Muslim Delusions

Submitted by Susan (Canada), Jun 5, 2008 at 00:16

There's a book out which is helping me to understand why Muslims seem so confused. Some are radical, filled with hatred and want to kill everything; others say Islam is peaceful and the radicals are misusing Islam.

The book is called, "Chasing a Mirage: the Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State" by Tarek Fatah (a Muslim born in Pakistan). The book jacket says, "... Islam has been hijacked by radicals who falsely invoke the Quran...for their own political purpose that offends the spirit of Islam. At the heart of the matter is the duplicity of imams who decry the West for the ills that affect Muslims. Such invective deflects the failure of most Muslim countries to offer a modicum of freedom, human rights, equality...in the aftermath of the Prophet's death, two streams of Islam emerged. One was political and imperial, seeking power and domination...the other was spiritual...Islamists have worked to establish the Islamic state, while Muslims continue to be sacrificed for a cause that is rooted in deceit and delusion."

This explains to me why Muslims, while claiming that Islam is a religion of peace, will say in the same breath, "And we'll kill anyone who disagrees." Most Muslims seem to be in this category; claiming to be peaceful but confused, blaming the West for all their ills, and threatening death to America or wishing for her downfall. Other Muslims are happy, loving and truly peaceful and still others are filled with hatred and bloodlust, wanting to kill everyone who disagrees with them.

If you are waiting for the downfall of America, your wait will be eternal. Americans will never give up their freedom for an oppressive, outdated religion that confuses its most devout followers. Your statement that, "as a muslim I can tell you that the actions of the Muslims today are far from the teachings of Islam." is correct but America is not to blame for that. Almost all countries on Earth have dark periods in their histories and people alive today can't change that. However, some countries, including America, are trying to atone for mistakes made in the past.

If, as you say, America is in a decline and will be punished for what it did, will America also be thanked for the countless times it was first on the scene of natural and human disasters? Who will run to the aid of the victims of those disasters if America doesn't? Muslims? Since that has never been the case in the past, it's doubful it will be in the future - unless Islam changes.

As for blaming the US or Jews for Muslims' troubles, the book's author says, "The Muslim malaise is not a result of a Zionist-US conspiracy. It is the inablity of the Muslim leadership to realize that the days of emirs and caliphs belongs to the past. It is a failure of our scholars and clerics ro reconcile Islam with modernity, individual freedom and liberty. As long as we continue to blame others for our own shortcomings, we will continue to stagnate...dreaming of the kind of Islamic State that has eluded us for 14 centuries...we have to grow up. Let us stop chasing a mirage."

That sounds like good advice to me.

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