Islam vs. the West

12

Like I've been saying …..

Brett Stephens has a good piece in the Wall Street Journal on the growing threat of Islamic supremacism across the more "moderate" Muslim countries. My only issue with Stephens is his use of the word "radical." It is not radical. It is authentic Islam. It is pure Islam. And "islamists"? These are devout Muslims, "islamist" and "islamism" is an artificial distinction.

An 18-year-old Muslim student from Western University, born in Mississauga, Ontario, had this to say about the distinction between Islam and Islamism: "case and point on why you dont understand Islam. No one makes this distinction [between Islam and Islamism] other then the Western world, for the sake of having a tidy little system to classify everything. Our religion and political ideology are one. Furthermore, I really wouldnt use the term islamist or Islamism. Many muslims, including myself, find the term deeply offensive."

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Other than that, I am glad someone of note is addressing this grave threat in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Irshad Manji, like Zuhdi Jasser, is living in her own private Islam. It was only a matter of time before her fantasy ran smack up against the brutal reality of true Islam. Their re-interpretations of Islam is a crime under the sharia, "hypocrisy," punishable by death.

"Lady Gaga Versus Global Jihad" WSJ

The West needs a countercultural strategy against radical Islam.

Two years ago I wrote a column making the case that Lady Gaga did more to galvanize Muslim hatred of the West than all Israeli settlements combined. The column was denounced for naïveté and—what else?—shilling for Israel.

So here's the latest news from Planet Gaga: Last week, the star announced she was canceling her June 3 Jakarta concert date, disappointing the 52,000 ticket holders who had sold out the show in days. The reason? A group called the Front for the Defense of Islam, or FPI, had threatened to "wreak havoc" at the concert. Their reason? She brings "the faith of Satan to our country and thus will destroy the nation's morals," according to an FPI leader.

Then again, who isn't bringing Satan to the Muslim world these days?

Shortly before Gaga's canceled appearance, Irshad Manji, director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University, visited Indonesia to promote her moving new book, "Allah, Liberty and Love." Ms. Manji is a faithful Muslim, a refugee from Idi Amin's Uganda to Canada, and the author of the 2004 best seller, "The Trouble With Islam." That book's subtitle, "A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith," gives away the gist.

Ms. Manji is also no stranger to Indonesia, having toured the country four years ago to promote her last book. Back then, she found a mostly tolerant country, eager to debate her ideas if not always to embrace them. Not anymore.

"Four years ago at Gadjah Mada"—one of Indonesia's leading universities—"they welcomed me with open arms; I spoke to three hundred students," she tells me. "This time the rector canceled my event."

That wasn't the only trouble Ms. Manji ran into in Indonesia. She and her party were repeatedly turned away from hotels. A community event in south Jakarta was disrupted by a deputy police chief who announced that "the community doesn't want Irshad here." At an event at an Islamic Center in Yogyakarta she was set upon by radicals wielding crowbars and yelling "Where's Manji?" Audience members formed a human shield around Ms. Manji, but an assistant of hers was hit and had part of her vertebrae dislocated.

So here, it seems, is the new state of play: In a country in which transvestism had an honored place in public culture long before it became acceptable in the West, the world's leading gender-bending pop star is no longer welcome. And in the country long thought of as the home of moderate Islam, a leading voice for Muslim reform is treated as persona non grata.

All this should be taken as evidence that, when it comes to building bridges between the Islamic world and the West, no amount of Western policy concessions—whether that means an end to Israeli settlements or finally closing Gitmo—is going to mollify Islamists. The real Islamist complaint is against Western culture itself, in all its innovating, freewheeling and free-loving glory. Islamists won't be satisfied until the First Amendment itself is revoked.

Yet that's a lesson that still hasn't been learned. Since 9/11, the West's approach to Islamism has been one long pre-emptive cringe. It's how we have come to handle the Quran with white gloves and shy away from reprinting the Danish cartoons. It's why Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is now being represented in court by a military attorney wearing a hijab. It's why the phrase "Islamic terrorism" has become taboo. It's why nobody in the Army had the sense to call out Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan on his rants before he went on his rampage.

The predictable result has been to violate our best principles while encouraging Islamists to make ever-more outrageous demands.

Maybe there's a better way. The West so far has been trying to fight radical Islamists with a mix of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism strategies. But it's not going to win the long war unless it has a countercultural strategy, too.

Consider Lady Gaga's abortive attempt to perform in Jakarta: What's interesting isn't merely that she was forced to cancel. It's that the show would have filled a stadium had it gone ahead.

