Not Quite at the Root of the Problem?

Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), Aug 3, 2010 at 17:38

I agree with all these comments - until the last paragraph mentioning the "percentage or two of [Moslem?] Britons" from whom the perpetrators come. This clearly makes it seem as if the number of perpetrators of "Islamic Carnage" is an incidental element of Islam itself.

But is this true?

I've just finished reading Ayaad Hirsi Ali's new book, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations. Readers of Daniel Pipes' website will probably know that she is the Somali ex-Muslim turned Atheist who has become an American citizen, and who must live her life with a team of bodyguards because of her criticism of Islam as "fatally flawed" (p. 251 of her new book). Especially is she unsparing in her view and analysis of Islam's treatment of half its population, women.

In order to feel it's only 1 or 2% of muslims who produce 'Islamic Carnage", one has to conclude that her belief that "the dysfunctional Muslim family is a real threat to the very fabric of Western life", is wrong.

Although Daniel Pipes notes that "Domestic British [Moslem} terrorists display a dismaying pattern of normality", he seems unwilling to consider Hirsi Ali's thesis, even though almost all his comments in this and many other postings are consistent with that thesis.

What is the concern with considering whether Islam causes something to go terribly wrong with the core institution of the family in Moslem civilization? Is it that raising the issue will produce more "Islamic carnage"? If this happened would it tend to prove or disprove Hirsi Ali's thesis?

Besides her chapter that Islam in America [is already a huge problem], perhaps her most resonant chapter is the last, Seeking God But Finding Allah. This seems especially remarkable for a committed and unapologetic atheist. For in it she recognizes the humanity of Moslems seeking meaning in a God they can believe in and who cares for them, but then notes the tragedy for them and the menace to the world that what they find instead is Allah, a figure of hate, including hatred of them if they fail to measure up to all his commands to kill, conquer and humiliate all who do not submit to him.

Is this the root of the problem behind those normal seeming young Moslems, which we continue to ignore or deny at our mounting peril?

Ron Thompson

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