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Corruption of the Faith?
By Andrew G. BostomAn August 12 Washington Times editorial endorsed President Bushs use of the term Islamic Fascism to denote the ideology of the jihad terrorists whose plot to slaughter thousands of airline passengers leaving Britain was thankfully disrupted. The editorialists characterized the jihadists ideology more specifically as chauvinistic, regarding non-Muslims as a lesser breed of expendable or contemptible dhimmis and infidels. It favors autocracy and severe social and economic restrictions, as did the Taliban. It demands the total subordination of the individual to the groupsometimes manifesting in murderously suicidal deaths like the fiery destruction Britain's would-be bombers sought. This is not mainstream Islam, of course. It is a corruption of the faith. Ignoring the expected outpouring of complaints from apologists for jihad terror who cynically decried (for example here, here) any Islamic references, or other less pressing semantic concerns ( Islamism versus Islamic fascism ), the Washington Times editorial, indirectly, raises this critical question: just what comprises mainstream Islam (of course), as opposed to corruption of the faith? These pressing corollary questions arise as well: What is the origin of chauvinistic concepts such as the treatment of non-Muslims as contemptible dhimmis and infidels who are rightfully placed under severe social and economic restrictions? Is it accurate to maintain that such discriminatory beliefs and practices merely derive from the very recent Taliban movement in (Pakistan and) Afghanistan, are unrelated to mainstream Islam, and further, represent a corruption of Islam? Is it really out of bounds to even consider that the heinous practice of suicide-homicide bombings may have profound Islamic religious justification? Rest at link. Posted by: ed 2006-08-17 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=163194 |