On December 13th, at Wilton Park, the Prince of Wales explained how the Muslim critique of materialism helped him to rediscover the sacred spirituality of Islam and explain the decline of the West.
I start from the belief that Islamic civilization at its best… has an important message for the West in the way it has retained an integrated and integral view of the sanctity of the world around us. I feel that we in the West could be helped to rediscover the roots of our own understanding by an appreciation of the Islamic tradition’s deep respect for the timeless traditions of the natural order.
What Prince Charles calls an “integrated and integral view of the sanctity of the world” in Islam is not exactly clear, and one wonders if perhaps Charles has confused Muhammad with the Dalai Lama, or possibly with the Natural Resources Defense Council. What is clear is that many Muslims have a most peculiar way of demonstrating their belief in the “sanctity of the world,” by engaging in endless warfare, of every conceivable type (not limited to qitaal, or combat), in order to subjugate all those who are not Muslims. Perhaps Charles has been impressed with the way that Islam offers both a Total Explanation of the Universe, as formulated by 7th century Arabs, and a Complete Regulation of all aspects of life. Islam is a “totalitarian” ideology in the original sense of that term, but in the Newspeak favored by Prince Charles, the ideology of Islam would no doubt be described as “holistic.”
And while Charles claims to find a deep respect in Islam for “the timeless traditions of the natural order,” he does not think to include among those “timeless traditions of the natural order” of Islam the “natural” (right, proper) submission of non-Muslims to Muslims, and of Muslim women to Muslim men. Nor, I suspect, is he aware of the “timeless tradition” of Muslim men marrying girls as young as 9 (this “timeless tradition” begins with Muhammad, the Perfect Man and Model of Conduct, and is thus as old as Islam itself), or the “timeless tradition” of slavery (that particular “timeless tradition” in Islam had largely to be abandoned, but only because of Western pressure, and still continues in Mali and Mauritania), and of course there is the “timeless tradition,” central to Islam, of engaging in Jihad, the “struggle” of Muslims to expand Dar al-Islam at the expense of Dar al-Harb, until ultimately, Islam everywhere dominates, and Muslims rule, everywhere.
I believe that process could help in the task of bringing our two faiths closer together.
What is keeping “our two faiths” from coming “closer together” is that Islam views Christianity as a distorted and therefore unacceptable version of the true faith of Islam, with Muhammad’s message misunderstood, and there is no question, for Muslims, of Islam and Christianity “coming together” through any kind of compromise. Christian belief would have to change completely in order to attain to the condition of Islam, while Islam, according to its adherents, must always remain relentlessly itself. And how does one bring these “two faiths together” when Muslims are told in their Qur’an that they are the “best of peoples” and non-Muslims “the vilest of creatures”?
It could also help us in the West to rethink, and for the better
…in case you might have thought we should do it “for the worse”…
our practical stewardship of man and his environment in fields such as health-care, the natural environment and agriculture, as well as in architecture and urban planning.
Here Prince Charles is alluding to several of his pet peeves, including modern architecture, which he finds predictably “soulless,” and environmental degradation, which he attributes to Western man not being a good “steward” of the natural environment. He thus overlooks the fact that the greatest polluter has for years now been China, not the West, and that North America and Western Europe, precisely through technological innovations such as more efficient solar collectors and electric cars, have been steadily reducing their energy use, and become better environmental “stewards.” By “agriculture” he is obliquely referring to the use of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), which he dislikes because they are “not natural,” even if they improve crop yields. He thinks that we can learn from the Islamic world’s supposed hewing to the traditional, in everything from architecture to agriculture. But plenty of “soulless” skyscrapers have been built all over the Arab oil states – see the skylines of Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait — while two of the major GMO producers are the Muslim states of Egypt and Pakistan. Apparently many Muslims prefer “soulless” Western architecture and “unnatural” GMOs to what Prince Charles assumes that Muslims favor.
Modern materialism is unbalanced and increasingly damaging in its long-term consequences. Yet nearly all the great religions of the world have held an integral view of the sanctity of the world.
Charles liked “an integral view of the sanctity of the world” so much that he repeated this vague verbiage verbatim, two paragraphs after its first appearance.
To have Western man’s “unbalanced” and “damaging” “materialism” denounced by one of the materially most cossetted people on earth, who is surrounded by every possible luxury, who denies himself nothing, is hard to take. How many millions does this royal deplorer of “materialism” spend in a year – money the British taxpayers provide him so that he can show the Union Jack here, cut a ceremonial ribbon there, and make pronouncements on everything under the sun, all Luddite-and-Green-Partyish, as is his wont, and as he does here, delivering a quite unnecessary paean of praise to supposedly un-materialist, “spiritual” Islam, from which, he claims, the West has so much to learn. This “spiritual” Islam, he needs to know, is the only major faith that in its holiest books — Qur’an and Hadith — contains rules on how to divvy up the loot from raids on the enemy. Not quite dalai-lama material.
Prince Charles seems to think that in the Islamic world, people are somehow less “materialistic” than in the West, failing to realize that that was a function of poverty, and not a guarantee of spirituality. The question to be asked is this: when Muslims became rich, did they keep the “spirituality” that Charles thinks is part of Islam, and that we, the Westerners who have been in thrall to “materialism,” ought to emulate, or did they, when given a chance, become as “materialist” as anyone in the Western world?
