Iran-Israel nuclear conflict and gradually changing Islamic mindset

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jan 6, 2022 at 10:42

Dear Dr Pipes,

Thanks for the above article that discusses the nuclear weapon capabilities of Israel and Iran and the doomsday scenarios related to those capabilities. Any of the possibilities discussed in the article, if they come true, will be disastrous for the world and humanity.

As much as we want that Iran does not develop nuclear capabilities, in reality, it is neither possible nor entirely ethical to prevent any nation from developing nuclear weapons. The world could not stop USA, USSR, UK, France, China, Israel, India, and Pakistan from developing nuclear weapons one after the other. Such is the nature of technology!

I am not suggesting that we should not try to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Everything that can be done to convince Iran to not develop WMDs should be done.

In parallel, we should try to change the Islamic minds. We need to develop holes in unified Islamic thinking. Ordinary Muslims should be campaigned to not support Islamic religious and political leadership. Private Islamic spirituality that can be practiced at home should be encouraged for Muslims by non-muslims. The Islamic shahada, the first 6 verses of the daily Islamic prayer, and the five pillars of Islam can provide a basis for non-political spiritual Islam. The desire of ordinary Muslims to fight for their leaders should be addressed and reduced by propaganda. We don't have to convince every Muslim; just more and more of them. And, the more holes that we can dig in the monolithic Islamic thinking the better.

There is no reason why Iranian people should try to destroy Jews and Israel. Whatever reasons might have existed 1400 years ago, are false to a level of absurdity today.

Muslims need to be told Islam may be the best religion in their minds for themselves but there is no need to make the whole world Islamic.

We need massive polite and logical propaganda about it in Arabic, Persian, Malay, Urdu and in every language that Muslims hear. It should be the spoken word that can be heard by even illiterate Muslims. The more Muslims we can bring to the non-violent side, the weaker the violent side will become. We need to weaken the financial channels that feed the al-qaedas, bokoharams, and ISISes; one Muslim at a time. It can be done by polite, truthful, firm and sustained opposition to political Islam.

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