A public conversation we have to have. My latest piece in Breitbart:
Is Islam good for individuals? Is Islam good for societies?
It is almost universally assumed by elites that Islam is good, and that even to ask such questions is offensive. But there is good reason to raise them anyway.
Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Monday that the Nice truck attacker Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel “showed a certain recent interest for radical jihadist movements.” French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve likewise said that he “appears to have become radicalised very quickly.” A neighbor of Bouhlel’s wife noted: “Mohamed only started visiting a mosque in April.”
Yet apparently contradicting all this was authorities’ subsequent announcement that Bouhlel had planned his attack for months. Either authorities were caught flat-footed, which would be no surprise, and the neighbor was wrong or lying about Bouhlel’s mosque attendance – or else Bouhlel underwent a serious change, growing more religious and beginning to attend mosque as he began plotting his jihad attack.
There is good reason to believe that’s what happened. Evidence indicates that Bouhlel was highly promiscuous, with numerous liaisons with both women and men. While this has been trumpeted as evidence that Bouhlel was not a Muslim, it is really only evidence that he was a bad Muslim. If he really did not attend mosque, did not pray, did not observe Ramadan, drank alcohol, ate pork and took drugs, he may have been a bad Muslim who experienced an awakening and thought, I’m headed for hell. What great deed can I perform that will outweigh all my evil deeds?
And the answer to that question, of course, is jihad, the greatest of all Islamic deeds.
A hadith (an accepted oral account of Muhammad’s words and deeds) says Muhammad was asked what deed equals jihad in heavenly reward. He replied, “I do not find such a deed” (Bukhari 4.56.2785). And so Bouhlel rented the truck and waged his jihad in the hope of earning his religious redemption and the supposed 72 virgins.
There are numerous other examples of relatively secular Muslims becoming disastrously Islamic.
Gulchekhra Bobokulova, the Russian woman who last year beheaded a toddler and brandished the severed head outside a train station, had recently grown devout in her observance of Islam, and had started wearing the hijab. San Bernardino jihad murderer Tashfeen Malik, according to the Associated Press, several years ago “started dressing more conservatively, wearing a scarf that covered nearly all her face, and became more fervent in her Muslim faith, according to some who knew her in Pakistan.”
These examples suggest a very unpleasant reality — that introducing Islam into free societies based on meritocracy and freedom is tantamount to throwing a lit match into a barrel of gasoline.
In Arab societies, losers are socially humiliated and also impose shame on their friends and family. Obvious Islamic piety and observance provides a partial redemption.
Muslim losers in the West, however, have an additional option — they can redeem themselves from personal and familial humiliation by an outburst of murderous piety, be it performed with a machete, truck, gun or bomb, against nearby non-Muslims.
These redemptive outbursts of jihad are theologically and socially 100 percent halal.
Islam in its classic, dominant and mainstream formulations encourages Muslims at all strata of society to impose the wrath of Allah against those who have violated one of the many, many rules imposed by the deity: “Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands” (Qur’an 9:14).
Winston Churchill, in a less cowardly, fantasy-besotted and authoritarian time than ours, declared that “individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.”
Islam was “as dangerous in a man as [rabies] in a dog,” he added.
Could Churchill have been right? Is Islam a retrograde force in the lives of individuals?
Several years ago while in Israel, I took a tour of the ancient city of Caesarea. Part of the tour consisted of maps projected onto the wall of the city as it appeared under the rule of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Arabs, the Crusaders, the Ottoman Turks, and the Israelis. The city was thriving in four of these epochs, but became a backwater and a ghost town in two: under the Arabs and the Turks, the only periods during which the city’s mixed populations were under the rule of Islamic law.
Was this just coincidence, or did Islam somehow cause the city’s decline?
Caesarea is not alone. We hear much nowadays about the glorious Golden Age of Islamic civilization, which was, we’re told, an early trailblazer of scientific invention and cultural/religious tolerance. This only begs the question, however, of why scientific invention and cultural/religious tolerance are found virtually nowhere in the Islamic world today. Could Islam itself have had something to do with their disappearance?
