Some Puzzles

Submitted by Edward Halper (United States), Jan 24, 2008 at 13:46

The analysis is surely right. It explains why Islamists find democracy and the west so threatening.

It is interesting to me that tribalism was able to meld itself into Islam. How could the seemingly universal Islam tolerate the particularism of the tribal? The contrast with Judaism is striking: there an avowedly particular religion embraces universal principles.

Second, the analysis may explain the continuing attraction of radical Islam to Muslims in the west: there is nothing in our individualistic society to replace the strong tribal bonds that they associate with Islam. The bonds of our "civil society" are thin by comparison.

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