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From Ibn Warraq:
The truth is there is no real difference between Islam and Islamic fundamentalism - at most there is a difference of degree, but not of kind. There are moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate. All the tenets of so-called Islamic fundamentalism are derived from the Koran, the Sunna, and the Hadith - the defining texts of Islam - and elaborated in intimate detail by the classical Muslim jurists from all four schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, as well as by Shi'ite jurists.
The only solution is to bring the questions of human rights out of the religious sphere and into the sphere of the civil state, in other words to separate religion from the state and promote a secular state where Islam is relegated to the personal. Here, Islam would continue to provide consolation, comfort, and meaning, as it has to millions of individuals for centuries, yet it would not decree the mundane affairs of state.
Are Islamic societies capable of being secularized? Yes, there are many reasons for optimism.
Egypt is politically friendly to the U.S. in many ways. Yet the Grand Mufti of Egypt (described by Wikipedia as "highest official of religious law in a Sunni Muslim country) repeats the notorious blood libel which has been used in Arab nations as a false pretext for attacks on Jews since the Middle Ages. Of this current Grand Mufti, Shaikh Ali Gomaa, Wikipedia says:
He is considered to be one of the most respected and qualified traditional Islamic scholars alive.
Is it possible that the Mufti is some sort of isolated anomaly? It is not. His views are repeated in all the mosques. From The Big Pharaoh weblog:
"May God destroy the Jews and their allies. May God curse the Jews and the Americans. May God widow their women just like they widowed Muslim women. May God orphan their children just like they orphaned Muslim children." That's what I sometimes hear the man in the mosque nearby preach during the Friday prayers. I have accustomed myself to the man's prayer, it became as routine as the word amen.
We definitely have a huge problem with our mosques. Many of these mosque preachers never had any religious education; they could just be members of the congregation who know a word or two from the Quran and end up preaching to hundreds if not thousands every week.
Preaching against Jews and praying that God will orphan their children is not the only problem with these guys. Many of them, including even those who had religious education but are extremists in nature, say insane stuff that drive sensible minds crazy.
...if the guy in the mosque located in my upscale Cairo neighbourhood is saying stuff like this, what are the preachers in poorer and less educated areas are saying?
In conclusion: "one of the most respected and qualified traditional Islamic scholars alive" repeats the blood libel. That appears to document Ibn Warraq's statement, that "There are moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate."
(Hat tip to: A.M. Whittaker.)
#1
#2Thanks, A.M. I've just added this quote to the article "John Quincy Adams on Radical Islam."
Question: Who said this and when?
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as
hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy.
The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly
systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of
property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the
next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every
woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child,
a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the
faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the
religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund,
Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread
throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and
were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the
science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern
Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."
Answer: A true historian, statesman, and visionary -
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50
(London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
It's been five score and 7 yearssince this was personally observed and recorded; when will the Western world finally wake up and realize the truth?