Let’s look at the behavior of those Muslims and Arabs who, through an accident of geology, found themselves sitting on top of huge oil and gas deposits which Infidels had discovered, and for which Infidels had found a use. Did these suddenly rich Muslim Arabs remain true to their supposed “spirituality”? Look at Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar. The rich Arabs in those places have engaged in fantastic spending, satisfying their lust for every luxury, including the building of private Xanadus, some of them containing a half-dozen restaurants to satisfy the owner’s every culinary whim, that rival anything built for the most self-indulgent of Western billionaires.
But even those palaces were not enough. The richest of these devout Muslims also have enormous yachts, awaiting them in the Mediterranean, and customized 747s on the tarmacs of Arabia, ready to fly them everywhere, around the world, or to their fabulously appointed houses, villas, and estates in Paris and the Riviera, in London, and New York. In the Arab states of the Gulf, shopping is the main, and for many the only pastime, and along with the endless souks dedicated to gold and jewelry are local branches of every famous purveyor of luxury items in the Western world. The “spiritual” Muslims Prince Charles wants us to emulate live in a world of shop-till-you-drop that outdoes anything on Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive. Perhaps he is confusing Islam, a most worldly religion, with Buddhism or Hinduism, where asceticism is esteemed, given his habit of lumping Islam with those two as “Eastern religions.”
But during the past three centuries, in the Western world at least, a dangerous division has occurred in the way we perceive the world around us. Science has tried to assume a monopoly even a tyranny over our understanding. Religion and science have become separated, so that now, as Wordsworth said, “Little we see in nature that is ours”. Science has attempted to take over the natural world from God; it has fragmented the cosmos and relegated the sacred to a separate and secondary compartment of our understanding, divorced from practical, day to day existence.
We are only now beginning to gauge the disastrous results. We in the Western world seem to have lost a sense of the wholeness of our environment, and of our immense and inalienable responsibility to the whole of creation. This has led to an increasing failure to appreciate or understand tradition and the wisdom of our forebears, accumulated over the centuries. Indeed, tradition is positively discriminated against as if it were some socially unacceptable disease.
Again, Prince Charles is all for “tradition,” but without bothering to distinguish, as one must, between good and bad traditions. Islam itself is the most immutable of faiths; what was set down in the Qur’an, what was the practice of Muhammad and his Companions as recorded in the Hadith (or “Traditions”) – these, Qur’an and Sunnah, are not to be changed. How many of us find admirable the “traditional” Muslim attitude, fixed in amber, toward non-Muslims, toward women, toward homosexuals, toward the institution of slavery?
Prince Charles seems to think we in the West have failed to “appreciate or understand…the wisdom of our forebears, accumulated over the centuries,” a “wisdom” that we’ve managed to lose in the last few decades. That’s true, but not in the way he thinks. One very important bit of wisdom from our forebears that we have lost is about Islam itself, a forgetfulness that is causing us much unnecessary confusion and grief today. Over more than a millennium, Western man was on the receiving end of attacks by Muslims, and clearly recognized Islam as a mortal threat. The West, conscious that the Muslim duty to wage Jihad was permanent, strove to keep Islam contained. There was Charles Martel in 732, who stopped the invading Muslim army at the outskirts of Poitiers. There were the Christian warriors who, over 770 years of the Reconquista, managed to retake Spain from its Muslim rulers. There were the two successful Christian efforts to repel sieges of Vienna by Ottoman Muslims in 1529 and again in 1683. By the 19th century, and into the 20th, the superior military technology of the West allowed it to conquer large parts of the Muslim world. But even when the military tables were turned, at no time did the Western world regard the ideology of Islam as anything but a threat.
Yet today, adherents of the same Islam that threatened Europe for centuries are now on the march, not with conventional armies, but through Muslim migrants entering Europe by the millions, and bringing Islam with them in their mental baggage. These Muslim migrants are coming not to assimilate, but rather to impose, wherever they can, their views on the indigenous non-Muslims, in whose lands they have been allowed to settle, deep behind what they, as Muslims, have been taught to regard as enemy lines.
A century ago, permitting such a movement into Europe could never have been imagined. The threat of Islam was then well understood in the Western world. Think only of what Winston Churchill, Tocqueville, John Quincy Adams, and many others less celebrated wrote, accurately and without any need for political correctness, about Islam. How the West forgot the “wisdom of its forebears” about Islam, and what that forgetfulness has led to, makes for painful reading, and the willful ignorance of Islam now being displayed by those whose responsibility it is to instruct and protect us – including Prince Charles — is difficult to explain and impossible to forgive.
In my view, a more holistic
This modish word, a sure sign of mental muddle, dropped into a sentence to give it a greater semblance of sense, means nothing much (“emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts” according to the on-line dictionary’s definition), but not surprisingly, it’s a favorite of Prince Charles.
approach is needed now. Science has done the inestimable service of showing us a world much more complex than we ever imagined. But in its modern, materialist, one-dimensional form, it cannot explain everything. God is not merely the ultimate Newtonian mathematician or the mechanistic clockmaker. As science and technology have become increasingly separated from ethical, moral and sacred considerations so the implications of such a separation have become more sombre and horrifying as we see in genetic manipulation or in the consequences of the kind of scientific arrogance so blatant in the scandal of BSE.
