George Rebane
Reports from Sydney (here) are the latest addition to a new dimension of threats from the world of Islam. We have seen in Canada, the UK, the US, and now Australia how self-radicalized Muslims are emerging from the commonly viewed ‘moderate Islamic communities’ to plan and commit acts of jihadic terror in their adopted countries. These terrorists have no formal relationship to established jihadist organizations that are publicly sworn to the destruction of our civilization, and its replacement with a most severe form of global Islam.
This class of lone wolf Muslim terrorist is always the hardest to detect and stop, especially in liberal societies of the west where today there is present an almost insane imperative to deny history and current evidence. The delivered public wisdom is that the largely silent Muslim communities, already established in such host countries, share our horror and condemnation of the growing litany of ongoing terror that Islamists have spread to multiple continents worldwide. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
One of the leading and more constructive voices in the west who warns us about the real mindset of Islam is Dr Tawfik Hamid, himself a former jihadist. He has written and spoken extensively in the west’s leading media outlets such the WSJ and the NYT. Years ago Dr Hamid started warning us about Islam and the dangerous politicized use of ‘Islamophobia’ (e.g. here). Besides his own experience with radicalized Islam and its broadly accepted geo-strategic objectives, Hamid has brought forth evidence from Islam itself citing numerous surveys of Muslim attitudes (e.g. from Pew Research) both in the west and from ‘the Arab street’.
Hamid, along with other tolerant Muslim intellectuals, continue to paint a realistic picture of Islam’s relationship with the west. An accessible compendium of such commentaries that seeks to inform us is available from ‘A symposium: What is Moderate Islam?’
I bring these reports to your attention not only in connection with the newly emerging ‘Islamist threat vector’, but also to remind some readers who have been critical of RR’s interpretation of what has really been going on between Islam and the west during the recent decades. We are closer than ever to identifying the real geo-strategic threat to the west from radicalizing Islam (see also Kissinger’s World Order) without which we have been flailing ineffectively in what we mistakenly call our “war against terror”. I believe we can begin winning again only after we realize the true nature of the conflict in which we are engaged.
[30dec14 update] And one of the west’s greatest statesmen, historians, and wartime leaders Sir Winston Churchill penned and delivered these words in an 1899 history book when he was already a decorated veteran and journalist. His prophetic insights about Islam (then Mohammedanism) – "No stronger retrograde force exists in the world" – echo stronger than ever across the intervening century. (H/T to correspondent)
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.
(Churchill W., The River War (First Edition,Vol II, pgs 248-250), London)
[4jan15 update] For more on what moderate Islamic leaders are saying about Islam's support of its radical factions, please see 'Scattershots – 4jan15'.
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