Barack Obama and all other Western leaders are unshakably committed to the proposition that Islam is at worst benign, and at best a positive benefit for society, with the problem of jihad terrorism having nothing to do with it.
A great deal is riding on the ruling elites’ assumption that Islam is benign. Immigration policies and law enforcement procedures in the U.S., Europe, and Australia — not to mention our war aims, strategy, and tactics in military conflicts where Americans are risking their lives — rely upon the truth of the core belief that Islam is beneficial for individuals and societies. Politicians from all over the political spectrum (including both Democrats and Republicans in the U.S.) clearly believe it would be political suicide to question this assumption.
But what if it’s civilizational suicide not to question it? What if the war on terror will remain unwinnable until our leaders see the human problem created when Islamic believers try to live amid modern secular meritocracy?
Any belief system can justly be criticized, and should be criticized when it has been shown to have negative effects. Could Islam simply be bad for people in modern societies?
The same questions are routinely asked about Buddhism, secularism, Christianity and other belief systems. Why not Islam as well? Why not evaluate the evidence of each religion’s ability to work in unstable societies filled with winners and losers?
Our continued existence as a free nation could depend on our investigating questions such as these – before it’s too late.
Christianblood says
Any muslim who seriously follows the teachings of the islamic death-cult is a ticking time bomb!
Joe says
EVERY Muslim is a ticking bomb. Because if he doesn’t follow the teachings today, he might follow tomorrow.
When does the world recognize that it is not good to feed the enemy? The enemy is the same like in the movie Alien. It comes from the inside, grows and eradicates all of humanity.
TheDane says
I agree! Any moslem is a danger to non-moslems’ lives, and there is no such thing as a moderate moslem; either they are devout moslems, or they are moslems only by name, e.g. to avoid being slaughtered by devout moslems.
Shane says
Muslims living in non-Muslim countries are a big problem as you never know when one of them will want to atone for their sins by killing infidels. It is best to stop all muslim immigration into the West, or at least limit muslim immigration as much as possible.
gravenimage says
I can actually agree with “Christianblood” here.
Shane says
Yes, Islam is a religion of war created by the Warlord, rapist, pedophile and slave trader Mo!
Killings for Islam: http://markhumphrys.com/islam.killings.html Islam and Christianity have an interesting contrast. Jesus never killed anyone, and Christianity took 300 years before the killing began.
Whereas Islam began with killing of unbelievers right from the start.
For the first century of its existence, Islam was absolutely soaked in blood. The killing only slowed down as the Islamic empire finally ran into boundaries in the 8th century, after about a century of expansionist, imperialist, unprovoked Islamic aggression.
Even after the initial expansion slowed, the killings did not end. Slaughter (jihad) and oppression (sharia) are part of the core doctrines of Islam. Killing for Islam is not a modern idea, and it will never end until some sort of reformation takes place within the religion. Medieval Christianity was equally violent, but Christianity has since reformed.
For many years now, Islam has been the most violent religion in the world.
Falsafa says
what a load of complete nonsense from CBlood and his merry cohort of crusaders! Read and educate yourself from reputable scholars which will help alleviate your prejudices!
Champ says
“Falsafa” is a lying lost cause serving an evil cause: islam.
His lies won’t gain any traction here.
Angemon says
Falsafa posted:
“what a load of complete nonsense from CBlood and his merry cohort of crusaders! ”
Two things:
a) Falsafa went out of her way to avoid writing “Christian”. She could have shortened it to “CB”, but no, she specifically left out “Christian”.
b) Critics of islam = crusaders. Boy, those Franks really did a number on you, didn’t they? Does it boil your blood when you read the history of the First Crusade? Do you feel sick when you remember that it took a Kurd, Saladin, to face Richard Lionheart?
“Read and educate yourself from reputable scholars which will help alleviate your prejudices!”
Sure thing, sweetheart:
Shane says
Actually, Robert Spencer is a leading scholar on Islam, Jihad, ISIS, and Mo! All Westerners should read his book The Truth About Mo.
