Absolute Bafflement

When I post on this blog, I usually have an opinion – a point of view that I think deserves at least to be considered. I am a very opinionated cove. Tonight I am simply baffled. I am not going shed any opinions; but I’m going to share my bafflement with you. A few opinions may creep in. [Otras notas vao entrar; mas a base e uma so.]

What does the Islamic world think it’s up to? Really?

The Islamic world hates Israel; hates the Jews. I think I know why – but this posting is about what I don’t know.

The Islamic world is backward. It has not had a new idea in 14 centuries. The Arab world (Islam’s heartland) is not interested in ideas at all. Spain translates more foreign texts into Spanish in one year than the Arab world has translated into Arabic in a millennium. That is sad. Ideas are (or should be) international. Brilliant novelties, such as the alphabet, the wheel and zero, for example, have cross cultural relevance. Catastrophic ideas, regrettably, like socialism, get taken up by cultures as diverse as Cuba and Cambodia. Fortunately, socialism has imploded and is now only to be found in western universities.

In economic terms, the Arab world is a basket case. Without oil, all the Arab economies amount to less than the Nokia company of Finland. The tiny state of Israel is a powerhouse of innovation and creativity – and is, woman for woman, just about the most successful military machine on earth. The Arabs have been attacking it fruitlessly for half a century. The Arabs hate Israel but will probably collude with it if and when it takes action against Iran.

Islam is stultifying. Some of its apologists demonstrate this. Anjem Choudary thinks that Islam comes from God. That is why we should adopt it. On his say so. Or Mohammed’s. Oh, right? The Koran (transmitted to the world by Mohammed) says that M is the ideal role model for humanity. Anjem, you are as winsome (word of the year) as Mohammed.

So, back to my problem. What do they think they are up to? They have grievances aplenty. Kuffars and Jews invade their lands, allegedly. The west is decadent and corrupt but they immigrate into Denmark, Sweden and Canada by the tens of thousands. In their benighted homelands they slaughter each other by the tens of thousands. What do they think they are up to?

Sunnis and Shiites divided still, not doctrinally but over who should have succeeded the prophet in six hundred and something, kill each other in numbers that make non-Muslim killings of Muslims almost derisory. When will they come to their senses? What do they think they are up to?

Islam is mostly about hatred. The three central texts (the Koran, the Sunna [Mohammed’s biography] and the Hadith) are more about unbelievers than about theology or moral exhortation.

Almost any moral teacher will tell you about the corrosiveness of hatred. It even prevents you from competing with those you hate.

A depressing hate sermon: Hatred