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Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by divinereal: 4:57pm On Jan 03, 2011 |
Don't blame the West The 'root causes' of Islamist terrorism do not lie in poverty or western imperialism, but an age old conflict between reason and revelation By Robert Sibley, Ottawa Citizen January 3, 2011 6:40 AM Comments (2) During the last decade of Islamist terrorism, numerous commentators, particularly those on the left, have adopted a materialist approach to explain why some Muslims want to slaughter guests at hotels in Mumbai or detonate bombs at Christmas festivals in Sweden. Terrorism, they argue, is rooted in poverty, frustration over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and memories of western imperialism. In other words, so the argument goes, the West itself is to blame for terrorism. If only the West would apologize, make reparations, abandon Israel, leave the Middle East and Afghanistan, all would be well. Or at least that's where the root-cause crowd's assumptions logically lead. The problem with this materialist view of terrorism is that it largely misses the spiritual motivations that inform Islamist geo-politics. As political theorist Barry Cooper argues in his book, New Political Religions, or, An Analysis of Modern Terrorism, the Islamists, like the Nazis and Communists, are motivated more by a "disease of the spirit" than materialist aspirations. "When ordinary human beings see themselves as specially chosen by God, or even as gods themselves, they are not necessarily psychopaths, but they most definitely are spiritually disordered." Cooper draws on Eric Voegelin, a 20th-century political philosopher who coined the term "pneumopathology" to account for the spiritual diseases of the modern world. Voegelin argued that some people -- politicians, intellectuals, journalists, for example -- prefer to see the world as a projection of their desires rather than comprehend its reality. Such fabulists effectively live in what Voegelin called a "second-order reality." If they acquire power they all-too-often pursue extreme measures -- genocide, gulags, crashing airplanes into buildings -- to transform the world to suit their fantasies of perfection. In the case of the Islamists, they imagine Islam spreading across the globe and the establishment of a worldwide caliphate based on shariah law. They see themselves empowered by Allah to bring about this new world order by destroying a civilization they regard as spiritually empty. Thus, Islamism constitutes a political religion of apocalyptic proportions. You don't have to look far to find hints of such second-order thinking. The New York Hall of Science is currently staging an exhibit titled "1001 Inventions" that purports to show that Islam enjoyed a Golden Age of scientific and intellectual accomplishment when Europe was wallowing in the Dark Ages. According to a New York Times reviewer, the exhibition's promoters claim Islam's cultural glories were later "misappropriated" by the West. It is true that, between the seventh and 10th centuries, Islamic culture spread across North Africa and the Middle East -- prompting the building of libraries, universities and cities where science and philosophy were prized. Scholars, such as al-Zahrawi and al-Haytham, made significant contributions to medicine and physics. Philosophers such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi absorbed Aristotle and Plato and, like the Greeks, tried to apply reason to the problems of Muslim society. But to deny that Muslim thinkers borrowed heavily from other cultures -- evidence, again, of second-ordering thinking -- is a distortion of historical reality. As the Times' reviewer puts it: "Major cultures of the first millennium (China, India, Byzantium) are mentioned only to affirm the weightier significance of Muslim contributions." But then Islam's Golden Age was golden only in comparison to the endarkenment that descended on Western Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century. According to some historians, the rise of Islam in the seventh century exacerbated Europe's "Dark Age." "Islam, far from being a force for enlightenment in the so-called Dark Age, was actually responsible for the destruction of the literate and urban civilization that we now call Classical," says John J. O'Neill, the author of Holy Warriors: Islam and the Demise of Classical Civilization. The Muslim conquests of the Christian lands of the Middle East and North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries were, he says, made much easier by the breakdown in law and order throughout the Mediterranean as the borders of the Roman imperium receded. In this regard, the "1001 Inventions" exhibition is, perhaps, being disingenuous. Worse, though, says the reviewer, is the exhibition's failure to account for the "long eclipse" of Islamic culture. Indeed, one of history's much-debated puzzles is why the Muslim world stagnated after its Golden Age, why the spirit of scientific inquiry and philosophical debate by and large faded from Islamic culture. Blame the imams. In the 11th century, Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, a brilliant if tormented theologian, published The Incoherence of the Philosophers, effectively bringing to conclusion centuries of debate in the Muslim world about the primacy of reason versus that of revelation. Reason makes us question things, makes us doubtful and uncertain, al-Ghazali argued. He attacked philosophers who thought that humans could know the world by means of rational thought. Reason, he said, leads to despair. Only divine revelation, the word of God as revealed in the Koran, provides certain knowledge of