69 million page views

A Different and Most Remarkable Vision: the Collapse of Islam

Reader comment on item: My Optimism about the New Arab Revolt

Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), Mar 1, 2011 at 14:11

A first observation: I can't agree that Daniel Pipes is a "gloom and doom" analyst of the Middle East. That designation is not possible for anyone who believes that a "moderate" Islam will somehow, someday define a benign Middle East, despite the clear language of Muhammad, the Koran, the Hadith, the Sira, and 1400 years of History.

Yesterday I went to Capitol Hill in the oldest office building of the House of Representatives to listen to a Palestinian ex-member of Hamas and ex-Muslim describe his vision of the collapse of Islam itself, which he predicted two years ago.

Specifically, he predicted that Islam "can't stand" the new information age - "the walls (which cut off Moslems from the rest of the world) are gone." In other words, "the social networks have more power than governments". No longer (as Fareed Zakaria pointed out a few days ago) can plotters of coups grab one or two TV or radio stations, and control or hermetically seal off the flow of information.

The speaker, Mosab Hassan Yousef, has remarkable credentials for his views, as the son of a founder of Hamas who before that was a longtime member of the Muslim Brotherhood. After concluding on his own that Hamas was a dark and dead-end path of endless violence, he allowed himself to be recruited as a double agent by Shin Bet of Israel. Making a deal that would protect his father from Israeli assassination, he saved many Israeli (and Palestinian) lives while living a life of, obviously, harrowing danger.

Deepening and broadening his views in the years since his defection from Hamas, and from Islam - from the "entire belief system" - it was stunning to listen to his overview of the Islamic world, especially in the core Moslem lands from North Africa to South Asia.

He states that the Governments in the Middle East, including those we call our 'allies' have "nothing in common" with Western values.

He believes that we have a worse enemy than el-Queda in the Moslem Brotherhood, because of its deliberate duplicity in claiming to be non-violent while slowing building up an infrastructure, and infiltrating the West, until it is strong enough to grab power and establish a world-wide Caliphate. He notes the clever lie of the Brotherhood's leaders in denouncing el-Queda's violence, which he attributes to their loyalty to Muhammad, who was "not violent for 15 yrs" until he was strong enough to be successfully violent. He gave quotes of these leaders citing Muhammad's behavior as the revered precedent and example for their strategy.

He said there may be about 100,000,000 members of the brotherhood - as opposed to 1.3 billion Moslems worldwide. He even thinks Israel has been duped by the "lie" of this difference between violent Hamas and the 'moderate' Brotherhood. He added, "if I hadn't grown up (in this culture) I'd be fooled too."

Perhaps most stunning in Hassan's talk were his views of the psychology which keep people otherwise peaceful chained to Islam. He feels the reason most otherwise peaceful Moslems do not completely or unconditionally denounce violence in the name of Islam is because they protect their identity by protecting Islam. He says the problem is not about their Idea of Man, but about their Idea of God, which of course comes from Muhammad, whom he calls "a killer, a rapist (the 9-yr old wife), and a terrorist."

Strong stuff, but all of which seems entirely factual from MOSLEM histories.

Hassan thinks most Moslems (aside from the 100,000,000 in the Brotherhood!) are in what we would call denial. That is, they believe in an Allah that is not consistent with, or even recognizable, from the Allah described by Muhammad. Of course if we want to know more about that denial, all we have to do is listen to the depressingly large numbers in the West who refuse to listen to any anaylsis or criticism of Islam itself, and loudly denounce all such as "Islamophobia".

Hassan's bottom line. He wants to see his people liberated from a God "who hates" and who preaches terrorism in "every mosque". He believes "Islam cannot be reformed" - Only God or Muhammad could reform it (with the clear implication that neither, for different reasons, can). He adds, "my people don't know what feedom or liberty is."

And yet all this came from a man of obvious conviction but without stridency or ranting, and without any detectable sign of hatred for any person. Aside from his global views, he personally feels "their God forced (his family) to disown him", and he wants them back.

In the Q&A period, when asked about the appearance of Islam as "growing exponentially". he cited, in distinction, Martin Luther starting the Reformation with his 95 theses tacked to the door of a cathedral. And now we have - click! - thousands upon thousands of messages flying about the several routes of the Social Network daily.

All in all, I'd call this the most interesting overview of the seismic events going on in the Middle East I've yet heard. Not least of course, because Mosab Hassan Yousef's views agree with my own that Islam itself is the deadly enemy of modern, freer, better lives for all the peoples trapped behind the Iron Curtain of its anti-human doctrines. Certainly it does not appear that any of the street demonstrations owe anything to Islam, which fact in itself may be a harbinger of its collapse, just as its brother totalitarianism of Communism collapsed so unexpectedly 20 years ago.

