Islam vs. Islamism
Kaaba in Mecca
Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, writes on his blog that there is a difference between Islam and violent, radical Islamism. Both are a reaction to Muslim history, which has seen the Islamic accomplishments of the seventh through thirteenth century stagnate into today’s social and economic morass in most Muslim countries. Pipes’ conclusion is interesting and worth reading in full.
Comments (31) »Major dissonance began around 1800, when Muslims unexpectedly lost wars, markets, and cultural leadership to Western Europeans. It continues today, as Muslims bunch toward the bottom of nearly every index of achievement. This shift has caused massive confusion and anger. What went wrong, why did God seemingly abandon His faithful? The unbearable divergence between premodern accomplishment and modern failure brought about trauma.
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 at 9:04 AM | Stand For Israel
Who Will Keep More Teenage Muslims from Becoming the Next Boston Marathon Bombers
Photo: Flickr/ quixotic54
Professor Barry Rubin, writing at Pajamas Media, describes in pitch-perfect fashion how the only way to truly confront radical Islamism is to do so from within Islam – a movement that Rubin says he just doesn’t see. Other Western reactions either tend to make things worse, understate or, worse, excuse the problem, or undermine themselves.
Comments (6) »Part of the problem is this. Most powerful institutions and people say that Islam is a religion of peace. There’s no problem, except for a few mysterious extremists who just seem to pop up either at random or due to American and Western sins. The next largest segment says that Islam is an inherently violent and extremist religion. Thus, since the problem is Islam, there’s nothing to do but to combat it directly in some form. Both of the main Western responses, then, deny the importance of waging a real and serious battle within Islam.
Monday, April 22nd, 2013 at 9:05 AM | Stand For Israel