how best to live. Human reason must submit to Allah's will. A century later, another Muslim philosopher challenged al-Ghazali's views. In The Incoherence of the Incoherence, Ibn Rushd -- better known in the West as Averroes -- argued that reason was God's gift to mankind and was to be used for the betterment of society. Ignorant theologians should not intrude on areas they don't understand. It was too late. The imams carried the day. Averroes' books were burned and he fled into exile. The voice of reason fell silent in courts of the caliphs and Muslim culture gradually ossified. Some scholars argue that Islamist terrorism can be traced to this eclipse of reason. Unlike Christianity, which eventually found a way to balance the claims of Athens and Jerusalem, leaving it open to the scientific reasoning that re-emerged in the Renaissance and Enlightenment, Islam has never reconciled reason and revelation. This unwillingness to reconcile the human and the divine fosters the kind of spiritual pathologies that give birth to terrorism. "Islamism is grounded in a spiritual pathology based upon a theological deformation that has produced a dysfunctional culture," argues political scientist Robert Reilly in a newly published book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis. Mainstream Sunni Islam, which comprises the majority of the faithful in the Muslim world, "has shut the door to reality in a profound way." This, says Reilly, is the consequence of Islam's long suppression of reason in favour of religious dogmatism. Reilly refers to the abandonment of scientific thinking as the "Dehellenization" of Islam. Islam was eventually dominated by those who thought like al-Ghazali. They held that the Koran contained Allah's direct speech. And, because Allah's will and action is unlimited, the Koran, as his eternal word, must apply to all times and places. There is no need to look elsewhere in responding to the human condition, regardless of changing circumstances. Since Allah is the first cause of everything, there is no need to look for secondary causes; that is to say, no need to use reason to understand nature's laws, and, therefore, no need for science. Such a mindset, Reilly argues, forgoes many attributes Westerners regard as essential to the modern mind, particularly philosophical skepticism and scientific reasoning. "If one lives in a society that ascribes everything to first causes, one is not going to look around the world and try to figure out how it works or how to improve it," he writes. "The Middle East is poor because of a dysfunctional culture based upon a deformed theology, and unless it can be reformed at that level, economic engineering or the development of constitutional political order will not succeed." Other political theorists argue that democracy cannot establish deep roots in a culture where human reason is not paramount because, in Barry Cooper's words, "the prerequisite of democracy is the respectability of reason." But without respect for reason there can be no notion of discovering natural laws. And without natural law, says Cooper, "there can be no constitutional political order by which human beings, using reason, create laws to govern themselves and act freely." Such views, if valid, augur ill for the presence of Islam within the secular West. If radical Islam is, as Reilly contends, rooted in the suppression of reason, it is hard to see how even moderate Muslims can achieve a deep and wholesome attachment to western societies and their values. How can genuinely devout Muslims identify wholeheartedly with a modern secular society that denies the efficacy of their faith? And if they can't, what are they going to do about it? The Islamists' answer, obviously, is that no accommodation is possible. Hence, they ultimately seek the transformation of the West to accommodate Islam. Chandra Muzaffar, a widely respected Malaysian Islamic scholar, writing in a 2006 book, The New Voices of Islam, captures this spiritual aspiration: "Islam and the post-Enlightenment secular West are diametrically opposed to one another. Muslims will then realize that unless they transform the secular world of the West, that vision of justice embodied in the Koran will never become a reality." The challenge for Islamists, obviously, is whether they can achieve that transformation better through demographic domination over the next few decades or through violence. The challenge for Westerners, perhaps not so obviously, is whether they will awaken in time from their multicultural slumbers to protect their cultural heritage and avoid, possibly, a new dark age. Robert Sibley is a senior writer with the Citizen. © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/blame+West/4050815/story.html#ixzz19zL30wkE |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by JeSoul(f): 5:30pm On Jan 03, 2011 |
Interesting article. A part of me wants to say the author is biased in some ways, another part of me quickly reminds of recent historical events and patterns. I really liked this quote though: Voegelin argued that some people -- politicians, intellectuals, journalists, for example -- prefer to see the world as a projection of their desires rather than comprehend its reality. Such fabulists effectively live in what Voegelin called a "second-order reality."Very true and very deep. One of the major problems in partisan politics in much of the West today. |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by JeSoul(f): 5:32pm On Jan 03, 2011 |