Indeed, how will we feel if, of the second time in less than a generation we are caught emotionally and intellectually flat-footed before the most epochal and world-changing event of our times?

And I agree with Dr Pipes view that the humble act of demonstrators spontaneously cleaning up the streets may be the most striking evidence of all of the emergence of a healthy (non-Islamic) civic society. Hopefully voices in the West will not do anything to blur or detract from such a welcome outcome for them, and for us.

Ron Thompson

Dislike
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

<< Previous Comment      Next Comment >>

Reader comments (42) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
4Another parallel between communism and Islamic politics [118 words]PrashantMar 31, 2011 03:54183763
Change of heart by Lee Smith-Now claims Israel will thrive! [33 words]ShishirMar 31, 2011 00:35183759
8Doubtful [562 words]Fred BaehrMar 24, 2011 17:14183584
You are you [12 words]Firozali A.MullaMar 11, 2011 14:10183323
2A Drug called Hallucinating [105 words]Jay1Mar 3, 2011 18:30183133
1I'm with you, [45 words]Sohel Ahmed BahjatMar 3, 2011 14:16183129
1Optimism about the revolts in the Middle East [75 words]IsaacMar 3, 2011 09:38183123
1acknowledging reality [27 words]gfmucciMar 2, 2011 22:16183120
3I wish I could share your optimism. [180 words]Peter HerzMar 2, 2011 20:17183119
3The Middle East Requires Optimism be Contrasted with Realism-The Practicality of Why Islam Cannot Relent is Still Obscured. [655 words]M. ToveyMar 2, 2011 18:12183116
3Very well said, Mr. Tovey - reality says otherwise ... [139 words]kmanMar 4, 2011 17:13183116
4No difference between the leaders and the led [89 words]Abu NudnikMar 2, 2011 16:37183114
2I Wish I Could Share Your Optimism about Egypt [112 words]hopeneverdiesMar 2, 2011 13:26183110
1UNVERIFIED: Wael Ghonim was not permitted to speak [198 words]John in Michigan, USAMar 4, 2011 12:35183110
12 Questions [63 words]ArtMar 2, 2011 08:27183103
2The Middle East [23 words]D. MolinaMar 2, 2011 07:17183101
5Optimism vs. the Paramount Issue [363 words]Prof. Paul EidelbergMar 2, 2011 03:45183095
1Prof. Eidelberg is correct [222 words]UgriMar 5, 2011 11:15183095
Muslims awakening is good for humanity [215 words]KamekishMar 2, 2011 02:13183094
Lee Smith portends the End of Israel [30 words]ShishirMar 2, 2011 00:10183092
Israel's Historical Narrative is a Better Resource to Believe than Mr. Smith's Misdirected View [44 words]M. ToveyMar 23, 2011 19:36183092
4The Hunchback of Notre Dame [119 words]Jerrold L. SobelMar 1, 2011 20:20183090
1Thank you for your work [50 words]John in Michigan, USAMar 1, 2011 19:05183088
2Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel [260 words]BAMar 1, 2011 18:18183087
The Middle-East [34 words]REXMar 1, 2011 17:44183086
2I rub my eyes [77 words]mythMar 1, 2011 17:10183081
14Tempered Optimism [421 words]Arn HatfieldMar 1, 2011 15:25183077
6Agreed [69 words]DanMar 3, 2011 15:50183077
brotherhood among all human being who will create? [46 words]muhammad GhufranMar 18, 2011 03:55183077
1Overly Optimistic Of You [43 words]Gary SackMar 1, 2011 14:45183076
55A Different and Most Remarkable Vision: the Collapse of Islam [1013 words]Ron ThompsonMar 1, 2011 14:11183075
7Optimistic but unrealistic [489 words]SusanMar 3, 2011 01:44183075
1Hopeful [194 words]Joe Six-PackMar 3, 2011 10:35183075
Perhaps [232 words]DougMar 10, 2011 17:57183075
3And Compare the KNOW-NOTHING Disapproval of Congressman King's Hearing [271 words]Ron ThompsonMar 12, 2011 22:58183075
Collapse of Islam [7 words]Thomas WheelerApr 6, 2011 16:36183075
The collaps of Islam? No way [133 words]AngelApr 15, 2011 16:23183075
Egyptian risks [55 words]PezDispenserMar 1, 2011 13:47183074
1But then there's the Lara Logan incident, among others ... [108 words]David KoralMar 1, 2011 12:32183073
1You're right, David: The Jews and America are still the enemy to them [29 words]Abu NudnikMar 2, 2011 16:40183073
1Details of the Lara Logan incident? [214 words]John in Michigan, USAMar 4, 2011 13:06183073
1Dominoes [125 words]David BrooksMar 1, 2011 09:19183070

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)