Incoherent Islam
"It's a little hard to wrap your mind about that one: Freedom of speech is a form of terrorism. This is a point of view that makes compromise difficult."
~ John at Powerline
Thanks to Frank Castle for alerting of a very important committment:
Tags: Islam, danish cartoons, cartoons, intifada, denmark, free speech
~ John at Powerline
Thanks to Frank Castle for alerting of a very important committment:
Tags: Islam, danish cartoons, cartoons, intifada, denmark, free speech
posted by Seth at 12:51 AM
2 Comments:
Freedom For Danish Bacon Part One
Feb 09, 2006
By Yamin Zakaria
{Vehement hatred has already come into the open from out of their (belligerent enemies) mouths but what their hearts conceal is yet worse}, (Quran 3:118)
[The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only.], (Thomas Carlyle)
[Something is rotten in the state of Denmark], (Hamlet, William Shakespeare)
A tiny nation like Denmark would not antagonise a population of over one billion, unless it knew that it can do it with impunity. Earlier, the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, refused to meet the ambassadors of eleven Muslim countries regarding the offensive cartoons published by Jyllands-Posten. Thus, the Danish government knowingly allowed the publishing of the offensive materials, with total disregard for their Muslims citizens at home and the Muslims abroad. The criminal act was initiated by Denmark without provocation. It constituted declaring war on Islam and Muslims. They deserve a response of war accordingly, burning of the embassies in Syria, Lebanon, Indonesia are signs that future responses will be through deeds as well as words.
[yada yada yada]
Copyright © 2006 by Yamin Zakaria http://www.iiop.org yaminz@yahoo.co.uk
[Seth here: this comment was ridiculously long and a total trash defense of the Muslim world's reaction to the Danish cartoons. If you really want to read the whole thing, go find it at the link above.]
Is criticism of Islam worse than terrorism? Ethical Fallacies in Islam
When they say verbal criticism of Islam is worse than actual physical acts of terrorism where flesh-and-blood people get seriously wounded and killed, Islamists seem absurd to modern people. How can a cartoon be worse than 9/11? We see this as ethical inconsistency, supported by two fallacies: the non-sequitur and equivocation.
But Islamists do not perceive any inconsistency when they state such things, because Islam’s ethics come from Allah’s religion and these are holy cows that may not even be questioned. To the outside observer, though, Islam has "dualistic" or "bipolar" ethics. Islamists are able to support or oppose the same act of murder if done by a Muslim or an infidel. The dualistic subtext is: Whatever advances Islam is "good"; whatever resists Islam is “evil”. Within this context of bipolarity, it is considered a mere misdemeanour for a Muslim to murder an infidel, whereas criticism of Islam or of its prophet is a capital crime whose ideal punishment is decapitation. There is one rule for Muslims and another rule for infidels. The underlying principle is the opportunistic one of giving Muslims the upper hand at all times. This is justified by a re-iteration of the “holy cow” fallacy, i.e. Muslims should have the upper hand, because Allah said so and so forth.
Beginning with the premise that whatever advances Islam is "good" (e.g. jihadist terrorism is “good”) and whatever opposes Islam is "evil" (philosophical or moral critiques of Islam, jokes, etc. are “evil”)...it is very easy to see why Islamists view cartoons or critical comments of Mohammed’s pedophilia (for instance) as "worse than terrorism". But, they are preaching to the choir. (Oops, they don't have choirs...Mohammed disapproved of music.)
In Muslim-majority countries, dualism is so integral to the common world view that it seems totally natural. Moreover, questioning anything at all about Islam is the number one taboo. It is comparable to a Westerner raising doubts about racial equality or about the Holocaust. Regularly, we see that if such a person is not lynched by the press, he will never be employed for the rest of his life.
Even discussing the problem of verbal criticism of Islam being worse than actual physical murder, leads to further confusion. The philosophical bipolarity of Islam makes debating a Muslim difficult, because he often gets to have it both ways. (Heads I win, tails you lose.) If you catch him on a point, he will say you are taking it "out of context". He means that you are failing to see things from the bipolar view of Islam and therefore, as an infidel, you don’t deserve to live. While this is the correct answer in Islam, all but the most confident Islamists will hesitate to express themselves in such direct terms, either because they are a bit embarrassed to admit Islam really teaches the argumentum ad baculum or because of something called “taqiyya”, the right of a Muslim to mislead an infidel so the Muslim may gain the upper hand. Whatever advances Islam is “good”, even if it is an egregious falsehood. For the uninformed Westerner, discussions with a Muslim can lead to total bafflement, a result the Islamist finds both amusing and deeply satisfying. The purpose of debate for a Muslim, after all, is not the dispassionate search for the truth, but to establish the pre-eminence of Islam by giving the Muslim the upper hand in the discussion. Through the principle of taqiyya (pious fraud), intentional logical fallacies are “good” and may be used, if they advance Islam (e.g. “Islam means peace”). A proper logical argument is “evil” or “satanic” if it resists Islam or undermines Islam’s “honour” (e.g. Mohammed greatly preferred his 9-year-old bride Ayesha to his other women; therefore, he was most likely a pedophile).
Bipolarity is found throughout Islam. In the Koran, there are often two conflicting commandments, the so-called Meccan and Medinan, the former permissive, the latter harsh and intolerant. Muslims also have the duty to use "taqiyya" (pious lies to advance Islam) when the situation demands it, such as when negotiating with infidels.
The bottom line in every religious cult is opportunism. Islam openly preaches hatred of outsiders, the better to motivate jihadists to enslave and slaughter them without remorse. Infidels all deserve to be killed for not instantly believing in Allah’s religion...and yet, Allah has also "led them astray", so that they will be unable to believe. Sound confused? That is more of the dualistic subtext of Islam. It contradicts itself and defies human logic on almost every point and therefore, if one is to follow it, one must do so blindly. (Let the Gentle Reader look up the word "taqlid".)
In the shame-based culture of Islam, honour takes precedence over facts. Allah’s religion must be made pre-eminent at all cost, even if it requires lies, terrorism or other crimes to do so. The “honour” of Islam thus used to justify every lie and every crime. But modern states just cannot have religious people disregarding their man-made secular laws. The result would be chaos and instability. Governments of Muslim-majority countries know this and are forced to subtly oppose implementation of Sharia whenever it undercuts the authority of the state. They pay lip service to Sharia so that the Islamists may save face, but everyone knows it is a ruse. The Islamists are caught in a dilemma: should they acquiesce to the government pretence of supporting Sharia and save face (thus accepting defeat) or denounce it and expose Islam’s backwardness to further international ridicule?
Islam will eventually fall due to such systemic lying. People will quietly admit Sharia is impracticable and thus cannot be true. They will concede Sharia can only be implemented with considerable deceit and barbarism, as we saw with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Most Muslims, (especially women) consider the Taliban version of Sharia totally unacceptable, but that is as pure a form of Sharia as we have ever seen.
An earthquake is coming in the Muslim world: The Islamic world’s 400 million illiterate females will eventually learn to read and write. Islam will then have about 20 years to go.
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