Demise of Islamism?

Submitted by Max Hocutt (United States), Jun 24, 2016 at 08:59

Dear Dr. Pipes:

I hope you and the other voice are right, but it is hard to see Islamism collapsing, or collapsing any time soon, when some form of it is dominant or nearly so in all of the largest Muslim countries, Shiite or Sunni. Remember, Isis is not the only problem. Iran and Saudi Arabia both have Islamist governments, as now does Turkey according to you. When given the chance, the people of Egypt elected Morsi of the Islamist Brotherhood; Afghanistan and Pakistan harbored Osama bin Laden and are still unable to quell the Taliban; Lebanon is run by Hezbollah, Palestine by the PLA. Only Indonesia seems to have escaped the curse, and I am sure there are militant Muslims waiting their chance in that country, as there are here in the US. Ever hear of the Somalis in Minnesota?

I pretend to no expertise on Islam, but it appears to me that Islamism is rooted in a backwards looking religion that has been militantly aggressive and militaristic from the very beginning, when the warrior Mohammed conquered the whole Arabian Peninsula. As you know better than I, the "religion of peace" did not become more pacific as the next generation of Mohammed's followers invaded Iraq, Syria, Persia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Kurdistan, and lesser countries in the near East, then added Spain, Portugal, and the Balkans in Western Europe. It was only after they were stopped at Paris and Vienna and pushed back by an awakened Europe during the Crusades that Islamic aggression diminished, and it was only after WWII that the West was able to get some control over it.

Why shouldn't one deduce from this history that desire for murderous domination is written into the DNA of both major branches of the religion of Mohammed? Hell, the two cannot quit trying to dominate or destroy each other! It seems plausible to me to expect that, before we see the demise of Islamism, we will see a nuclear war between Saudi Arabia and Iran involving the obliteration of Israel and Jordan.

As for the analogy with that other ideology, Soviet Communism, which did eventually die, your esteemed father might remind you that it caused hellacious trouble for virtually the entire 20th century and destroyed perhaps 100 million lives before president Reagan defeated it, after which its ideological heirs wormed their way into the universities and polities here and in Western Europe, where they hope to wreak still more havoc.

Sincerely yours,
Max Hocutt Ph.D.

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