and oh, this is also a very solid point too: Terrorism, they argue, is rooted in poverty, frustration over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and memories of western imperialism. In other words, so the argument goes, the West itself is to blame for terrorism. If only the West would apologize, make reparations, abandon Israel, leave the Middle East and Afghanistan, all would be well. Or at least that's where the root-cause crowd's assumptions logically lead.Squarely on the head. |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by divinereal: 7:38pm On Jan 03, 2011 |
Yes indeed, poignant and thought provoking article. In todays world no ideology, religion or dogma is recluse from getting vetted and scrutinized. I am all for the dialogue and discourse on all aspects of human existence. Africans/Nigerians must open their eyes and minds and bring them into the 21st century especially as it pertains to religion and culture. We cannot base our morality and spirituality on bronze age middle eastern myths. ![]() |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by Sweetnecta: 7:52pm On Jan 03, 2011 |
while I dont see a separation of Mosque and Politics, since Islam is a religion that never leaves a muslim in all his/her dealings, affairs, Islam itself is there political. The Mosque was the center of all islamic affairs during the lifetime of the Messenger (AS), the person who was the embodiment of the religion. There is nothing wrong in being conscientious Islamist, realizing the responsibility that comes with being a muslim; obeying the Laws of God, being responsible to Him alone, which entails your deep love and painstaking attention to preservation of His creation. Allah says in the Quran that those who get the best meaning of the verse of Quran when they hear it are those who are endowed with wisdom, knowledge. People for the most part have turned islam over its head, choosing instead their own evil agenda and coloring it with the cloak of Islam. A man who is a sadist is the one that will not see how Prophet Job (AS) was told to deal with his wife in the Quran, instead will result into picking up a cable wire to beat her "lightly". Same type of ignorance will not make a parent send a child to receive secular education along with Quranic education, when Allah says in the Quran that exploration and research of 'nature' make a person know who his Lord is. It is the same type of mentality will drag a person to commit murder, even suicide when God Almighty stated that preservation of life is a preferred alternative to killing. [Quote]Posted by: JeSoul Insert Quote and oh, this is also a very solid point too: Quote Terrorism, they argue, is rooted in poverty, frustration over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and memories of western imperialism. In other words, so the argument goes, the West itself is to blame for terrorism. If only the West would apologize, make reparations, abandon Israel, leave the Middle East and Afghanistan, all would be well. Or at least that's where the root-cause crowd's assumptions logically lead. The problem with this materialist view of terrorism is that it largely misses the spiritual motivations that inform Islamist geo-politics. As political theorist Barry Cooper argues in his book, New Political Religions, or, An Analysis of Modern Terrorism, the Islamists, like the Nazis and Communists, are motivated more by a "disease of the spirit" than materialist aspirations. "When ordinary human beings see themselves as specially chosen by God, or even as gods themselves, they are not necessarily psychopaths, but they most definitely are spiritually disordered." Squarely on the head.[/Quote]The bold speaks more directly to those who say they are "Gods/gods, God's chosen people and or children of God, along with those in Islam who are evil doers. I consider these evil doers hypocritical muslims. |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by JeSoul(f): 8:05pm On Jan 03, 2011 |
divinereal:Divine, do you think religion itself is the problem? or rather the people practising the religion? Sweetnecta:Might I ask just one question SN, and please try to be as direct and concise as possible in ur response: Do you believe in the ideology that Islam (along with its beliefs and laws and systems) should spread, and be enforced all across the world as the one true religion? and that this is indeed the goal of Islam and its founder and followers? Thanks. |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by divinereal: 9:32pm On Jan 03, 2011 |
Divine, do you think religion itself is the problem? or rather the people practicing the religion Per your question above: I am yet to study a religious doctrine/system that is not morally flawed. When looking at my analysis of a religion I focus on the doctrine/dogma, holy book of a said religion and customary practice by its adherents. None of the Abrahamic faiths denounced slavery or believed in the true equality of human beings. There are genocidal acts in the Koran and Torah. The very concept of praying for forgiveness to "God" for harm caused on others, society is very immoral in itself and lacks accountability. On another note, all religions are not equal in bigotry, moral bankruptcy, divisiveness and proclivity for violence. They are as varied and diverse as sport; some extremely violent like boxing, while others more benign like golf. |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by vedaxcool(m): 4:30pm On Jan 04, 2011 |
