Islamic/islamist/sharia Reform an Oxymoron

Submitted by Domenic Pepe (United States), Jun 30, 2013 at 16:35

This is another outstanding, clear, articulate, detailed and enlightening explanation of the possibility of islam/islamism reforms by Dr. Pipes.

I wish I could agree with Dr. Pipes' that islam/islamist ideology and behavior are reformable. But I cannot. 1400 years of islamic history and in particular the past 40 years, to me, continue to demonstrate the ugliness, barbarity, and inhumanity of islam itself.

Let's compare islam/wahhabism with another strict intolerant ideological religious movement of the West: the Puritans of England and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In both England and the Massachusetts Bay Colony real major social, religious, and political reforms occurred over a mere 2 to 3 generations that rendered the "extremist" Puritan ideology of the 1630's virtually extinct by 1700. Now islam/islamists are into their 14th century of "evolution" and "reform." (What a farce.)

We are told that there are islamic "moderates" out there who can do the job of transforming hateful, intolerant, brutal, and ugly islam into non-islam. This is a delusion. The virulent ideology of islam itself, the sharia, the hadiths, and its followers are inherently unreformable. Remove the medieval "bad" stuff from islam and what is left is not islam at all. It is far more probable and better for muslims to convert to Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or even atheism than for muslims to continue their 1400 years of psychopathological mayhem, intolerance, brutality, intimidation, violence and murder committed against both muslims and non-muslims. I believe that a rational western mind can only conclude that islam is like nazism, incapable of reform. True reform of islam in the sense of adapting the basic liberal virtues and values of the West and most of modern humanity means the death of islam itself.

The psychopathic hateful islamic clergy and so-called islamic "intellectuals" understand this. Thus, a peaceful modern reformed islam is an oxymoron ... an impossibility. Islam will either self-destruct or eventually be crushed and vanquished in destructive warfare as thoroughly as the german nazis were crushed. The real human desire and need for basic freedoms and independence should also triumph within islam, eventually. Hopefully, islam will destroy itself without too much damage to the rest of the world.

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".