There is only one cause behind Islamic behaviors: Islam

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Dec 27, 2021 at 21:52

Dear Dr Pipes: Reader John Harvey tried to explain Islamic behaviors since 1800s by blaming them on Muḥammad ibn Abd al-Wahhāb. I disagree.

I contend that Islamic methods and procedures have their genesis in the Quran, Hadiths, and Sharia. Islamic methods have been remarkably consistent across the centuries and continents throughout its history. Attributing them to one person would be like ignoring vital facts.

At different times of history the exact same Islamic methods are applied to different nations and people to subjugate them. It will be a mistake to assume that it all started with one person at a given time.

I sometimes look at the period that is described as the golden age of Islam. The Islamic golden age was centered in Baghdad and continued from 8th to 14th century. You would expect that in the golden age of prosperity of Islam, some great egalitarian ideas would emerge from the Islamic capital and those ideas would spread to the Islamic fringes. But none of that! Lands were being captured on the fringes. Spain, Jerusalem, Persia, Sindh, and Punjab were being won. Temples and churches were being looted and converted to Mosques. Living camels loaded with burning fuel were mercilessly being driven into armies of elephants to cause confusion. Golden age hardly contributed to any enlightenment in Islam. And, no other age did either.

Human history is full of instances of people's tyranny against each other but these examples of tyranny were hardly ever driven by a single cause for long periods and excuses were hardly ever issued for these tyrannies with identical monotony. Islamic tyrannies are exceptions due to their consistency and to the excuses pulled for them.

Wahabism is a recent phenomenon. It is caused by the same original cause and is hardly a cause of anything.

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