divinereal: Oh really? divinereal: hence in other words, we come to know that this conflict essentially escalated during the 20th centuray with the most gruesome acts occuring in with the last decade. How can people be usually so dumb to know that the so callled terrorist are fighting on material grounds e.g. Jerusalem, Political power etc divinereal: The blame of the west stem from the fact that they are playing dangerous politics with people's life. Look at the case of Iraq were Bush made false accusations against the country, only to come to destroy a leadership they did not like, and only a fool would claim western imperialism is only a matter of memories as we are all living witness to this imperielism. divinereal: The problem with the spiritual view is that it largely ignores how material situations can easily be used to rally people together, when one sees iran, go through their history, America imposed a leadership that oppress the country, furthermuch maintaining string military ties with that leadership, which made it hard for the people to remove them, this tyrannical leadership was opposed by all and sundry, now the Imams of Iran who were also suffering saw the spiritual angle of the whole saga and started mobilizing people based on religious teachings, now that is how Material things move to the sspiritual. till date that the relationship between Iran and America is as rugged as ever because there is mistrust. Again look at the issue of nuclear weapons, America hardly see it an issue that Isreal is not part of the NPT and also have weapons, but goes as far as threatening war with Iran on this grounds of suspicion, this same suspicion that melead them to Iraq, how can any one claim that Material issues are not the root of contention, Injustice provokes all sort of behavior from people. divinereal: This is very much an allegation thay lay against Islamist, making a fatal error in the process, this Islamist are not acting in concordance they are some that believe that this change will occur by itself and hence does not need the hands of muslims to happen. within the same Islamist they are those who participate i electoral process while some believe in power struggle. E.g. the Muslim brother hood of Egypt participate in election despite aqll the oppression they face during the last 40yrs they still have not turned to arm struggle. It is very easy subscribing to simplitic views to gloss way things. A great rebutal to the stupid statement "They see themselves empowered by Allah to bring about this new world order by destroying a civilization they regard as spiritually empty." is that through out the 1400 yrs of Islam Muslims have never fought a battle with Ethopia- Abasynia until recently when eriitea fought wars of indepence and land with Ethopia, Hence destroying Civilization has never been taken as a duty of Muslims, why? Go throught History u would always find that Christians, Jews were always in the Midst of Muslims, Again During the Ottoman Empire says, Christians and Jews fled Europe due to persecuetion and found peace in the Midst of the Turks, in fact destroying peoples' civilization has been a western thinking, because the west usually think themselves superior. divinereal: Nonsense! this article is cheap cry from a western bigot? Have this man forgot that the Romans destroyed several civilizations including Christian ones? We read from History how Christians in Syria were glad that Muslims chased the romans away, the Questionis why? simple The Romans were very Oppressive in places they go. divinereal:. I would have answered the question but it has nothing to do with central arguement of this article. divinereal: well, well! well!! Now, this man is simply being a 419ner, as he has hardly state verbatim what al - Ghazali was saying, now if Just one man view on rationality and Religion is enough evidence then this entire article makes a mockery of intelligence, as his arguement are not coherent, he said 'He attacked philosophers who thought that humans could know the world by means of rational thought' now does he mean in the moral sense or what? The article seem to be a strange covergence of thoughts. Funnything is that the golden period spans Al ghazali The Islamic Golden Age is traditionally dated from the mid-7th century to the mid-13th century A.D. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age divinereal: Hehehe, this man is very funny, this man have hardly showed how the lack rationalism is the cause of terrorism. "Islamism is grounded in a spiritual pathology based upon a theological deformation that has produced a dysfunctional culture," argues political scientist Robert Reilly in a newly published book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis. Mainstream Sunni Islam, which comprises the majority of the faithful in the Muslim world, "has shut the door to reality in a profound way." This, says Reilly, is the consequence of Islam's long suppression of reason in favour of religious dogmatism. Reilly refers to the abandonment of scientific thinking as the "Dehellenization" of Islam. Islam was eventually dominated by those who thought like al-Ghazali. They held that the Koran contained Allah's direct speech. And, because Allah's will and action is unlimited, the Koran, as his eternal word, must apply to all times and places. There is no need to look elsewhere in responding to the human condition, regardless of changing circumstances. Since Allah is the first cause of everything, there is no need to look for secondary causes; that is to say, no need to use reason to understand nature's laws, and, therefore, no need for science. [/quote] |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by Sweetnecta: 5:16pm On Jan 04, 2011 |
