ISIS "is the furthest thing from Islam": logical consequents of such a statement.

Submitted by mac brachman (United States), Mar 10, 2015 at 16:33

Prof. Pipes:

My personal favorite among all these inane blatherings: Lebanese Foreign Minister, Gebran Bassil, who said late last summer that ISIS is "the furthest thing from Islam." Taken to its logical conclusion, everything conceivable, therefore, is conceptually closer to ISIS than is Islam and its "true" followers:

-Jainism, a several-millennia-old dharmic faith, and all its current (several million) and past followers, are closer to ISIS than is Islam. Jainism is based on the holiness of all living things (including viruses and bacteria) and its adherents practice radical pacifism and veganism (including not eating root vegetables because it involves the active taking of life). Nonetheless, according to the distinguished Lebanese FM, Jainism and Jains are logically closer to ISIS than is Islam.

-The Society of Friends, a.k.a., the Quakers, who espouse a radical pacifism not unlike that of the Jains, are, according to the Lebanese FM, closer conceptually to ISIS than is Islam.

-The early 1970s "soft rock" group Bread (songs include "If," "It Don't Matter To Me," and that immortal classic "Baby I'm A Want You"), which many people somewhere or other found listenable (though others thought their music was sappy, kitschy, and insipid, and represented the death of the first flourishing of hard/progressive rock from the late 1960s), is, per the honorable FM Mr. Bassil, closer to ISIS than Islam.

I could go on to the point of absurdity, but our public officials are hard to top in that department.

Sincerely, Mac Brachman

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