Only racist, bigoted “Islamophobes” believe there is any problem with Islam itself, right? After all, it’s one of the world’s great religions. Sure, there are Islamic terrorists, but there are “extremists” of all religions, right? And yes, those Islamic terrorists are fond of quoting chapter and verse of the Qur’an to justify violence and mayhem, but there are disturbing passages in the Bible, too, right? The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the U.S. are peaceful, loyal, stable, law-abiding citizens, right? We should never confuse opposition to terrorism with condemnation of the Islamic faith, right?
After all, no less a luminary than Tucker Carlson himself recently explained how mockery of Islam was mockery of Christianity and mockery of God Himself, and that no president of the United States, and by extension no decent human being, should be engaging in it. Leftists, and many patriots as well, believe that the anti-Sharia initiatives that Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and others have recently spearheaded are wrong and offensive, because they target the religion of Islam itself, rather than just the “extremists.”
And yet there is considerable evidence that there is indeed something wrong with Islam itself, and that this fact should be taken into account as the Muslim population of the United States rises and immigrants from Muslim-majority countries keep pouring in. While noting the fact will mightily offend the woke and the Carlsonites, The Tragedy of Islam: Failure and Excuses shows that Islam is actually bad for both individuals and societies, and that Winston Churchill had a point when he declared that “individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.”
The way in which Islam is bad for individuals is clear enough. Contrary to the still-prevalent popular assumption, the Qur’an really does contain numerous exhortations to violence against unbelievers, and all too many Muslims today regard those passages with extreme seriousness. A steady stream of converts to Islam end up being violent jihadis, not because they misunderstand their newfound faith, but because they read their new holy book and take its commands to heart.
The worst aspect of this, aside from the ever-growing body count, is the fact that when these jihadis commit murder in the name of Islam, they think they’re performing a righteous act. They are the embodiment of the words of Jesus: “The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” (John 16:2)
It isn’t just its many justifications of violence and terrorism, however, that make Islam bad for individuals. Nor is it the draconian aspects of Sharia, which create an environment of fear in which the believers are simply too terrified in the face of threats of hell and, in this life, of beheading or amputation or stoning to do anything but obey. As The Tragedy of Islam shows, Islam is also bad for societies.
This is clear from even the most cursory glance at Islamic societies around the world today. Many of them — in fact, the ones that enforce Islamic law most strictly — are repressive regimes with scant regard for human rights. Most are economic basket cases, unless they’re awash in oil money.
Most analysts would explain this way with talk of the lingering ravages of colonialism, or the devastating effects of alleged American imperialism, both political and economic. Few, if any, would admit that Islam itself carries within it the seeds of the economic decline of the nations it dominates. This is because, in striking contrast to Christianity, Islam does not regard human labor as honorable. God doesn’t bless the work of your hands or the fruit of your labors. On the contrary, work is something that is vaguely dishonorable. It’s something slaves, or in the ideal Islamic society, unbelievers, are supposed to do.
Related: WaPo Columnist Says Muslims Should Not Be Expected to Assimilate, and What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
The Qur’an tells Muslims to fight “the people of the book,” that is, Jews, Christians, and other monotheists who have a revealed scripture, “until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.” (9:29) This is the way things ought to be: the non-Muslims work and pay the jizya, a poll tax, to the Muslims, who live off the fruit of non-Muslims’ labors. When non-Muslim communities are bled dry, the Islamic society, dependent upon the tax revenue from the unbelievers, goes into decline.
Thus, as The Tragedy of Islam shows, Islam can and does make terrorists out of individuals and parasites out of societies. It is virtually inconceivable in the current environment that these facts could become part of our national discussion, but that doesn’t make them any less true, and we ignore them to our detriment.
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