Why Muslims cannot change

Submitted by David W. Lincoln (Canada), Nov 15, 2006 at 23:47

You ask a very good question: why can't Muslims change. Here is my answer: because any comparison to another faith tradition raises that faith tradition to the same level as Islam. Which goes totally against the grain of Islam.

Why? Because it is no longer in a position to be dominated. Remember the circle of rivalry: brother versus brother, family vs. family, clan vs. clan, tribe vs. tribe, all tribes vs. the outsiders. Isn't that one of the reasons why Islam is in the state its in, rather than putting men on the moon and receiving information from Mars, plus a bunch of other stuff which vindicates the record of the West since 1453 as compared to those who conquered Constantinople that year.

Be that as it may, democracy will not defeat Islam. Its like trying to use flour to put out a fire. Lets face it, flour has its uses, but fire-fighting is not one of them. As long as people view the Christian message as a threat to how they live their life - then less potent strategems have to be applied against cultural snobbishness in religious garb.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".