Backward Steps in the Muslim World – Part 2

  Stop Buying Saudi Oil

Stop buying Saudi and Iranian oil, as well as other Muslim Country’s oil, and curtail the spread of Sharia, hate for Jews, and hate for the West, and jihad.  By so doing we maintain our freedoms, enable ‘moderate’ Muslims to continue to modernize, and prevent the funding of  organizations such as Hamas, the PLO, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, CAIR, and many others from growing.  In addition it would slow the building of mosques in all corners of the free world where hate speeches are given and education against the West and freedom is fostered.   Let not the Cordoba Initiative and the want to build a Mosque at ‘ground zero’, calling it a Center for Education, be seen for other than what it is, a celebration of the growth of Islam in America, and a symbol of the success of the ‘pure’ at planting in effect a flag at the base of free enterprise.  This Victory cannot be erected and seen by American’s as a daily reminder.  It is just wrong!

Changes in the Muslim World

 Whereas the majority of Muslims in the world today are ‘moderate’, at least they are not of the ‘pure’, able to tolerate pluralistic society and focus more on the religion of Allah and not the ideology of Islam or Sharia Law (Islamic Law), they are “loath to criticize or debunk the fanaticism of the fundamentalists.  Some worry…about their safety if they speak their mind….Most are simply cowed into silence.” (145 FOF)  If Islam in the past was easy going, it has become a more “dour, puritanical faith, policed by petty theocrats and religious commissars.” (145 FOF).  Even the ‘pure’ see the ‘moderates’ as enemies or heretics, also calling them infidels due to a failure to adhere to Sharia. 

The oil money, while it has purchased useful oil for keeping electric lights shining, cars operating and home fires burning, it has also fueled the fundamentalist movement and continues to do so.  “The Saudi’s – mostly through private trusts – have funded religious schools (madrassas) and centers that spread Wahhabism (a rigid, desert variant of Islam that is the template of most Islamic fundamentalists) around the world.” (145 FOF)  Tens of tens of thousands of fanatical Muslims, limited in their education, have been so indoctrinated.  “Without Saudi money and men, the Taliban would not have existed, nor would Pakistan have become the hotbed of fundamentalism it is today”, emphatically stated by Zakaria. (146 FOF)

Shaikh Syed Abul A’ala Maududi. 

In the prior Blog Sayyid Qutb was mentioned.  Another influential Islamic thinker (from Pakistan) is Maududi (1903-1979).  A prolific writer and active promoter of the cause of Islam stated, “Islam wishes to destroy all states and governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a state on the basis of its own ideology and programme, regardless of which nation assumes the role of the standard-bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State.” A quote taken from Cruel and Usual Punishment (‘CUP’), by Nonie Darwish.  The quote goes on, “the objective of Islamic jihad is to eliminate the rule of an unIslamic state and establish in its stead an Islamic system of state rule….the aim of Islam is to bring about a universal revolution.”  (pg.xvi CUP)  That said, it is the oil wealth that is aiding such a cause and objective. 

CAIR

Founded in the U.S, based in Washington D.C, the Council of American-Islamic Relations is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization.  Its co-founder, Omar Ahmad, is recorded to have said: “If you choose to live here (in America, as a Muslim)…you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam….Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to be dominant….Islam the only accepted religion on earth.” (xvii CUP)  Using all acceptable methods to have all-for-Allah is espoused, which would include a soft-sell approach as well as a hard-sell approach to having America adopt Islamic laws (Sharia).  Financial assistance from the oil rich Arab countries come with strings attached, all in an effort to advance Islam and Sharia Law.  CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case (also funding other terrorist organizations) and active with the Holy Land Foundation, which at one time (and still may be) was the largest Islamic charity in the United States.

The organizations noted, among others, use promotional material that suggests human rights protection is their aim.  It all sounds positive, yet in supporting Sharia underlying everything is maintenance of the strict dogma and oppressive, regressive laws that suppress many of the Muslim people, and if not suppress cause them to be afraid to be anything but Muslim.