Unclear what this refers to.
I have always felt that tradition is not a man-made element in our lives, but a God-given intuition of natural rhythms, of the fundamental harmony that emerges from the union of the paradoxical opposites that exist in every aspect of nature…. That is why I believe Man is so much more than just a biological phenomenon resting on what we now seem to define as “the bottom line” of the great balance sheet of life, according to which art and culture are seen increasingly as optional extras in life.
This view is quite contrary, for example, to the outlook of the Muslim craftsman or artist, who is never concerned with display for its own sake, nor with progressing ever forward in his own ingenuity, but is content to submit a man’s craft to God. That outlook reflects, I believe, the memorable passage in the Koran, “whithersoever you turn there is the face of God and God is all-Embracing, all-Knowing”. While appreciating that this essential innocence has been destroyed, and destroyed everywhere, I nevertheless believe that the survival of civilized values, as we have inherited them from our ancestors, depends on the corresponding survival in our hearts of that profound sense of the sacred and the spiritual.
What “civilized values” have Muslims inherited from their ancestors?
The main difference between the Muslim craftsman or artist, and the non-Muslim artist or craftsman, is not that the former is more “spiritual” and “never concerned with display for its own sake,” as Charles seems to think. The most important art form of Islam, mosque architecture and decoration, is all about display, making an impression on Believers with the magnificence, imposing size, elaborate ornamentation, and play of color, of the mosque walls and interior. The main difference between the Muslim and the non-Muslim artist is not that the Muslim has some superior sense of the “sacred,” but that Islam limits the creativity of the Muslim artist, by forbidding him from depicting living creatures. That is why there is no portrait painting in Islam, nor any statuary. Perhaps this severe limit on creative expression in Islam has escaped Prince Charles’s notice, or perhaps he thinks it adds, in some inexplicable way, to that superior “spirituality” he claims to detect in Islamic art.
Traditional religions, with their integral view of the universe, can help us to rediscover the importance of the integration of the secular and the sacred. The danger of ignoring this essential aspect of our existence is not just spiritual or intellectual. It also lies at the heart of that great divide between the Islamic and Western worlds over the place of materialism in our lives. In those instances where Islam chooses to reject Western materialism, this is not, in my view, a political affectation or the result of envy or a sense of inferiority. Quite the opposite. And the danger that the gulf between the worlds of Islam and the other Eastern religions on the one hand and the West on the other will grow ever wider and more unbridgeable is real, unless we can explore together practical ways of integrating the sacred and the secular in both our cultures in order to provide a true inspiration for the next century.
Where in the Islamic world, whenever some have become rich enough even to have a choice, has anyone or any group chosen to “reject” what Prince Charles calls “Western” materialism? Where is that supposed “great divide between the Islamic and Western worlds over the place of materialism in our lives”? If anything, Islam is more of this world than Christianity. Islam does not advocate ascetic denial, as is done in Hinduism and, even more, in Buddhism. Many Islamic websites insistently repeat that “Islam in no way encourages deliberate excessive asceticism, poverty and passivism.” As for the accumulation of wealth, as long as it is used for good aims – to help fellow Muslims, to help spread Islam – it is never to be discouraged. When Prince Charles deplores a widening of “the gulf between the worlds of Islam and the other Eastern religions on the one hand” and “the West on the other,” it is clear that he thinks of Islam as being akin to Buddhism and Hinduism in their emphasis on the “spiritual,” because he thinks of all three as similar “Eastern religions.” He’s failed to grasp that Islam is the most material-minded of all major faiths. Rules about Muslims helping themselves to the property of subjugated Infidels, which includes not just goods and gold but also humans – with the women taken as sex slaves – and rules about how to divide up the spoils of Jihad (with one-fifth to be reserved for “Allah and His Apostle,” which is to say for Muhammad), are all set out in the Qur’an and Hadith.
Prince Charles expresses an intense interest in the “spiritual” in Islam, but it is clear that what he thinks he finds in Islam is to be found, rather, in those “other Eastern religions” –Buddhism, Hinduism – whose “spirituality” does indeed allow for the rejection of materialism. Indeed, if he wishes to descant upon the virtues of “sacred spirituality,” he would do better to visit a Buddhist or Hindu temple than a mosque, where, as the British police long ago discovered, he might stumble upon caches of forged passports, credit cards, and a “mini-arsenal” of weapons. Yes, this Islam that so impresses Prince Charles has another side than the “spiritual,” one that is certainly open to his investigation, if only he has eyes to see, and a mind to comprehend.
On the death of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles will become both King of England and head of the Church of England. Will he seek to transform that Church, to have it emulate aspects of Islam, from which, he claims, Christianity has so much to learn? Or will he be true to Christianity, and the “wisdom of his forebears” about Islam, and seek to meet, while there’s still time, the Muslim demographic challenge which is the latest instrument of Jihad? It’s a choice between “get ready to roll” and “get ready to roll out those prayer rugs.”

Havoc says
Skipping to the Chase:
.
