Modern Islam

by Sam Huntington

There is plenty evidence in the ancient Islamic texts to prove the negatives of Islam. It is my view that there is nothing attractive about this religion (some regard it as a cult), unless one happens to be an ignorant goat herder who, not unlike Don Quixote,  fantasizes about becoming more than a flea.      The ancient texts are of some interest, even if nauseating, but I think we err by focusing all of our attentions on the past. We should rather be thinking about what the modern Islamacist is saying to the masses.


One scholar that deserves our attention is Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian theologian who has published more than 120 books about Sharia law and Islamic life. More than 60 million Moslems listen to al-Qaradawi on the Jazeera (Gore) Network, and he has long maintained a prominent role within the Islamic intellectual community —which is not altogether over-populated.

No surprise, some of this man’s views are controversial. The United Kingdom refused him an entry visa in 2008; France barred him in 2012; and in 2004, a large number of Moslem academics accused him of giving Islam a bad name. Who knew that was even possible? Yet, in spite of this, al-Qaradawi has a gift for persuasion: a talent that should concern those of us who prefer to maintain our own western culture. Here is an example of al-Qaradawi’s eloquence:

“The condition of the Muslim nation was like a wasteland in the middle of the nineteenth century. The pillars of caliphate had broken which was the last display of unity under the flag of Islamic belief. Islamic countries were breathing their last under the talons of capitalist countries like Britain, France, and others, so much so that Holland, whose population was small dominated over the ten million strong population of Indonesia with the help of force and weapon. It had spoilt the face of Islamic decrees and putting Quran behind was busily engaged in its disrespect. Blind imitation of self-made Western laws and appreciation of foreign values had set over the lives of Muslims. The youths and lovers of new culture who were bearers of the so-called modern culture were particular victims of this. Western domination upon the field of education and means of communication was producing heaps of Westernized honorable people, whose names were Islamic but brains were West-bred.”

This is what al-Qaradawi is telling Moslems who have access to books and radios. What has befallen the contemporary Moslem is not the fault of western imperialism: it is the fault of the Moslem, who has lost his faith. The backwardness of Moslem society is not so much the result of Western aggression as it is Moslem weakness.

He challenges the Moslem to regain his strength, his power, by embracing once more that which made Islam strong in the 7th Century. He ignores American foreign policy, but is bitter about western Christendom. His tact is to transform the inferior Moslem into a superior being that the west can no longer ignore. Al-Qaradawi does not stress Islam as a religion; he speaks of it as a political movement that must grow until the west is incapable of ignoring it further.

Those of us who do not speak Arabic cannot know what Islamacists talk about inside America’s mosques, on Arabic radio or television programs. As someone pointed out on a blog the other day, we have evolved into a culture that thinks Honey Boo-Boo belongs on the Learning Channel. What we can see, however, is ever expanding Islamic populations in several of our cities, increasing numbers of Moslems elected to city, state, and federal positions, and local and state laws becoming Sharia compliant. As Islamacists proclaim to the masses in the Middle East that western society pose a danger to Moslem theology, and while training some Moslems to deliver violence to unsuspecting innocents, Moslem planners wage the real war beneath the surface, inside western societies, where hardly anyone can see it.

As I mentioned a moment ago, we cannot possibly see what is going on because the Arabic language hides most of it. Besides, most Americans have their faces glued to smart phones, their fingers tapping out messages on social media to prove to other morons how clever they really are. We have become a nation of people that collectively agree to limit their inanity to 140 characters per tweet. What this suggests is that by the time Americans find out that Sharia law has suspended the United States Constitution, it will be too late to do anything about it.