Similarly with Ms. Manji: The salient fact of her visit wasn't just that she was set upon by thugs. It's that there were Indonesians on hand to shield her physically against violent men with crowbars. And that was for a woman heckled with calls to "please go back to your lesbianland."

In other words, both Lady Gaga and Ms. Manji have important constituencies in mass and high culture. The worrying question is whether those constituencies still form a majority capable of defending Western-style rights. "We're giving away our rights under the constitution piece by piece," one of Ms. Manji's supporters told her in Jakarta. Will there be anyone to support her should she visit again in five years?

Thinking about the threat of radical jihadism isn't fashionable these days, with unemployment at 8.2%. But the threat hasn't vanished simply because we don't like to think about it. Countering that threat will require not just drones or boots on the ground, but also moral confidence. For that, there is Ms. Manji—and also (swallow hard, conservatives) Lady Gaga.

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Beagle
Beagle
11 years ago

One of the things I figured out years ago is that the media meets handlers, fixers, security, hospitality, industry, government, and military officials who tend to be in that secular English-speaking* minority of Muslims comprising between 5-20% of most “Muslim nations” (even the accepted term is surrender to theocracy). The problem, of course, is that Islam seems to be politicizing in favor of the Salafist islamic purity movement pushed by Saudi Wahhabis with their oil trillions. Or Shia Ayatollahs with plans for the Twelver apocalypse and big war against the Jews.
If the one guy you interview in Tahrir Square is a tour guide who likes Lady Gaga and speaks perfect English, you may not be taking the pulse of Egypt. Just sayin’ — and been saying it for years. Even my favorite Egyptian blogger misread his nation by thinking young people in Cairo were a good proxy for Egypt as a whole.
“Unexpectedly,” the Islamophobic nutjobs nailed it, predicting Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) to take over Egypt. I mean nailed it again. Over and over again really, on everything since 2001 pretty much.
Nothing is going to get better while the MSM continues to act like the Ministry of Truth when it comes to Islam. Not that things will automatically get better when there is an honest debate, but at least it becomes possible.
*Of course some English speakers are stealth jihadis, sharia supremacists, spokesliars or outright martyrdom seekers. Nothing is that simple, just making an observation on the people who tend to talk to the media.

Jamadagnii
Jamadagnii
11 years ago

There are lots of Muslims who are living their own more Westernized version of Islam — who have to be seeing this too and wondering how much longer they can live freely. What they are doing about it I do not know. Jasser and Manji are bravely speaking out, attacked by fundamentalists as “reformers” (a bad word in Islamic circles) and as “unrealistic” by counter jihadists. But without reformers how can reform ever take place? I’m not ridiculing them any more than I am ridiculing Atlas or Spencer for their efforts.

Beagle
Beagle
11 years ago

To be clear, Sunni jihadis also believe in the big end times war against the Jews. That’s something that brings them together. The Shia in Iran seem more vocal right now. It’s in the famous Gharkhad or Jew tree ahadith which is found in the HAMAS Charter among many other places.

I ain't no pork dodging towel head
I ain't no pork dodging towel head
11 years ago

WEll,
We’re heading down that road here in America.
It’l be slow, 5 or 6 years, but we can change course now here.
As they say,
The Navy Seals got rid of one of America’s islamic threats,
The voters have to get rid of the other.
1)Elect politicians with balls
2) ARM yourself so you can be part of the fight.

Pamela Geller
Pamela Geller
11 years ago

Jamadagnil,
How long have you been reading this site? How can you make a statement like that?
I am a vocal supporter of reformers and reform of Islam from within.
My issue with Manji and Jasser is theirs is not “reform” but deception and obfuscation of the teachings of Islam.
Zuhdi Jasser says the Jew hating hadiths are “illegitimate.” Really? According to who? Jasser? That kind of dissembling is harmful. The Muslim world is rapidly anti-Jewish as commanded in the quran(hence the hatred of Israel.)
Manji suffers the same self-delusion. She asserts that it is the “Arab influence on Islam that took away women’s individuality and introduced the concept of women’s honour.” That is absurd and untrue.
They refuse to acknowledge the truth about Islam.
I order to cure an illness, you must first diagnose it correctly.