Prince Charles actually is a moron. In the past, we only suspected as much.
myworld2 says
something is missing from the brains of these young people
maghan says
The Bonny Prince is not young. He looks as old as his dad. His stupid chatter about Islam is just very ignorant of known facts. Does he have some Muslim writing his articles for him. It is known that the Prince is not very bright so he would be easily impressed by some dumb Arab prince letting him fly a falcon. The Prince is just further proof that the British monarchy should be disbanded and its feudal lands made into public parks.
gravenimage says
myworld2, Prince Charles is 68 years old–old enough to be retired anywhere in the West. He is also a grandfather. He is *not* a “young person”.
Marty says
That is as good a description as any of this fool.
Most Brits wish HM the Queen to live even longer than her mother.
DFD says
INDEED!
=======
Johan Elzinga says
Perhaps we should take this literally, and give this man the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he is saying that we must adopt beheadings as a timeless wisdom. Perhaps we must learn from islam that our western culture will sink to the bottom of the ocean as long as we do not adopt a kind of western jihad against the islam. I doubt that he is saying that of course, but perhaps tit for tat will work best as a strategy against the forces that will certainly end our western civilisation? I’m all for it then!
beyondculturewars says
Let him volunteer to be the first to submit his noggin to the scimitar.
pbay says
inbred entitled moron
Kilfincelt says
Charles has never been the brightest bulb on the royal holiday tree and has long had an affinity for Islam despite the fact that he doesn’t really understand it.
mccode says
He and Tony Blair are two of a kind.
Both are deluded upper crusts that have lost touch with reality.
Michael Copeland says
“It is unbeiief (kufr) to hold that the remnant cults now bearing the names of formerly valid religions such as “Christianity” and “Judaism” are acceptable….”
Manual of Islamic Law, “Reliance of the Traveller”, w4
“If anyone desire a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him”.
Koran 3:85, part of Islamic law.
GEORGE McADOO says
The first wife of Prince Charles, Princess Diana, was stolen from by a Muslim. And now, he is the slave of Islam.
Real McCoy says
They might give his two wife for the price of one,
SoCalMike says
Prince Charles is a Mo convert.
This inbred chinless maggot disgusts me each and every time he opens his mouth.
maghan says
Plus he has Obama’s ears.
pbay says
sounds like Kerry trying to kill off Israel
D J says
Just remember that he believes in homeopathy ie that a glass of water has a memory.
If you understand that Islam and a glass of water are on a similar intellectual level with HRH, you get close to the idea of his problems.
Still , it is better than having a theocratic dictator.
RationalVoice says
Don’t forget he used to talk to plants as well .He actually has a habit of talking about things he knows nothing about, as if he does. Like all that useless crew he doesn’t know anything about anything.!!
Another useful idiot for the Muslims.!! Like them he is steeped in the feudalism of centuries gone by.
If he had the power he would probably chop peoples heads off like they do.
JUST IGNORE HIM AND HE MIGHT GO AWAY !!!
Dee says
Sadly, he won’t. He is a National disgrace with this refusal to accept the reality of what Islam actually is. Islam is already being entheusiastically enabled by Government, heaven help us if he becomes King. We can only hope he is the first to enjoy the benefits of Islamic culture.
Real McCoy says
Do you mean he will go from here to eternity?.
gravenimage says
Homeopathy and talking to plants are both witless, but they are not evil. Charles’s affinity for Islam is not just garden-variety stupidity.
Terry says
Graven- re talking to plants. I read some years ago, that plants grow better IF THEY ARE HEARING MUSIC.
I don’t understand that, either.
And, THE PRACTICAL SWISS- ( seriously-passed such a law, a few years ago, don’t know if ever repealed)- that if one ( even as a school experiment) wants to cross breed TWO TYPES OF PLANTS (I am including flowers; trees; fruits; vegetables; grains; etc) THE ONE DOING (OR WANTING TO DO THE CROSS BREEDING) AS TO ASCERTAIN THE FEELINGS OF THE TWO SPECIES INVOLVED.
I don’t recall how one was supposed to do it- but ( I think) that the penalty for not doing it was a fine and/or jail time.
All dumb and stupid- my view
Angemon says
To be fair, I think I can see things from Charles’ angle: Camilla is the rare kind of women that looks much better in a burqa 😉
(yes, I know, beating a dead horse, jokes about Camilla being ugly went out of fashion back in the 90’s, and Camilla is bland-looking, not ugly. I’m just picking my low-hanging fruit for the day 😛 )
Seriously, though, Charles is unfit for duty, and I’d be very surprised if Queen Elizabeth passed the crown to him. She’s old, not lacking mental faculties.
mgoldberg says
When Charles was caught saying something like he’d want to be a tampon or some such in her panties, I assume this is the naturalist in it’s flowering for him?
maghan says
Only very stupid person could ever talk like that. The man is a complete buffoon. Were he not a pampered prince, what would he have become? Chimney sweep, ball boy for Arsenal, homeless?
gravenimage says
My guess is a very low ranking civil servant–the kind of guy who can’t be fired, but is never promoted…
bernie says
he would have got a nice civil service job which is overpaid and immune from firing or layoffs
Shirley Dressler says
Oh how I agree with the above remarks about this idiot of a “royal” of whom I detest totally. There is nothing worse than the hypocrisy in the world to match that or of the so called “royals” whose queen is so loaded with diamonds literally dripping off her ample bosoms!! The “royals” have always done whatever they want to. I can never forgive them for what they did to Diana, that poor and confused young girl who died a very untimely death. All I can say is that what was once Great Britain will also soon fall into despair and hunger eventually. Unless we all truly decide to live generously by giving and not always taking we, as homo sapiens, are doomed sooner than later. It is better to give than to receive and brings much more joy than anything else one can imagine. Beware of those huge organisations that purport to give may in fact be taking to keep their executives well cashed up as I found out to my anger especially in relation or starving children and endangered animals in need. Just plant this seed into your brain…it is better to give than to receive.
