:: Some thoughts... ::

:: Friday, November 01, 2002 ::

Militant Islam is Dead
We just don’t know it yet…

In 1982, the late Hafez Al Assad flattened the Syrian city of Hama (http://www.shrc.org/english/special/hama/) when the Muslim Brotherhood initiated an uprising there against the regime. The troubles in Syria had been brewing since the fall of the Shah in Iran in 1979. Some of the reasons for the fall of the Shah can be read here) http://www.revision-notes.co.uk/revision/37.html) The rise of the first “Islamic” state in Iran sparked uprisings in many other Muslim states. The crushing of the uprising in Syria was emblematic of the approach taken by other states when confronted with Islamist opposition. In Algeria, the opposition launched a civil war that was still active up until a year or two ago. Today, they have been largely beaten, but there is still some residual violence. In Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and many other places the militant Islamist forces tried to rise up but were alternately slaughtered, jailed and exiled. In the mid 1990’s the movement began to gain steam it seemed in Afghanistan, as the Taliban (sometimes translated students) became the dominant power in Afghanistan. The Taliban originated in the Peshawar area of Pakistan. The movement’s manpower came from the students in the Madrassas (Islamic schools). Hence the name Taliban. The Taliban were funded by the ISI (Pakistan’s military intelligence agency) and various donors from Saudi Arabia, including the government itself. The Taliban eventually wore themselves out. The celebrations on the streets of Kabul and other major cities in Afghanistan made it clear that the people of Afghanistan were tired of the Taliban’s harsh and brutal rule. In Iran, the same factors are in play as the masses of young people have grown up and become fed up with the brutal and inflexible rule of the Mullahs.

The central premise of what I am arguing is that militant Islam in the form that it takes is a self defeating philosophy. It exhausts its adherents and therefore runs contrary to innate human values. Innate human values are certain things that all humans strive for. Humans desire the freedom, to think, decide, and live for themselves. This may not be a “natural” occurrence to the people of the near east but the idea of “freedom” when it takes hold is impossible to shake. The notion of freedom has been inherent in man since he was created. Adam and Eve chose to reject the command of God in the garden and were able to do it, because God had granted them the freedom to do so. Mankind was given the freedom to reason and ultimately decide for himself. During the course of the years since time immemorial the strong have sought to neutralize and suppress this instinct toward freedom. Militant Islam takes this thought to its conclusion. Man is no longer allowed individual thought and decision making, but his one focus is jihad. The idea being to fulfill the “command” of Allah to conquer the earth and bring all into submission. Man is no longer free to choose, but it is his duty as a Muslim to take on the role of a shahid. His reward lies in heaven in the bosom of 72 virgins. This is in direct contrast to the Christian idea of a resting place where the primary purpose of the “after-life” is to serve God. It is not a reward for good service but a cleansing of the remnants of the “old man” who is taken away through the death of Christ. No man in Christian thought is worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not a bribe for Christian service, but a hope of a better time, when the weak and fleshly man has fallen away. Islam on the other hand takes such a stark contrast. Paradise, heaven, whatever you want to call it takes the form of a bribe for the shahid’s service for Allah on Earth. The only man “worthy” of Christian “paradise” or communion with God was His son Jesus Christ. Yet, Jesus had to die on the cross, in order that the rest of mankind would have a way out from the black hand of sin. The differences could not be more striking, and more saddening.

Through the death of “innocents” the jihadi attains “paradise.” In contrast, the Christian serves with a humble heart, praying that God will have mercy on his unworthy being. Militant Islam is finished because it appeals to outcast and the misfit. It provides a way through violence to redeem a wretched or at least what seen as an unworthy life. It empowers a select group of men to take the life of others into their hands. Militant Islam only works through the disaffected. By the disaffected I do not mean necessarily the poor. Citing poverty as a “root cause” is foolhardy. It is foolhardy because it ignores the facts and motivations of the killers of the innocent. The late great terrorist mastermind, osama bin laden was extremely wealthy. There are millions, even billions of poor folks in many countries yet little terrorism comparatively. Militant Islam appeals to the disaffected in society. The one’s who feel trapped in rigid societal structures. The one’s who yearn to be free and seek truth but society restrains them, so they seek purity. It appeals to the reactionaries who wish to remake God’s creation in the way their depraved minds would have it. In other words, the megalomaniacs. In addition, those who seek structure, meaning, and absolute truth find it in Islam. It happens much in the same way that Nazism provided an answer for many Germans who had tasted greatness but were now trampled and frustrated. Nazism provided an answer, a path to revenge. In the same way Militant Islam provides an answer to the disaffected youths of Muslim world. They are frustrated at a society that has no answers for them. A society that does not have any opportunities. Muslim society boasts of its superiority yet looks westward for inspiration and hope. It is a society who hates itself for that.

So, why is Militant Islam dead? Its adherents have been beaten down. Its cadres, brigades, and cells have been shattered. It does not have the popular support that the nationalists of Vietnam had. Its minions no longer can openly declare its name. It can’t organize vast armies to subscribe to its ideas. Militant Islam can only attract the disaffected to whom it provides answers. There will always be those disaffected by society, and there will always be those willing to prey upon those disaffections. Militant Islam is just the latest in a long train of ideologies, and it will not be the last. Thankfully though, it can not challenge and destroy the idea that sails across the lips, and into the air. The idea that motivated the Greeks at Salamis, and Marathon. The idea, that inspired a few men nearly 2,000 years later to pen, “all men are created equal.” The idea that life, and liberty are inalienable from the concept of humanity. The word that springs from the lip and into the air is freedom. Militant Islam has already lost; it just doesn’t know it yet.

:: Nathan 4:57 PM [+] ::
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