I Am the Greatest

Now we have two great oil rich, great Islamic powers, at odds with each other much of the time – Iran (Shiite) and Saudi Arabia (Sunni) – jockeying for the position of greatest religious power-base in the Islamic world.  Their money has created the police force to quell any dissent for their actions, political or religious.  Their populations have become pawns of the elite and held at bay from any revolt founded on a desire to return to a more modern day, tolerant, accepting, and carefree society.  Accept for education of the Quran and ‘pure’ Islamic ideals, a broader education and opportunities is being reduced, suppressed and resisted.  The age of Muhammad has become the standard.  It is like Muhammad (Ali) claiming “I am the Greatest”, using his fists, fighting, to attain and maintain that title. 

The ‘Moderates’ Need a Leader – A Call for Reformation

A strong universally loved and respected leader, a patriarch, whose agenda does not include Sharia Law, is needed from the majority.  The leader of the moderate majority must focus on the ‘faith’ base of Islam and not the political.  Separation, as was the tendency in the early 1900’s, of church (mosque) and state, must be heralded, allowing for other faiths to dwell among all Muslims.  They should also allow for the people to seek, as water, their own level of interest, even if it means leaving Islam for another religion.  This may require a call for Reformation, as was the case when Protestantism took hold.  Separating the two (religion and politics, mosque and state) would disenfranchise any Imam, mullah, Ayatollah from making decrees suggesting what the populace can and cannot do.  There should be no dominion over Islam as there is no dominion over Christianity or Judaism.  As with the use of any pulpit the religious leaders can preach, but they should not rule.  The scholars (ulama) can share what they believe, what the Scripture says, but not judge, that is God’s job. 

Wherever Muslims live they must allow for dissent, criticism, even persecution (verbal, cartoon, characterization, etc.) and listen and learn from others, as what can evolve would be a more accepting, understanding and open culture that, even though not ‘all-for-Allah’, monotheistic for some but not for all, inhabited with many different types and attitudes, would be secure and settled.  Then they can live their lives according to their belief and let Allah decide who is saved.  That is Allah’s decision, for others it is God’s decision, but it is not man’s decision.  This would mean a secular government, civil laws, common to all – suitable to all.  (A problem for the ‘pure’)

Is there a modern day Imam, a ulama, that can accept civil laws without a ‘repugnancy clause’, can respect divine law and allow God to be the sole judge, and erase Islamic Law from the charter for all Muslims so they can live, enjoy, develop, economically benefit and be a part of today’s world.  Can they leave Muhammad behind, regarding him solely as a founder of Islam, not as one whose life of the 7^th century must be emulated today?

The Reformer

The Reformer need not be male; it could just as well be a woman.  Women in the Muslim world have so much to emerge from, and should be crying out for freedom, instead of being required to limit their travels, associations and communications and hide behind the gloomy black burqua’s and hijab’s (a shield of isolation and a symbol of subjugation), required by men who see them as evil, inferior, sex-slaves, half devils, deceptive, and the cause for man’s sinful nature and sexual lust. (All of which this writer does not agree with) Women also suffer the loneliness and competition (from other women) of husbands with multiple wives (multiple husbands not allowed) and temporary marriages (otherwise called prostitution – paid for sex)  They say the Quran makes the claim against women, yet it was man who dictated the Quran, and man who interpreted the Quran, and men (caliphs) that often reward themselves with privileges (incl. more than 4 wives) far greater than the normal Muslim (so permitted by Allah), to include what most would refer to as acts of pedophilia (marrying pre-pubescent children.)  Fear, having lived in a caged environment all their lives, a part of their culture, makes it most difficult for a woman to come forward, but it could happen. 

