Islamism and Naziism are two entirely different things

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Nov 5, 2013 at 02:25

Dear Dr Pipes,

Nazism was absolutely evil but it was very different from Islamism. It is wrong to draw a parallel between them because wrong comparisons can often lead to wrong conclusions. I will cite some major and obvious differences between Nazism and Islamism:

1) Nazism --for the most part-- did not hide under a religious umbrella. As much history as I know, no one ever told me that the goal of Nazism was to establish Christianity any where or every where. Islamism survives under the umbrella of a religion.

2) Nazism was very localized in time and space. It existed for a few decades in a small region of Europe. Islamism is a worldwide phenomenon and it has existed in one form or the other for the last 1400 years.

3) Nazism was not expansionary. As far as I know it was not possible for Nazis to, say, capture a country and make 98% of the population Nazi. Islamism has done it many times over.

4) Nazism was never presented as a religion. So it was all bad and could be easily condemned. Islamism is a mixture of good and bad principles (just read Quran 5:32 and 5:33). So it is difficult to criticize (or defend) parts of it without criticizing (or defending) whole of it.

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