The Truth About Muhammad, Robert Spencer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKWf7iX6ru0
The Truth About Muhammad, Interview with Robert Spencer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtrtxW_64PU
Is ISIS Islamic, Part 1?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FJqCVZ-yOE
The Basics of Islam 1: Islamophobia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL7v4RCp0KU
heidi says
islam is the worst ideology of all, masquerading as “religion”–
Manuele says
WHY? BECAUSE THEY CAN’T READ OR WRITE NOR ABLE TO THINK OF THEIR OWN FUCKEN SHIT FOR BRAINS.
wureliz says
French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve likewise said that he “appears to have become radicalised very quickly.”
Aha! so he was a moderate muslim until he wasn’t. Thank god the majority of muslims are moderate!
TheDane says
In other words: he became demon-possessed like his fellow-moslems. They serve the Devil, and that is why they can laugh at other peoples’ deaths.
Angemon says
Of course – here is the proof 🙂
efoc says
Haha, nice video. Like how they slipped Pat Condell into it 😉
vivienne Leijonhufvu (@goldaleijonhufv) says
Fantastic 😀
gravenimage says
I’ve seen other cartoons by these guys. Bloody brilliant!
JAR says
How long before this hateful video is accused of bringing destruction upon an American Embassy somewhere? sarc /
Singh the Sikh says
“Is Islam good for individuals? Is Islam good for societies?”
There are two answers: no and no.
Why Muslims are so prone to radicalization is surely no great mystery.
They are programmed for it by birth due to the family religious values and the omnipresent Koran. They are home-groomed for Isis and Al-Qaeda.
To state the obvious, muslim immigration is a bad idea.
Hindu American says
As a Hindu, we owe our Sikh brothers our very existence. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Without you we would have been either slaughtered or enslaved by the hordes long time ago.
This is a pointer to the western civilization. Take a moment to learn about the symbiotic relationship Hindus and Sikhs have forged through the centuries since the founding of the Sikh faith as protectors of the ancient 5000-year old Vedic civilization.
Thank you again, my Sikh brother.
Most recent western converts have had a troubled past and are likely to be incarcerated. That’s where many conversions take place. The islamic faith has a clear message – join us and your criminal past is forgiven. For criminals with low IQ, islam offers simple chain of commands and do’s/don’ts. Of course, other conditions apply but the convert realizes those much later.
By that time, its too late. Buyer beware.
What gets me is why do some seemingly educated, presumably liberal western women find islam attractive? To me it sounds like a death wish.
Mike says
We need Sikh immigrants!!!
Oh wait, we actually have lots here in Canada. And I’d happily have more.
Helpful, productive members of society, often involved in politics TO THE BENEFIT OF ALL.
gravenimage says
Yes–I echo Hindu American in lauding the Sikhs for having so bravely stood up to Muslim savagery through the centuries.
DustyFae says
I do not see any religion doing more damage then Islam. And l see Socialism and Communism as the same as Islam It is the fight for Political control and NWO under one main leader.
They use the people as pawns in the game of wars.. Most are proxy wars based on lies . Even attacking their own Nation and Blaming it on another , like Hitler did, Like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan done.
And they all hold Hitler as a hero.
Even Hillary and Obama and many more people like Jarrett and Soros was studying Communism and Marxism in her college days Even other Nations statues,monuments and laws and culture. l see no other religion doing this but Islam ,all for money and power, depopulating the people and having some remain as slaves..
The teaching Islam in schools while banning all other religions especially Christianity . Islam is destroying BOOKS,BIBLES ,Libraries and anything that is not Islam .
David A says
It is curious that liberal elites have a strong propensity to attack Christianity as backwards uneducated bible belt creationists, “clinging to their guns and religion” and also have a tendency to promote atheism, yet they ever strive to promote Islam, the last empire religion of antiquity.
David A says
We also need to study the affect of Islamic ideology on leaders, like in Turkey today. When is anybody going to tell the world what Obama’s friend is doing at the US air force base there with some 50 nuclear weapons.
I am amazed the world does not appeared concerned about this.
