69 million page views

"Muslim" - another politically correct neologism surreptitiously imposed upon us by Mahometans and their apologists ( full version?))

Reader comment on item: Islamism's Unity in Tunisia
in response to reader comment: "Muslim" - another politically correct neologism surreptitiously imposed upon us by Mahometans and their apologists

Submitted by Ianus (Poland), Nov 4, 2012 at 02:50

I never know when a mutilated version of a comment of mine will pop up. This time it was again the case. The original comment ran so :

DEBORAH THE JUDGE wrote :

" ... like you, I believe in accurate titles and names, but for a different and deeper reason. Mahometanism is perfect for revealing the truth about its source." "

Thanks a lot for your appreciative words. I am also a firm believer in accurate titles and names and I find words like "Islamism" as inaccurate, obscure and misleading as the self-aggrandizing definition of Mahometanism - "the religion of peace".

Now take a look at another perfidious neologism which has been put into circulation to achieve a similar effect without ever suggesting we discuss or question its necessity or validity. I mean the ubiquitous little word "Muslim".

I often wondered browsing older English dictionaries why next to "Mahometan" I saw "Moslem" and never "Muslim"? Maybe people at that time were so ignorant, incurious and lousy ? But were they?They had known and dealt with Mahometans and Mahometanism in all its forms for 13 centuries or so and yet felt no need to use alien and artificial names to denote things as we do today without ever realizing how recent our neologisms are and how they actually originated. Can our neologisms imply we are wiser than our ancestors who knew Mahometanism and Mahometans from first hand experience in Spain, Byzantium,Egypt, the Balkans,the Causasus,India etc.etc. ? I assert that the contrary is the case. Our neologisms just show how impoverished and unhistorical we have become by adopting them in our discourse.

Let's look at why neologism "Muslim" was implanted onto the English language, almost totally replacing the good old words "Mahometan" and "Moslem". It turns out to be a dubious, politically motivated media trick just two or three decades old.

> Is it Muslim or Moslem?

When Baby Boomers were children it was Moslem. The American Heritage Dictionary (1992) noted,"Moslem is the form predominantly preferred in journalism and popular usage. Muslim is preferred by scholars and by English-speaking adherents of Islam." No more. Now, almost everybody uses Muslim.

According to the Center for Nonproliferation Studies,"Moslem and Muslim are basically two different spellings for the same word." But the seemingly arbitrary choice of spellings is a sensitive subject for many followers of Islam. Whereas for most English speakers, the two words are synonymous in meaning, the Arabic roots of the two words are very different. A Muslim in Arabic means"one who gives himself to God," and is by definition, someone who adheres to Islam. By contrast, a Moslem in Arabic means"one who is evil and unjust" when the word is pronounced, as it is in English, Mozlem with a z.

...Journalists switched to Muslim from Moslem in recent years under pressure from Islamic groups."

So as usually we made concessions , for if the Mahometans want something very much and you don't surrender, then you know ... Mahometanism shows its true colors, burns flags and portraits, kills ambassadors and passers-by, takes hostages, storms offices and primary schools and cuts off heads.

Allowing the politically correct neologism "Muslim" to invade our minds we made concessions to Mahometans on the semantic level and thus unwittingly started playing their nefarious game according to their own fraudulent semantic rules which are pre-programmed to cheat and finish us off. This is why we should never ever make concessions to Mahometans on anything, least of all on how to call them and their so called "religion" and what to think of both. Our ancestors knew them quite well for 13 centuries and understood how to deal with them pushing them back. By rejecting just a few decades ago the precious millenium-old experience and vocabulary of our ancestors to please the Mahometans we have been driven into a corner and their demands grow the clearer they can see how weak-willed and foolish we are.

Today they make us use beautiful names to call and describe Mahometanism. Tomorrow they will ask us why we haven't become Mahometans yet if praises of Mahometanism come from us and are such an obvious and self-evident experience in every paper and every speech we read and hear around us ? What will we answer if we don't oppose this erosion of semantics much more effectively than it is being effected by the corrupt political class, media and pop culture on behalf of Mahometans and Mahometanism ?

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

Reader comments (30) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
16A point of No Return [151 words]Michael Hanni MorcosNov 13, 2012 22:21200564
7The game of out numbering . [189 words]aktNov 14, 2012 20:34200564
Sir Please do somethig for the syrian christians [59 words]spaNov 12, 2012 03:34200485
What about incitement by Qaradawi? [42 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
stagNov 5, 2012 09:59200348
5It is important to understand the hidden motives of the goal, which is for Islam [100 words]JosephNov 5, 2012 02:44200338
1Unholy alliance [90 words]IanusNov 6, 2012 06:44200338
AIFD [17 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
KerryNov 1, 2012 19:43200232
2A DOUBTFUL ISLAMIST UNITY [158 words]JACQUES HADIDANov 1, 2012 13:13200226
5Mahometanism's unity [416 words]IanusOct 31, 2012 16:53200207
1Absolutely accurate [76 words]DEBORAH THE JUDGENov 2, 2012 09:19200207
3"Muslim" - another politically correct neologism surreptitiously imposed upon us by Mahometans and their apologists [264 words]IanusNov 3, 2012 03:53200207
9"Muslim" - another politically correct neologism surreptitiously imposed upon us by Mahometans and their apologists ( full version?)) [743 words]IanusNov 4, 2012 02:50200207
3Thank you [182 words]DEBORAH THE JUDGENov 9, 2012 10:02200207
1Is it Muslim or Moslem [356 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 12, 2013 17:28200207
Slight correction [37 words]dhimmi no moreFeb 13, 2013 06:39200207
3Islamists unity [205 words]goergeOct 31, 2012 16:50200206
1More Lawful Islamists AND Stupid Terrorists? [240 words]AlexOct 31, 2012 11:25200194
2wake up or be prepared to pay the price [168 words]akktOct 31, 2012 07:26200190
1When wasn't Mahometanism a real threat to non-Mahometans ? [207 words]IanusNov 3, 2012 09:44200190
2When wasn't Mahometanism a real threat to non-Mahometans? (2 missing paragraphs added) [295 words]IanusNov 4, 2012 03:03200190
9The enemy is here and multiplying rapdily [316 words]SusanNov 5, 2012 23:04200190
2Another "umma" is emerging [200 words]PrashantNov 7, 2012 02:07200190
3High time for Non-muslims to unite. [178 words]aktNov 14, 2012 04:26200190
5Creepy and scary Islamists living among us [197 words]dhimmi no moreOct 31, 2012 07:11200189
1Moderate Islamism [99 words]StephenOct 31, 2012 05:53200187
2Islamist [7 words]Steven LOct 30, 2012 21:50200183
The Salafis and Rachid Ghannouchi in Tunis [141 words]Ibrahim Abu BakarOct 30, 2012 20:24200181
4so much for intellectual observations of Islamic concepts [269 words]rodney allsworthOct 30, 2012 20:14200180
1ISLAMISM ' UNITY [134 words]samOct 30, 2012 15:37200175
Huge favor [59 words]LeeOct 30, 2012 11:34200170

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.)