepresentations
and false notions that characterize discrimination against
Islam and Muslims.” (page 152)
“Studies that convincingly argue that current national security issues recast
American Muslims as the epitome of a distinct and disadvantaged
group within American society support this reading of and approach to
ethnicity.” (page 156)
“The third prominent Weberian fallacy is to posit Occidental culture
as superior in terms of rationality and scientiªc knowledge, a tendency
that is certainly ethnocentric. Such a supremacist vision of the West is
often apparent in the endless discussion of Islam’s claims to universalism
in contemporary discourse.” (page 160)
“Not surprisingly, scholarly research on contemporary Islam has often
fallen into the trap of presenting Muslims as exceptional because of
the widespread conception of Islam as being synonymous with political
turmoil. ” (page 161)
I don’t want to recite the whole article here. My impression is that statements such as Dr. Cesari made about Islam not being a major obstacle to democracy, form the basis of her body of assumptions, rather than the result of focused, objective analysis. In other words, she was presenting her premises and not her conclusions.
Do we really need Dr. Cesari as an educational resource? She would surely be helpful for an understanding of Muslim communities in France, where the process of importing Muslims is well under way. She can definitely help in understanding the complexity of views and philosophies found in the thankfully still-small Muslim communities in the United States. But, do we really need a view of Islam that is accommodating? Might we not be better off with a view that excludes further Muslims altogether from coming to the country? For this, I believe, Dr. Cesari would not be helpful.
There is also the question of whether democracy in a Muslim country is actually the government model of choice. In other words, are countries where Muslims are a majority actually better off under and non-elected government? The US government is actually a republic, rather than a democracy, but we associate the term “democracy” to mean a commitment to individual liberties as well as voting. Does Dr. Cesari take this assumption into account when she presents her premises on Islam?
Can we look to Dr. Cesari and her ilk, paid for by Saudi contributions and adhering to a world view that eschews the “supremacist” view that Western civilization is superior to Islamic cultures, for knowledge that will benefit us in maintaining our civilization and our liberties?
Mike G says
Apologies for not responding until now, I did not notice that I had a reply. I could respond in many ways to your reply, but I feel the best response is to the question: “how can Dr. Cessari’s expertise be applied to our current issues with the Muslim world, particularly in the Middle East and Central Asia.” Well that is a question I feel qualified to answer because it is the direct subject matter that myself and others addressed with her.
The answer is through her expertise on how best to apply and modify the strategies we are using through things like economic development and education on the intention of western interests in their country. For instance, we often send Western Muslim clerics to preach our message, but their culture views them equally as outsiders as we are. They fact that they are Muslims helps but doesn’t change the perception of the groups. Additionally we obviously try to educate people in Afghanistan why we are there, but we fail in this process because of how we address the message and we do a poor job of knowing what they currently believe, like that they believe we are there to steal the mineral resources found in the country.
She had very interesting insights when it came to cultural interpretations of words like Sharia and great insight on how true fundamentalist Muslims in no way support extremism and how we harm our own cause when we modify they definition, what we should be doing is stopping extremists from obfuscating that definition.
I won’t argue that she is the only person with these resources or abilities to help us, but she did have strong insights in this area. She was very articulate and willing to explain things to dumb operators such as myself. The fact that she took the time to visit a military command and talk to us about how to best achieve American objectives I think validates her commitment to western beliefs.
RonaldB says
Hi Mike G,
On the off chance that you’ll check responses at this point, I’ll make a few comments on your comments.
The fundamental question is, how influential as non-Muslims can we be on whether Muslims follow the brand of fundamentalist Islam that we prefer: that is,the brand of Islam that is not unilaterally violent, although perhaps politically still in favor of universal sharia law? According to you, she has the knowledge and background to guide us to appeal to Muslims, turn them to an approved fundamentalism, and in the process, make the Afghanis view US troops on their land as friends rather than enemies.
Since she is an historian of Islam, and communicated some of her knowledge to you, perhaps you could answer this question: is there any way to make Afghani tribesmen view an invading army of foreign troops favorably?
We are in Afghanistan for only one legitimate reason, in my view: the government at the time hosted a military attack (actually multiple attacks) on the US. We sent troops in and deposed the government. I don’t see why we have to operate under the fiction that we’re there for their benefit..and I don’t see any way to make them like us, in any case. Do you? Does Dr. Cesari?
We had no business staying there and trying to sponsor a government that fit our culture, not theirs. My belief is that Dr. Cesari, with her research and knowledge and brilliant academic scholarship, would not be able to change that. Am I wrong?
The danger of people like Dr. Cesari is that they try to parlay their background of research into Islam, combined with their post-nationalist ethos, into an idea that Islam can be made compatible with US principles of representative government and individual liberty. Even if there are some peaceful Muslims who accept that sharia mandates peaceful compliance with a non-Muslim government, that doesn’t mean that most, or even a significant number of Muslims think that way.
Her comments, in fact, seem to say that unless the West strokes Muslims just right, they will follow the violent interpretation rather than the peaceful one. That’s not exactly a glowing recommendation.
In my view, anything that serves to keep Muslims out has a very good component, and anything that serves to allow more Muslims in our borders has a bad component.
mortimer says
Jocelyne Cesari lives in a parallel universe. The real Islam is an Islam of supremacism and misogyny. There is no other.