RL Robison says
In the U.S. you can use several online sites (such as Charity Navigator) to get the real skinny on which charities do the most good and which use the most funds to line their own pockets. Such sites have changed my giving practices and allowed me some assurance that my donations are really being used for a good cause.
Marty says
How’s this for islamic spirituality.
Five Afghan teenagers are convicted of gang-raping a boy at knife-point in Sweden
– but none will be deported because their homeland is ‘too dangerous’
Afghanistan is very mohammedan & I’m sure these “boys”, who raped a child over
a one hour period would have been very at home.
Trouble is, when a muslim gets into the civilsed world they are above the law
& can live on state handouts for an indefinite period.
Michael Copeland says
“If we are practicing Muslims, we are above the law of the land”,
Mustafa Carroll, CAIR Texas,
gravenimage says
*Ugh*
Westman says
A stellar education in a fuzzy-thinking mind creates elegant-sounding fuzziness.
Its inability to discern Allah’s messages of, “love me or I will torture you in exquisite pain forever”, “women are inferior”, and, “kill and be killed for the cause of Allah”, as being from a tyrant is promising another “Chamberlain” experience for the UK.
Islam has no spirituality; it is a method of mind control.
Shmooviyet says
Brilliant to see Mr. Fitzgerald take this spoiled hypocritical Royal Boomer apart and down ten pegs!!
“Not quite dalai-lama material”, indeed.
Charlie LOVES a good sunset stroll on a tropical beach.
Does it really matter if the island is man-made?
gravenimage says
Yes–bravo, Hugh!
And a Happy New Year to you and Robert Spencer.
Jürg Rückert says
Elisabeth the first started the British Empire, Charles the last ends it.
Damocles Junior says
Charles has always been an unfortunate name for British monarchs. The first was executed, the second was a flamboyant dandy and we already know too much about King in Waiting Charles the 3rd to expect too much greatness during his reign.. Defender of the Faiths (plural) is a big enough worry. But has anyone noticed the Prince Charles could be much the same age as Donald Trump when he is likely to inherit the top job.(While most people our age are trying to enjoy retirement and stay away from the Dr.)
R Russell says
Your history is wrong. Elizabeth was Queen of England and NOT Great Britain
jamesmi says
That point needs making. Even from 1603 to 1707, the union was the union of the crowns of England and Scotland, in the person of the monarch; it was not a union of parliaments. Before 1603, England and Scotland had independent histories, as independent as the US and Canada.
Elaine McMurren says
When mentioning where slavery still exists we must remember India. The Hindu cast system is the most cruel and inescapable form of slavery ever devised. Prince Charles is a complete moron. If William becomes king, he will be the first Brittish monarch ever to have a college degree.
Hector Archytas says
Not true. Slavery is about selling people on a market or disposing them.
Cast looks more as a job protection.
maghan says
No, slavery is about the ownership of human beings as property. It does not necessarily have to do with markets. Females in Islam are all slaves in theory because they are owned first by their fathers then by their selected-for-them husbands.
gravenimage says
The Hindu caste system has been largely dismantled at this point–just as slavery outside of Islam has ceased to exist.
Unfortunately, slavery in Islam does not just still exist, it is *resurgent*.
agnishtoma says
Guess he needs to study the yoga philosophy to know what true spirituality Surprised that despite the popularity of yoga in the west he is so ignorant of it. Or may be he is just appeasing/pandering.
gravenimage says
Prince Charles has long been a dhimmi for Islam. This has nothing to do with yoga.
Agni says
No,what i meant was that probably study of the philosophic of yoga could give him an idea of what spirituality means and probably(one in million i guess) cure him off his dhimmitude
Dov Berrol says
The British elites and socialists have been in love with the poor Arab fedayeen terrorist jihadis ever since the time of Lawrence of Arabia. It’s an odd mixture of condescending colonial “we civilized British will rescue the poor barbarians” with an earnest belief that there is something magical and sacred with the “1001 Arabian Nights” culture of nomadic tribes surviving in the desert. Maybe a trained psychiatrist could figure it out.
deja vu says
Absolutely correct. The British aristocracy has long been in love with the Arab world
which fawns over them and makes them feel romantic and exotic. The love affair between Charlie and the Saudis is but one example. If he ascends the throne he will likely be the last to do so. The Lion of Judah will see to it Himself
John A. Marre says
Sure. How long before the Queen is bowing down to Islam? How long before the cross is removed from the Union Jack?
