Very useful history on (ersatz) Islam

Submitted by Ron Thompson (United States), Dec 29, 2013 at 17:39

This article, and Pipes' succeeding piece on the role of (ersatz) Islam (see below) explains what had long been a mystery to me.

Decades ago, I read the the Autobiography of Malcom X, a couple of years after he was gunned down in Manhattan, and ..... basically admired it. With my judgment about Islam, as formed following decades of the Arab refusal to accept Israel, the rise of Osama bin Laden, and especially 9/11, How could this be? What had I missed?

Pipes provides the answer - what Malcolm X joined, and admired, was not at all the real Islam. Hence he could see the apparent absence of racism when he travelled to Mecca, and not see the hatred, intolerance, and violence that characterize the authentic Islam, traits which have been steadily improrted into ersatz Islam by Farakhan and turned it into "normative" Islam.

The one disagreement I have is with the unexpected characterization of the "depth, gravitas, and resources" of this "world faith". Resources perhaps, but "depth... gravitas"?! How much of these qualities are there in a faith characterized above all by hatred, intolerance, violence, and misogyny?

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