Nonie Darwish sees women in Muslim cultures suffering from “Stockholm Syndrome…caused by captives indentifying with their captors initially as a defensive mechanism in fear of violence.  Small acts of kindness are magnified because under duress all perspective is lost.  Survival is all that matters….(it) accounts for why millions of women not only put up with their abuse but also support and champion the very Sharia laws that imprison them inside their homes and inside their hijab.” (94,95 CUP)

Is there a man or woman that will step into the light and call for Muslims to be ‘free’ of Sharia and accept civil laws and authority based on proper moral and ethical values of equality.

Political and Economic Reform

The Reform must be political and economic.  Muslims are as intelligent as any other and can develop a business and enjoy the benefits of free enterprise (even highly regulated enterprise as is happening in America).  Freedom is needed to achieve such an end.  And where there is oppression of women, control of education, unwarranted punishment for religious failings, intolerance towards other faiths, imbalances between the treatment of men and women, limited or no liberty, human rights violations, and a lack of sharing of community wealth (from oil or other natural resources) growth will be stymied and ancient world practices may be preserved.  Islam should become a source of ‘spiritual inspiration’ not political domination.  Sharia Law is not to be a template for day-to-day living and must be thwarted, even by, and especially by the ‘moderate’ Muslim majority.  Muslims need to be “devout without being an obscurantist” (150 FOF), “pious without embracing fury.” (151 FOF) 

The moderates may find help from Muslim businessmen and women.  I would think they would want the freedom to do business, to trust in contracts, and to promote and grow their business ideas in a free world.  Sharia Law, in my mind, would be an impediment to opportunity.  Material progress can only be when the practical is viewed more important than the ideological.  Muhammad was a businessman; he would understand.

Funding Incompatible Interests

Should America stop funding, providing financial support, to places like Egypt (and other Muslim countries), protecting the Saudi monarchy, or brokering negotiations between Israel and Palestine without the expectation of more in return?  “It is in America’s immediate security interest to try to make the regimes of the Middle-East less prone to breed fanatical and terrorist opposition movements.” (151 FOF).   It is also in America’s immediate interest to do more at home to STOP the Spread of or any attempt to impose Sharia, or suggest freedom for our constitutional authority even if it is ‘repugnant’ towards the ‘pure’ Islamist.

Imponderables to Change, Based on Sharia

In another Blog I will address potential imponderables to the ability to change even ‘moderate’ Muslims.  The organization and governmental arrangement of the Muslim world, particularly where Sharia has been implemented, creates a political structure that any attempt to democratize or modify Sharia will cause vigilante justice to murder the infidels, considered anyone, even a Muslim, who goes counter to the life of Muhammad or the laws of Sharia. 

Pray for Change, and a Desire for Reform

We must pray for a change in the thinking of the Muslim’s, a heart for change, knowing any effort for Reform will be met with resistance from all corners of the Muslim world, and all segments, top down and bottom up.  A fatwa can bring out just 1 of the 1.4 Billion Muslims who will serve Allah by killing the infidel, knowing within a Muslim Country they will be spared, not even prosecuted, and in other countries will be celebrated as a hero for Allah.  This dilemma poses conflicts for any non-Muslim, and fear for a Muslim moderate, as ‘death’ is the compunction of all mainstream Muslims, prodded by the tyrannical leadership,  by Islamic unjust Laws, to by carried out against anyone that steps out of line, questions or doubts Muhammad, or even questions an unjust ruler.  The system is diabolic.  Daily thought can only be on the religion of Islam, Sharia, Allah, Muhammad,  and obedience without even a suggestion of concern for human rights.  

May the eyes of the oppressed Muslim wake up to their subjugation by a man-made system of justice hidden behind the veil of God, and rise up to discover there is a loving God; it may not be Allah.  At least it may not be the Allah as Muhammad has made for himself and the Caliphs that followed.  Too  much of what is Islam today consists of man-made, man-desired, and man-structure impediments to the rights of women, the poor, the uneducated, and the miss-informed, with additional barriers erected with severe punishments outlined for those that even doubt, especially openly doubt, the system in operation.  For this it is very difficult to praise Allah.

Grace and peace