Dom107 says
David it is not a great idea to put people into little boxes.As an atheist myself I am total against Islam as it is obviously the most dangerous religion in the world today.I am against all religions as irrational but while people continue to hold these views and practice tolerance of others then that is their choice and I believe in live and let live
As for gun toting “Christians” they do exist in the Bible belt of the USA and the world has seen them on TV.As I was brought up a Christian myself I fail to see these guys as following the example of Christ in the gospels, more the example of Billy the Kid or the movie hero John Wayne (real name Marion Morrison) who never did an heroic deed in his life and didn’t even serve in the US forces during wartime.
There is a mistaken tendency of some people on this site to merge or conflate racial,religious and political identities into nice easy to think about and castigate categories.
For me those that do evil like the Jihadis need to be stopped and prevented from infiltrating free societies but there are other dangers within western societies attractive to mentally unbalanced young men and some women who use religion as a justification to do evil.
If religion was to disappear there would still be violence in the world but a lot less of it.Equally if there were fewer guns available in the USA we would have fewer mass shooting events.
Kepha says
Go read the first chapter of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Sixth book in most editions of the New Testament). Western leaders, especially the people whom Falsafa calls “reputable scholars”, are described as “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22).
While I won’t say that everyone who professes Christianity is a good person, I will not that on both sides of the Pacific, I’ve seen “social losers” who confess Christ and get turned around to become much better people. Maybe it’s because the Gospel encourages us to repent of our sins rather than blame other people.
mortimer says
Sudden Jihad Syndrome is a term coined by Daniel Pipes to describe Muslims that suddenly or unexpectedly turn against civilized, Western society and engage in acts of terror. Pipes has argued that due to this phenomenon all Muslims must be considered potential terrorists.
Singh the Sikh says
Pipes is absolutely correct. Every Muslim is a probable terrorist because of the rigidness of the Muslim family/community unit and Koranic programming that takes place after birth.
Even Muslims who fall by the wayside are at risk. Islam is comparable to nicotine addiction. The urge to smoke never quite goes away, even decades after quitting the habit. An ex-smoker may never smoke again but the urge and temptation will remain. Of an ex-smoker may pick up the habit again, even decades later. Similarly with Islam. It can lie dormant in deceptively benign form, with no telling when the urge will take over, with sudden, deadly eruption and consequences.
john spielman says
the reason that islam fits so well into the criminal life style of stealing rape lying murder and pedophilia is that muhammed “the perfect man” of islam was all of these and more because was a demon possessed false prophet
mortimer says
Note: Islam does not require a criminal to cease from criminality, but to consecrate the criminality to ‘helping Allah’. Killing, rape, plunder, maiming, torture are ‘good’ when done to promote Islamic supremacism.
gravenimage says
The “Prophet” Muhammed was a warlord, robber, pedophile, kidnapper, rapist, and mass murderer. No wonder felons flock to this vile creed.
Hindu American says
And he had a phenomenal memory.
Muhammad remembered every word he thought he had imagined in his head while hiding in a cave under the influence of hallucinogenics mushrooms.
Imagine that.
Baucent says
“Could Islam itself have had something to do with their disappearance?”
Yes, undoubtedly. We only need to look at the list of Nobel prize winners to see no muslims ever, except for the political “Peace” prize and may be literature. But hard cold science, economics,Physics? no muslims but plenty of Jews.
Just one nation, as an example of trashing technological and social advancement, would be Turkey. The Turks live on the ruins of the Roman and Byzantine civilization that they trashed. Now Turkish peasants live in backward villages with out running water, on top of the fabulous cities of marble the Greeks, Romans and Byzantines built. In those areas of Turkey there has been few advances in the last 1000 years under Islamic rule.
mortimer says
Retribution in Islam Restores Honor – The shame-honor Paradigm of Muslims
-K.11.173 “Believers, retaliation is decreed for you in bloodshed.”
-K.2.178 “O you who believe! retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the slain.”