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Say what you will about this hapless future monarch, but no-one can deny the farsightedness of anyone who, in 2016, writes of “integrating the sacred and the secular in both our cultures in order to provide a true inspiration for the next century.” Here he is, already thinking ahead 85 years to the 22nd century. (Alternatively, maybe he is re-using prose ghostwritten for him back in the 20th century, which shows how devoted he is to environmentally conscious recycling.)
davej says
What a seriously self-deluded wanker. Apparently he also enjoys dressing up like an Arabian prince. I guess he thinks he is a Prince for all seasons – what a toff!
As Hugh accurately points out, nothing he says about Islam is true. Is the Quran filled with deep messages of environmental stewardship or material asceticism? Not that I can see.
Amid all his praise for Islam is there any awareness of what it is filled with – the subjugation of all non-believers, for instance? Any so-called religion that possesses a great reverence for the natural world should include a basic respect and tolerance for his fellow man. Islam appears to have neither.
Prince Charlie is the perfect picture of an over privileged self-hater and a traitor to the Western World. The only thing he shares with Islam is it’s haughty arrogance.
zub says
I sometimes wonder if Charles thinks of himself as a modern day Lawrence of Arabia albeit a dhimmified one. The photo accompanying this article seems to support that claim. “oh look there’s Lawrence with his new Arab clothes”…
Westman says
LOL! And likely, true.
Frank Courtney says
Thank you Mr Fitzgerald for systematically dissecting the witless ignorant verbal diarrhoea of this dhimmi clown.
To think that this deluded, arrogant, hypocritical, overcosseted man-boy might one day become our king fills me to overflowing with dismay.
DFD says
Hi Frank,
May I correct you please: He wouldn’t become our king, but if so, he could turn out to be our Kalif in the Charlifaht….
I think that this is the explanation why Lizzy is holding on to the throne, instead of going into well deserved retirement.
Problem though, she’d have to bypass him in favor of Wilhelm, errr… William, by Royal decree. On the other hand, I think or believe that most of us would be rather relieved.
Happy New One!
ploome says
this from the fellow who wants to be Camillas’ tampon
JawsV says
Prince Charles is a dunce.
Champ says
A *Useful Idiot* dressed for the part …
Jim Conch says
Wonder if he has his wife walk behind him all the time? He is truly a moron. How the Queen could ever have born such an idiot is a real mystery. But then, we can’t all be perfect.
Westcoastjohnny says
Science has not shown that the world is more complex than thought, it has done exactly the opposite. It has shown that a vast array of observable phenomena can be understood as resulting from the operation of a relatively small number of laws.
Wellington says
The house is on fire and what does Charles want to do? He wants to praise fire.
Hard to find the words to describe this man and right now I’m not going to make the effort.
billybob says
His lack of knowledge about Islam has led to to romanticise it, and project his imagination upon it like native indians were once thought of as “noble savages”. A noble savage is a literary stock character who embodies the concept of an idealized indigene, outsider, or “other” who has not been “corrupted” by civilization, and therefore symbolizes humanity’s innate goodness.
Very nice how Hugh Fitzgerald has turned the price’s prose back upon him.
Damocles Junior says
This is a topic for discussion: I would suggest that very few people, not only Prince Charles, know very much about Islam or it’s terrible history.. Yes, many people out there would still try and romanticise Islam and identify Muslims as a downtrodden minority. Then in the USA at least your president has constantly told the masses that Islam is the religion of peace, and they believe him, still. The Europeans may be waking up a little, but Canada is not.
As for the noble savage who has not been corrupted by civilisation, another dangerous and untrue myth but outside the scope of this article.
maghan says
The first thing to disgust a normal palate about Islam is that its founder, Muhammad was a pedophile-rapist who married a 6-year old child then thighed her until he raped her at 9 years. Does the Prince know this?
billybob says
Mystery solved…
Hugh quotes the prince as saying…
As science and technology have become increasingly separated from ethical, moral and sacred considerations so the implications of such a separation have become more sombre and horrifying as we see in genetic manipulation or in the consequences of the kind of scientific arrogance so blatant in the scandal of BSE.
Hugh writes “Unclear what this refers to.”
So I took up the challenge to discover what could BSE mean? I put it to Google directly – BSE, and Google came up with “Bombay Stock Exchange”. Feeling unsatisfied with that answer, I tried again, this time with – BSE scandal. I hit pay dirt, with links to a number of articles on it. It’s popularly known as “Mad Cow Disease”, or otherwise, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy.
Hugh Fitzgerald says
Thank you for that sleuthing. I had googled, but less thoroughly than you did. And I wonder — what was the “scandal” to which Prince Charles refers? Did doctors exaggerate the danger of “Mad Cow” disease? Youth wants to know.
jamesmi says
BSE was never off the UK news a few years ago, before H1N1 (remember H1N1 ?), global warming, and the Zika virus took over. “Mad Cow Disease” has had a lasting effect on life in the UK, as much so as the 1996 Dunblane Massacre.
