It is Islam's doctrinal failure

Submitted by Prashant (United States), May 17, 2021 at 10:30

Dear Dr Pipes, M Tovey correctly states that "the Islamic perceptions of who should be preeminent in Middle Eastern politics is as disparate as...". I think the fact that leadership is undefined in the ME is precisely indicative of a doctrinal failure of Islam. You see, first of all there is no concept of collective wisdom in Islam. So all wisdom emanates from the Quran and from anecdotes of Muhammad's life and from how an individual chooses to interpret the Quran and those anecdotes. On top of that the responsibility of defending Islam is franchised to individuals. Quran contains direct instructions to people what they should do when Islam is deemed to be in danger.

This is the microcosm why democratic processes fail to emerge in Islamic societies. As soon as a collective force tries to emerge, a smaller force comes up that claims to defend Islam better. The process starts with Saudi Arabia being in contention with Iran and descends to the smallest lone warrior who chooses to attack innocent church goers and merry -makers.

No one needs to protect Islam. Ideas need no violent protection for they can safely reside in our minds, memories, stories, and books (that is, if we choose to keep them there and choose not to kill each other).

Muslims should adopt democratic methods in a hurry. That will automatically involve separation of church and state because the can be no such thing as theocratic democracy.

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