Jamadagnii
Jamadagnii
11 years ago

Pamela,
I’ve been here for about 2 years, not long. Frankly, I haven’t heard too much from you in that time which has been supportive of Muslims who are reformers. I have a sense that you don’t believe that Islam can be reformed. That’s the position of Spencer and Wafa Sultan, correct? Now I am not clear if you believe reform is possible or not.
From what I understand at this point of the reformers, there was a point in Islamic history when there was a tradition of individual choice, but that group was snuffed out. But there are still those who promote the idea that there is no central authority in Islam and Muslims are free to believe and practice as they choose. They are apparently outnumbered or overpowered by Muslims who are fanatical about following rules because they believe the rules are the direct word of Gd. (Tariq Ramadan falls in this camp despite his honey words and Westernized appearance.)
Honestly, this is not an area I can speak about with any experience. I did notice when you were having the conference in Dearborn that there were quite a few women’s Muslim groups dealing with honor killing, but they seem fairly new and subject to the accusations and attacks of being “reformers,” so I don’t think they are making that much progress. I wish there was more info about what Muslims are doing to confront these problems of violent jihad, supremacism, sharia subjugation of women and non-Muslims, and their traditional Jew hatred. We just don’t hear about it.

John William Vondra
John William Vondra
11 years ago

Islam swept through the middle east, north africa and spain-Invaded France and were at the door of Vienna-If the so-called christians of USA/UK do not return to The Catholic Church they will go the way of Constantinople. In Constantinople just before the muslin take-over-The choice was become a Roman Catholic or a Muslim-Many where heard in the street saying “rather a muslim than a Roman Catholic”-same choice for the so-called christians of the USA/UK and it has been the same every day since the fall of Constantinople and it is the same choice today!-Catholic or Muslim-

Kufar Dawg
Kufar Dawg
11 years ago

@Jamadagnii
Why didn’t the nazis reform nazism?
Where are the muslimes who are on-board w/renouncing the rabid antisemitism
in the holey quran? Where are the muslimes on-board w/renouncing the genocidal
antisemitism in the holey hadeeths? Where are the muslimes on-board w/renouncing
islam’s commandments to subjugate/kill unbelievers? After 1400 years of unremitting
persecution and murder of people of other faiths what are they waiting for?

Amina
Amina
11 years ago

Bismillah,
I testify that God is one, Allah and the Prophet(peace and blessing be upon him) is the last and final messenger. I believe that we will all be judged for our every deed and that we will face the one true Allah one day.
I am a 20 something Muslim woman who grew up in the USA. I am more fluent in English than I am in my own native tongue. I went to a public school my entire life and went to public university as well. I have never went back to the Muslim nation I was born in and I identify with the American culture more than my own native people.
With that said I wish for you all to listen with an open mind. Do not put me in a stereo typical box that you put Muslim women in. My father did not raise and even if he did he is extremely liberal. My mother is not religious either. I grew up in a majority Mormon and Baptist community. I used to know more about the Christian faith than my own. So as you can see I had little Islamic influence my entire life. Then out of the blue I felt in my heart true faith(I will spare you the details).
The point is I believe in all the things most people consider “extreme”. Actually I want to applaud Pamela for she is right on some points. Islam is one religion. It is a COMPLETE way of life and yes that includes a way to govern Muslims. For the Islamic law is meant for the Muslims.
You know what I like about Pamela? She is honest about her intentions, even though they are horrid. She is not a scholar of Islam and lies to prove her point but she is honest about her hatred and horrid intentions to go to war is Islam. She says that she believes America should fight Islam and that there should be a cultural war as well. At the end of the day it comes down to this. I believe in what I believe in. Lets not sugar coat the truth. Its my faith that is the issue not me or the Muslims. Just like the polytheists of the Prophet(SAW) had a problem with the truth you guys do too. Even if we lived in isolation away from the rest of the world you still wouldn’t leave us alone point blank. Am glad to see someone admitting to that I just wish more non-Muslims would be so frank with their intentions. Geller supports Israel for purely religious reasons and I am against it for religious reasons. It will always come down to that fact. My beliefs are mine and I will (Allah willing) remain firm. Disputes shall be solved like they have always been…war. And America has already begun. Lets see where is goes.
To each their own but I do call everyone who is reading this message to become a Muslim. There is only one true faith left in the world, Islam. Do your own research.
Bye
P.s: please excuse my many typing errors. I wrote this is a rush

Amina
Amina
11 years ago

@John William Vondra
That is ridiculous! Its like me asking “where are the Americans renouncing the constitution?” A Muslim renouncing the word of Allah and the way of the Prophet is no Muslim at all. So stop with your preposterous demands.

Kufar Dawg
Kufar Dawg
11 years ago

@Amina
“Do not put me in a stereo typical box that you put Muslim women in.” The only stereo typical box you deserve to be put in is believing in the genocidal, antisemitic, anti-Christian, xenophobic, hate-filled ideology that is in your holey quran and hadeeths. Suck it down. Hard.

Asha
Asha
11 years ago

@Amina, Read your koran and hadeeths and convert out of your evil violent supremacist cult to the religion of your oppressed ancestors.

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