Andrew E Harrod says
I am guessing that Prince Charles is referencing with BSE mad cows disease, an outbreak of which devastated British livestock in 1997:
http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/AnimalHealthLiteracy/ucm136222.htm
Robert Mann says
Prince Charles’ long-standing fascination with Islam is indeed a puzzle – and most regrettable. Many of Mr Fitzgerald’s criticisms are valid. However, in his rabid overenthusiasm for condemnation, he indulges in wishful thinking. He makes up the factoid that GMOs give higher yields; this is false. He also invents the factoid that two named Islamic nations are major growers of GM-crops, whereas Argentina & the USA far outstrip those nations in this respect.
The fact that some Islamic cities feature modern or postmodern architecture approximately as bad as typical Western blunders does not argue against the prince’s sustained criticisms of recent coarse or ugly architecture in the West. He has not said our recent botches are worse or better than Islamic architecture. Mr Fitzgerald’s illogic here parallels his wrong facts on GMOs – revealing a fanatical desire to find fault beyond fact & reason.
The prince’s very unfortunate fascination with Islam does not amount to a justification to insult him generally. Sure, he has this astonishing blind spot. But in many other ways he is a promising prince.
gravenimage says
Uh–what ways might those be?
jamesmi says
That’s a fair summary.
Unknown says
I’m reading The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic Rule in Medieval Spain and they didn’t change a bit after all this centuries also if Prince Charles is so stupid at this point then it proves that he never read or learned anything from history neither have read the Quran or ahadith therefore he is an useful idiot or he is a psychopath, that’s a possibility, we can say the same about our leaders. I really hope white smoke comes from Vatican soon and this prince doesn’t become king but Prince William, at least he doesn’t seem so idiot as his father.
Catherine says
I fear that William is even less intelligent than Charles. Charles read History at university. Even so, he is ignorant of what Islam is. Like, Obama, Merkel and other Western elites, Charles seems to think that if we all just got along and respected one another’s beliefs, all would be well.
Step outside the Palace, your HIghness, see what unchecked muslim immigration has done to the city you live in.
Mihamed says
Charlie has gone full retard.
charles says
The result of centuries of inbreeding.
BLC says
Prince Charles is friends with the Saudi Royal Family. He’s just another dhimmi.
revereridesagain says
Hang in there, Elizabeth, for godssake hang in there!
gravenimage says
+1
Champ says
“Hang in there, Elizabeth, for godssake hang in there!”
LOL!!! …I had the same thought 😀
DFD says
YES! Yes, yes, yes !!!!!!!!
David, Thailand says
Long Live the Queen!
DFD says
At the very least long enough to declare William King. If not….
El says
The man is a sellout, what else would you expect from someone who leaves his wife and kids to marry some camel (Camilla)!
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: Prince Charles and Islam’s “Sacred Spirituality”
………………………..
Actually, I can think of no faith *less* spiritual than is Islam. Many secular philosophies and even pop psychology is more spiritual than is Islam. The average person wearing a peppy “Attitude of Gratitude” pin is apt to be more spiritual than are Muslims.
And the idea that Islam involves a “critique of materialism” is even more absurd.
The “Prophet” Muhammed was a warlord, caravan-raider, kidnapper for ransom, pirate, and slaver–much of the Qur’an and Hadith are concerned with the taking and distribution of the spoils of pillaging–*including slaves and sex slaves*. There is an entire chapter of the Qur’an entitled Al Anfal, or The Booty”.
More proof that Prince Charles is either pathologically dishonest or else an utter fool.
Dennis says
Probably there is big money involved….Petrolium money…to say such nonsense.
ibrahim itace muhammed says
hugh fitzgerald,you have misconceive the point here.if you care you can learn from experts on islamisation of knowledge.it mean muslims since the golden of islam had been able to locate the realms of physical world and spritual world and harmonised them. knowledge on physical world is all about man and his physical and social environments using physical and social sciences as tools to solve problems associated with them.while spiritual world is a source of knowledge from the creator to serve as a guide to mankind in all his dealings with physical world.that is where the question of morality comes in.that is to know actions which are right and those which are wrong.the holy quran told muslims that all earthly resources were created by god for the benefit of mankind;and god provide mankind with intellect to process and utilise these resources efficiently for his own use.the issue of morality will come in to guide mankind on what is just and fair allocation of these resources to each individual .this is where sharia laws comes in to regulate socio-economic and socio-political dealings.thus,the issue of conflict betwee materialism and spirituality will not even arise. in christianity,materialism and spirituality are divorced and secularism or separation of church from the state emerged.this has some historical background where the church was overthrown and religion relegated to mere places of worship.islam never conced that defeat; because it is not in conflict with material quest.the holy prophet muhammad said wisdom(which is the production of human intellect attached to him by god )is like missing property of a believer;he can take it from whereever he finds it.this moved muslims to embark on collecting pieces of intellectual knowledge from various communities like greeks, egyptians, persians ,chinese etc;molded and and systematised them that provided the basis of physical and sciences later developed by the west.along the line muslims slept and were left behind.now the quest for revival of past glory.prince charlse is admires this harmonisation of materialism and spirituality by muslims to correct the mistake by christian west in separating the two.
Champ says
“ibrahim itace muhammed” is lecturing scholarly Hugh Fitzgerald on the spiritual inner workings of islam …now that’s funny.
DFD says
To ibrahim itace muhammed
======================
I think you are the Muslim version of a stand-up comedian.
But please, sit down and be quiet!