-“The reprisal against those who wage war on Allah and His Messenger, and go about the earth corrupting it, is that they should be killed or crucified, or have their alternate hands and feet cut off, or be banished from the land.” (5:33) Waging war against Allah is rejecting Him.”–Tafsir of Imam al-Bukhari
-Imam AbdulLatif ibn AbdurRahman rahimullah said, “It is not possible for someone to realize Tawheed and act upon it, and yet not be hostile against the mushrikeen. So anyone who isn’t hostile against the mushrikeen, then it can’t be said that he acts upon Tawheed, nor that he realizes it.” [ad-Durar as-Saniyyah 8/167]
-(The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off on the opposite sides, or be exiled from the land.) `Wage war’ mentioned here means, oppose and contradict, and it includes disbelief.”–Tafsir Ibn Kathir “Surat al-Ma’idah [Q 5]”
-K. 2.191 And kill them wherever you find them, and drive them out from whence they drove you out, and persecution is severer than slaughter, and do not fight with them at the Sacred Mosque until they fight with you in it, but if they do fight you, then slay them; such is the recompense of the unbelievers.
-K.9:11-12 But if they violate their oaths after their covenant, and taunt you for your Faith, – fight ye the chiefs of Unfaith: for their oaths are nothing to them: that thus they may be restrained.
-from a Sharia law web site…the “punishment of execution which sharee’ah imposes on everyone who reviles the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), whether he is a Muslim, a dhimmi or a mu’aahid, because transgressing against the status of the Prophets is disbelief in Allaah Almighty, and it invalidates every sanctity, right and covenant; it is a major betrayal which deserves the most severe punishment.
3 – Although this was a hadd punishment, it also comes under the heading of killing a harbi (a non-Muslim in a state of war against Islam), and it is permissible for anyone to kill a harbi. (i.e. vigiliante murder is permitted by Islam)
-Though Muslims live in the West, they still bring the Honor-Shame Paradigm with them. Honor is restored to a Muslim through the shedding of blood. No kafir is ‘innocent’. All kafirs deserve to be killed because they reject Mohammed.
linnte says
Excellently written Mr. Spencer. Good food for thought for those skeptics out there.
Redmond says
It was a win-win situation for him after all.
If Islam is true. then he gets his 72 virgins.
If Islam is false then he can say: “God, it wasn’t my fault. I was the Imam’s Manchurian candidate.”
mickeycz says
Too often Muslims are as moderate as any could wish until one day they become aware of the actual teachings of Islam which they may either act on immediately (with few casualties) or plot and plan to take our more as happened in Nice.
Winston Churchill and other commenters on Islam from the past before political correctness had it very austerely correct.
Rabid and mad are the followers of Islam who truly practice what Mohammad taught.
Joanne says
Robert,
Are Islamic countries sending their criminals, drug addicts and mentally handicapped citizens into Europe as refugees? Are families sending their “black sheep” children away to the West? Your article reminded me of Castro emptying prisons, hospitals and asylums and sending boatloads of people to Florida (remember “Scarface”?).
gravenimage says
Joanne wrote:
Robert,
Are Islamic countries sending their criminals, drug addicts and mentally handicapped citizens into Europe as refugees? Are families sending their “black sheep” children away to the West?
…………………..
They don’t have to. Any Muslim who takes his vicious creed seriously *is* a criminal by Western standards.
*All* pious Muslims believe that they can rape Infidel women and wage violent Jihad against us with impunity.
These are not the dregs of Muslim society–they are just Muslims.
Adrian says
Rational Muslims face an insurmountable dilemma:
Most cultures have some sort of reinforcing faith system, or at the least, a benign meditative tradition.
The only path left for Muslims is to completely dismantle their death cult. And their primal fear is that, in doing so, they will be a ship without an anchor – this must be a tremendous existential fear they are suppressing…
linnte says
Adrian, I agree. I can’t imagine waking up one day and having an epiphany that tells me what I have been indoctrinated from birth with is the epitome of evil. Too terrified to leave and terrified to stay. How horrible!
Ed Lee says
Does Islam convert social losers into time bombs? Yes. The liberals in the U.S. who are trying to build support for the repeal of the Second Amendment have been doing the same thing with deranged losers for decades; from Adam Lanza in Newtown, Connecticut all the way back to Patrick Purdy in Stockton, California in 1989. Just like the current dogma that characterizes all jihad terror attacks as unconnected civil crimes, liberals insist that all of the multiple-victim public shootings are unconnected. This nearly identical presentation of the propaganda of anti-gunners and Islam supporters demonstrates the leftist-jihadist alliance that we see today.
