A while back, during the riots in France, I asked a question: As we watch one of the most beautiful countries in the world get torn apart by the sort of thuggery that has always seemed to be part of Islam I wonder, would Muhammed have defined himself as an Islamist? How would President Bush describe Muhammed? Would he describe him as a moderate, peaceful man or would he describe him as an Islamist?
Well the man who engineered the Bali Bombings is also, big surprise, an Islamic Cleric. AlJazeera describes him as Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, founder and head of the Pesantren al-Mukmin of Ngruki, based in the Indonesian city of Surakarta, is widely known in Southeast Asia and around the world. In a discussion with Malaysian academic and commentator Farish A. Noor they described a Muhammed that sounds familiar if you read my earlier article.
lgf: Bashir: “Our Prophet Was a Radical Too”
Farish A. Noor: Some would argue that this weakness stems from the fear of being seen as being ‘too radical’. I have problems with this concept, for I believe that being a radical is not necessarily a bad thing. After all Nelson Mandela, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyata, Ghandhi, Nehru, were all radicals in their time; and they did not compromise in their opposition to colonialism, imperialism, racism and apartheid. So why can’t we be radicals now?
“We should not accept the idea that being a radical is a bad thing. Any movement for change will be radical”
Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir: You are right, but the weakness does not come from the millions of Muslims in the world. They do not mind being radical, they have no fear to speak out and to protest and to jihad. But the weakness comes from these Westernised co-opted Muslim leaders who just want to look good in the eyes of the West and Western media. They are scared that the BBC or CNN may call them radicals, so they remain soft instead. The problem lies there, with the Muslim leaders, not the Muslim masses.
The Muslim leaders swallow the advice of the Western powers and bodies like the IMF and World Bank, even when it is bad for their countries and they know this. They are the real hypocrites and traitors to Islam and Muslims. Yet as you say we should not accept the idea that being a radical is a bad thing. Any movement for change will be radical. Our Prophet was a radical too- he fought against the injustices of his community and challenged the feudal order of his society, so they called him a radical. So what? We should be proud of that!
That sounds about right. Course that may wreck havoc with the idea, perpetuated by many, that our fight is not with Islam itself but with a small violent faction that does not represent the views of Islam. Perhaps instead we must realize that until we at least acknowledge that Islam has not been hijacked we are operating at a disadvantage.
You must be able to name your problem before you attempt to find solutions. Admittedly discovering early in the 21st Century that we are in a religious war might be pretty depressing but so what. It is not a reality that we wished for but it is reality and wishes don’t count.
Right about now I can hear the pundits declaring that Pierre wants to start bombing the Middle East. Nope Pierre wants us to start understanding that by denying the problem we may end up in a spot where we actually are forced to fight a war and untold millions die. Ignoring problems does not make them go away, it makes them get much worse. At this point we are fighting a propaganda war and the otherside is winning because we refuse to realize the possibility that not every religion is filled with love and peace.
We must stop acting like Islam, a religion founded by a man who used violence at every turn, is a peaceful religion and is somehow deserving of the same protections we give a religion founded by a man who declared “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, don’t stand against an evil person. If someone hits you on the right cheek, then turn and let him hit the other cheek too”.
We may not want to outlaw Islam but we better realize that it has no restrictions upon its followers when it declares: “When the Sacred Months are over, kill those who ascribe partners to God wheresoever ye find them; seize them, encompass them, and ambush them; then if they repent and observe prayer and pay the alms, let them go their way (Koran 4:5). “Fight against those who believe not in God nor in the Last Day, who… refuse allegiance to the True Faith from among those who have received the Book, until they humbly pay tribute out of hand.” .
Hey don’t get too depressed at least Christians and Jews have a chance to submit. Agnostics, Animalists, Hindus, Buddhists (run California) and Pagans of all stripes are in for a bit worse treatment. “…kill the disbelievers wherever we find them” (Koran 2:191); “fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem” (Koran 9:5); “murder them and treat them harshly” (Koran 9:123).
No submission is not peace. Let’s all stop acting like it does because pretty soon we all might get a chance to find out first hand what makes them different.
Tags: BlogDesk, Cheney, Hamas, Hesballah, Hezballah, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Israel, Khomeni, Muslim, Pajama Media, President Bush, Saddam, Syria, terrorism, terrorist, WMD
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