@JeSoul; « #5 on: Yesterday at 08:05:35 PM » [Quote]Quote from: Sweetnecta on Yesterday at 07:52:55 PM while I dont see a separation of Mosque and Politics, since Islam is a religion that never leaves a muslim in all his/her dealings, affairs, Islam itself is there political. The Mosque was the center of all islamic affairs during the lifetime of the Messenger (AS), the person who was the embodiment of the religion. There is nothing wrong in being conscientious Islamist, realizing the responsibility that comes with being a muslim; obeying the Laws of God, being responsible to Him alone, which entails your deep love and painstaking attention to preservation of His creation. Allah says in the Quran that those who get the best meaning of the verse of Quran when they hear it are those who are endowed with wisdom, knowledge. People for the most part have turned islam over its head, choosing instead their own evil agenda and coloring it with the cloak of Islam. A man who is a sadist is the one that will not see how Prophet Job (AS) was told to deal with his wife in the Quran, instead will result into picking up a cable wire to beat her "lightly". Same type of ignorance will not make a parent send a child to receive secular education along with Quranic education, when Allah says in the Quran that exploration and research of 'nature' make a person know who his Lord is. It is the same type of mentality will drag a person to commit murder, even suicide when God Almighty stated that preservation of life is a preferred alternative to killing. The bold speaks more directly to those who say they are "Gods/gods, God's chosen people and or children of God, along with those in Islam who are evil doers. I consider these evil doers hypocritical muslims. Might I ask just one question SN, and please try to be as direct and concise as possible in your response: Do you believe in the ideology that Islam (along with its beliefs and laws and systems) should spread, and be enforced all across the world as the one true religion? and that this is indeed the goal of Islam and its founder and followers? Thanks.[/Quote]It is not the intention or the goal of God Almighty Who created and chose Islam for mankind that it should spread, and be enforced all across the world. If it is Allah would not have given man free will and states that no compulsion in religion. He would not have told us that hell fire is the place for disbelievers, which must mean, coupled with the free will people make their own decision to be disbelievers being fuel for hell. Allah says if He had willed, He could have made all persons of the nation of Islam, being believers. But that is not His Will because some might have said they were forced to belief, instead of entering the path of guidance willingly. I will not force anybody. Muhammad (AS) didnt force anyone. And to be dominant even per head count does not mean 100% of the world population. While Muhammad was alive there were disbelievers in Arabia. So there. And you remember the saying; one with God is a majority? That weakens the head count part. And Allah says that most mankind are disbelievers, anyway. Most is more than 50% you will agree. |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by JeSoul(f): 5:38pm On Jan 04, 2011 |
Sweetnecta:SN, thank you very much. I really appreciate the response. divinereal:Thanks for the reply. There is a lot of legitimacy to your beef with religion. I just want to comment that on the issue of morality, it is often premature to make conclusive statements because what qualifies as moral/immoral fluctuates based on culture, time, perspective and circumstance. Vedaxcool, very nice comeback/reply on the topic (but you're too emotional on it though). On a normal day(when I'm not feeling lazy to type long-ers) I would take you up so I'll let Divinereal respond. |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by seyibrown(f): 1:15am On Jan 05, 2011 |
The challenge for Westerners, perhaps not so obviously, is whether they will awaken in time from their multicultural slumbers to protect their cultural heritage and avoid, possibly, a new dark age. Bang on point call for action! Not only westerners but people everywhere in the world should wake up from their slumber and protect their heritage from any 'imposition of backwardness' which will plunge us into a new dark age! |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by Sweetnecta: 1:33am On Jan 05, 2011 |
^^^^^ even if the heritage is actually the age of darkness in your eye, considering that you dont even want to share your lovely husband with a co wife, which is not the way most african heritage[s] roll? seyi wants us to go back to the time multiple birth children are slaughtered for no reason except just that. the true defender of individual freedom, including the right of women to choose, is classical Islam. if Muhammad (AS) is the head of the world government, today, you will still have your right to remain a disbeliever, paying taxes like believers, just as well. religion is good when you meet good people who practice their religion[s]. this is what i focus on as i practice my Islam, allowing you to practice your non-islamic religion which you call christianity. having a dialogue with you about it serves only as a reminder, and nothing else, a natural inclination as a duty to call people to what is good. there is no force into true belief; Islam. you can force the body, but not the mind, so what therefore is gained but zero? |
Re: Don't Blame The West, Poverty Or Israel For Rise In Islamism by seyibrown(f): 1:43am On Jan 05, 2011 |
seyibrown: If one were to 'protect one's heritage from any imposition of backwardness', it would mean that one's heritage is 'more advanced'/better than the 'backwardness' that is being imposed! For example, If you have enjoyed freedom of speech for decades and someone is trying to impose a 'gagging' policy/culture, freedom of speech which you already have is better/more advanced than a gag! Take as another example the imposition of 'leaves' as new compulsory clothing material in this day and age! ![]() ![]() |
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