Muslims for Politics Only

Submitted by Prashant (India), Dec 1, 2021 at 18:36

Dear Dr Pipes, Your article about the Islamicate phenomenon reminded me of a description that I often use: Muslims for Politics Only. No one should deny that though advertised as a religion, Islam is a political system also and is designed to expand itself. Muslims follow and not-follow Islamic rules to serve the cause of political hegemony.

As a religion, Islam tries to micro-manage the followers' lives from how/when to wash their hands to how/when to pray to how to behave with non-believers. With this kind of micro-management, it is not surprising that when it comes to fun and pleasure Muslims do not much follow their religion. Many examples of Muslims not following their religion come to mind.

It is well known that Muslims escape from Islamic theocracies to settle in non-Muslim societies which they consider decadent. Despite very strict rules against sex and marriage with non-Muslims, Muslim men are known to court non-Muslim sinner women in every society that they live in. Wine though prohibited in Islam, is consumed illegally throughout the Islamic world. If music and poetry is haram in Islam, throughout history, Muslims societies have created strong musical and poetic traditions. If Quran and hadiths are the only sources of religious knowledge, Muslims have created heretic traditions like Sufiism. If Islam could create prosperous, God-fearing, just societies, more often than not, Islamic societies are found in the lists of most corrupt nations. When the pleasure is at stake, Islam does not do what Islam says.

None of these things must surprise us. Followers of all religions violate the rules of their religions and live lives in violation. But Islam is a political machinery and when it comes to selfish-politics, Muslims quickly turn around and become devout adherents of their religions. Muslims are Muslims for politics only.

I once was at a major airport in the capital of an Islamic nation. Most of the travelers around me were visibly Muslims. Without any respect for any non-Muslim traveler's convenience a call for Islamic prayer on the loud speaker was made. I expected that there will be some commotion in the crowd in response to the call for prayer. I expected to see at least a few prayer rugs to unfold on the ground. But, I did not see a soul moving in the service of Allah. These same people are willing to die, beg, borrow, steal and kill to acquire spaces for Friday prayers in non-Islamic societies.

The solution is to show Muslims the mirror as often as we can. We need to highlight Islamic hypocrisy. We need to underline examples of Islamic selfishness. We need to tell Muslims that even Muhammad was not a good Muslim (he had Allah produce brand just-in-time Quranic verses to serve his convenient needs). We need to repeatedly tell Muslims that their beliefs are without virtue for non-believers and non-believers are not obligated to make accommodations for Muslims above an beyond secular norms. Every day, we need to do it.

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