==========================
Benedict says
The queen knows that her son the prince is an idiot and that is why she is still queen, and has not made way for him to rule. Pray that she outlives this moron. The prince likes islam because he can have more women
Anne Smith says
I do not think that is true.
He has always been devoted to Camilla and finally got to marry her. I do not think he is unfaithful to her.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Jizlam is all about materialism – it’s what Muhammad craved and what allah rewarded him with, both here and allegedly also in the hereafter. There is NOTHING ‘spiritual’ in islam at all – NOTHING! And I dare Dhimmi Prince Chuckles to prove me wrong!
Baucent says
The Royal family is surprisingly ignorant of the World and history. In fact I believe Charles was the first Royal to actually attend a school and a university. All the earlier generation had tutors who gave an inferior education. Charles went to university but was a very average student. There are famous stories of the Royal family’s ignorance of British history and literature. All this leads to being very unqualified to pontificate on issue like religion or geopolitical matters.
RAB says
As a Canadian I respect the Royal family. Unfortunately it has produced a dangerous idiot.
Anne Smith says
Oh, so embarrassing for everyone.
Would be much better if he stayed at home and kept quiet.
RL Robison says
Let’s face it….good old Charlie is a twit! May Queenie (even WITH all her jewelry and estates) outlive Charles and allow the crown to pass to William. At least William seems grounded and realistic, and I’d really hate ( I mean REALLY hate ) to see Camilla and Charles benefit from their very public adultery and betrayal of anything approaching religious or family values.
DFD says
The bright side of it is:
=================
He hasn’t declared that Arab sabre to be Excalibur! Let’s hope it remains so.
That reminds me on a Merlin movie, BBC.
Merlin rams Excalibur into a rock, and the rock of ages awakens. He questioned Merlin how he got it, etc. Being satisfied with the answers he asked Merlin what he wants him to do with the sword. Merlin says to hold secure, until a good man comes along to be king of England.
The Rock of Ages replies: “Then I will hold it forever!”
Happy New Year All of You!
————————————-
Carolyne says
Charles is a moron who, according to his late ex-wife, HRH the Princess of Wales (Yes, I use HRH purposely because of the royal family’s treatment of her.) Could not manage to squeeze toothpaste on his own toothbrush and had someone hold his shorts as he stepped into them. He can’t even run his own bath water. He fancies himself an architect but has had no training as such.
How could such a man know anything about religion or much of anything else? He was spectacularly unfaithful to his first wife and his BBF the Sultan of Brunei has dozens of wives–probably where he got the idea.
Somewhere along the way while hobnobbing with Sultans and Emirs and such, he was converted to Islam without knowing the actual precepts of it but loving the sexual aspects. He really should be mindful of the fate of one of his namesake predecessors and get his wish of forever going ’round and ’round in a toilet like a tampon forever, or living in Camilla’s trousers and leaving serious stuff to grown ups.
Don Foss says
An utter embarrassment to all of Britain, his parents and children. Just a cum stain on dirty sheets and everyone knows it.
I.H. says
Prince Charles had rather read Apostle John’s that would have led him to the real integrity and sancity of this world.
Den says
I’m thinking of setting up a fund me page to send HRH to an Islamic country to live. If he’d like to leave all his flash palaces and cars and wot-not I’m sure the poor children in the UK could make use of them. Win-win easy
nicholas tesdorf says
Prince Charles is a Dork, which is why we pray daily for the continuing good health of Her Majesty the Queen and the increasing length of her intelligent reign.
Terry says
Modern materialism is unbalanced and increasingly damaging in its long-term consequences.
I gave up after seeing this.
IF THIS BORN TO ROYALTY, (IN MY NOT SO HUMBLE OPINION, ASSHOLE) WHO HAS NEVER HAD TO WORK A DY IN HIS LIE THINKS THAT ” MODERN MATERIALISM IS UNBALANCED”, why the hell doesn’t he and his relatives give up their umpteen castles; hundreds of millions of Sterling worth of jewelry AND GET REAL JOBS.
As for GMO foods- ( i was unaware that Egypt & Pakistan use them, or have them). However, they have improved- as noted-crop yields, and helped alleviate (but not end) malnutrition in some third world countries.
I would say that he is a jackass, but why insult them (donkeys) more? I think Clinton did enough damage to their self esteem.
Useless, as (in my opinion) the rest of the British and (probably) all other ” royal families”.
Cost taxpayers money, and get crap in return.
overman says
Britain needs a Republic not Royal parasites.
As it happens, the queen has been hospitalized for about 12 days over christmas, so the possibility of charles taking the throne might be imminent.
Badger says
This man is insane. How he can read the necessary literature and still believe there is an iota of good in islam baffles me.
What a tw_t.
Mark A says
Obviously another member of the extended Windsor family was using the family brain cell that day.
Dustin Koellhoffer says
This ignorant fool needs to read Churchill.
Dacritic says
What has Prince Charles, or the whole royal family for the matter, done anything to benefit the UK public? Can the wise Queen herself see the threat of Islam and issue an order to stop all Islamic practices, perhaps starting with banning of the building of more mosques? Surely she could, right? She’s the Queen for God’s sake. If she does this, she can shut up her stupid son’s trap for good.