The good old days!

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Apr 1, 2013 at 14:14

Dr. Pipes you wrote

(1) This conclusion comports generally with my view that terrorists are motivated by politics rather than economics. But if freedom is the key, why do Muslims living in the West disproportionately engage in terrorism? I would argue that there is no single key, that taking up terrorism results from an unquantifiable mix of personality, outlook, and circumstances beyond the reach of social scientists

I think that the life and the transformation of Sayyid Qutb here in the US is a lesson that we can learn from as here was a man who was very much into arts and literature and culture and then he moves to the US to study education and he tells us that he was not impressed with the US but during his illness in Washington he writes that he misses Egypt and Islam in Egypt and the rest is history

Now most of those that immigrate to the west from places like Pakistan tend to be more educated , young and far from being poor (not unlike Sayyid Qutb). It is indeed an eye opener to realize that it could cost a family of four close to $10,000 dollars or even more in fees and medical examinations and vaccinations and possible legal fees to be able to immigrate to the US! And poor people in places like Pakistan would not be able to afford such cost. Yes we do have illegal immigrants that over say their visas but they still have to pay if they change their status while in the US.

So it becomes clear to me that immigration now from Pakistan is only for those that can afford it and when they arrive here in let us say the US and Europe they will have to start from zero and compare this with the good life that they had in Pakistan (not unlike Sayyid Qutb before them) with servants and maids and all. It is the nature of human beings to view the past "when things were easy and great" with nostalgia and comfort not realizing that their previous lives were not peaches and cream as they wish to believe (and indeed Sayyid Qutb was killed by Gamal abd el-Nasser) and the first thing they identify with in let us say the US or europe is not language but their group past affiliations in terms of religion and they rediscover comfort in it.

The difficulty with Islam is the line of demarcation between the spritual and the militant is very blurred and soon one hits the slippery slope et voila we have real problems and I do believe that this is indeed what happened to Sayyid Qutb and that if he did not come to the US to study he would have been a pious Muslim writing literary criticism for al-Ahram and as happy as they can get

Having said this: I still believe that most Muslims here in the US want to live in peace

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