TheDane says
I am tired… It is all too late now, and Europe has failed so enormously that in a decade, it will probably not be Europe anymore. People are being slaughtered on the once so peaceful streets of Europe, while hordes of these barbarians are pouring in every day. Hollande claims that we are at war, but he doesn’t seem to know who the enemy is: islam. How will he defeat an enemy that he cannot/will not identify?
It is not possible, and so Hollande still thinks that flower-parades and cheap words will cut it….
avi15 says
Our political leaders are squeezed between the fallacy that Islam is benign and the fallacy that continued tolerance of it is the best way to respond to increased terrorism. With this clueless approach the problem only gets worse. In the long run, the constant failure to ensure people’s safety may lead to the collapse of many European nation states. This is because every jihadi atrocity, however small, chips away at the power and the prestige of the state.
Eric says
Islam is a backward ideology spawned from the mind of a immoral beduin adulterer, child abuser, rapist, murderer, mass murderer and genocidist. Anybody that sees Muhammad as having been a good guy and role model is a threat to our society just as if someone considers Hitler to be the same.
Eric says
The more muslims you let in the more difficult and dangerous it becomes to critisize islams backwardness.
sidney penny says
Social losers into Time Bombs
Non-Muslims have to learn to knock out Islam’s ideological fangs which are rooted in the Quran.
Read Robert Spencers works.
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/tcqp/index.htm
http://voiceofdharma.org/books/tcqp/chii4.htm
The Calcutta Quran Petition
The Koran, also spelt as Quran, the so-called religious book of the Muslims the world over.
It is a Book which incites violence, disturbs public tranquility, promotes, on ground of religion, feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will between different religious communities and insults other religions or religious beliefs of other communities.
The Book has verses which preaches cruelty, incites violence and disturbs public tranquility. Chapter 4
The Book promotes religious enmity, hatred, and ill-will between different religious communities. Chapter 5
The Book insults other religions or religious beliefs of other communities. Chapter 6
While the Koran abounds with saying which incite violence, insult the religious beliefs of other communities and even exhort the Muslims to kill and murder non-Muslims, the problem is aggravated by yet another fact which has been true in the past and is universally true in our own times that unlike other communities Muslims are, and even fresh converts tend to become, highly orthodox people and follow the sayings of the book with a fanatical zeal with the result that whichever country has their sizable number amongst its population can never have peace on its soil.
This was said in 1985 and it is still true today 2016
The offending expressions contained in the Koran and quoted above are not so offensive in their translation in which they are so quoted as they are in the original verses in Arabic or in Urdu, the very sound of whose inimitable symphony not only sends the Muslims to tears and ecstasy but arouses in them the worst communal passions and religious fanaticism which have manifested themselves in murder, slaughter, loot, arson, rape and destruction or desecration of holy places in historical times as also in contemporary period not only in India but almost all over the world.
Florida Jim says
Naming everyone not of you race,religion, background, sect an enemy is the road to hell Islam calls it “paradise” but killing everyone to get paradise seems to be a lie for fools.Islam only assures paradise by using jihad to kill all infidels.In the book “If The Oceans Were Ink” By Carla Power she quotes an Imam who says this:”there is a Saudi preacher telling people to go on jihad in Syria as he sits in London! This is rubbish. If jihad is true you should go,too. He should send his sons as well”
“In matters of war, the Prophet Muhammad never asked his companions to do what he would not do himself, The Imam observed.
“All this about Caliphate, sharia, jihad “he sighed” So leave the power in this world to the Americans The world is not ruled by Americans but by God.”
“All this fighting , this jihad, this sharia, it would be better if Muslims just stop and do nothing. Don’t work, Don’t pray.Nothing. If you don’t do anything,then it would be better” “look at the Muslim brotherhood, is Egypt any better now than before the revolution?”
The Imam may not be safe with words like these.