Why More People Need to Know Basic Islamic Doctrine

Wednesday

A good friend of mine told me the other day that our efforts to educate our fellow non-Muslims about the doctrines of Islam are counterproductive because it creates animosity against Muslims, which causes apathetic Muslims to side with the more devout, politically-active Muslims, leading to greater conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims.

This has a ring of validity to it. But at its core it is a foolish idea. The problem is, you would only know how foolish it is if you knew something about Islamic doctrine. In our educational efforts, this is the biggest thing we are up against: Assumptions made by non-Muslims who are ignorant of Islamic doctrine — assumptions that prevent you from educating them about Islamic doctrine. It's a catch-22.

Many of them make the following assumptions: That politically-active Muslims are acting out of political motivations rather than Islamic religious motivations; that they cherry-pick verses out of the Quran to justify their actions but Islam is not what motivates them; that the majority of Muslims don't believe any of that jihad stuff; that the majority of Muslims have no political motivations; and that anyone criticizing Islam must be an ignorant bigot. These assumptions all conspire to make it almost impossible to do the only thing that can clear up these misconceptions: Educate them about basic Islamic doctrine.

So I thought I would make a list of specific reasons why an understanding of Islamic doctrine is important. This might add a little extra motivation to help us overcome the catch-22. Here's my list so far:

1. The US allowed Sharia law to be inserted into the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan. If any non-Muslims involved in that decision had been familiar with Islamic doctrine enough to know what Sharia law means and what it entails, they would not have allowed it to happen. So billions of dollars have been spent to free those two countries from the domination of their previous repressive governments, and thousands of soldiers from Western democracies have died, only to have set up the conditions for the creation of two more Islamic countries. And anyone who knows anything about Islamic doctrine can tell you this will inevitably lead to countries increasingly dominated by misogyny, religious intolerance, and aggression against the non-Muslim world. It was one of the most awe-inspiring, mind-blowing, remarkably self-defeating actions done by any non-Muslims in recent history.

And the only reason it happened is that the non-Muslims involved were ignorant of the basic doctrines of Islam.

2. In the free world, politically active Muslims are are pushing for concessions of all kinds. In Britain, Muslim women doctors and nurses do not have to follow the same cleanliness standards as non-Muslims, for example. In Hamtramck, Michigan, the City Council waved the noise ordinances in deference to the mosque there to allow them to broadcast an amplified call to prayer throughout the neighborhood. After a Danish newspaper published some cartoons depicting Mohammad — nothing more offensive than politicians suffer every day all over the free world — Muslims rioted all over Europe, killing 187 people. Afterward, many newspapers refused to reprint the cartoons out of fear. They were intimidated into silence by Muslims. And so on (read more concessions).

These concessions would not have been given if the non-Muslims involved had known about basic Islamic doctrine.

You can't see the purpose of the political concessions unless you know Islam. People naturally buy into the specific reasons given for each specific concession and easily miss any larger purpose. Politically-active orthodox Muslims will continue to encroach on Western laws and customs, concession by concession, until they become a political force that cannot be easily resisted. They will have gained a level of political power that cannot be peacefully undone. They will have gained a sufficient foothold in the society, producing new Islamic norms, getting non-Muslims used to these things, until everyone feels "it's just the way things are."

The purpose of each concession is to fulfill Islam's prime directive: To make the whole world subjugated to Islamic law. If you don't know that, or if you don't believe that, you will take it on a case-by-case basis, and they will gain one concession after another.

The orthodox Muslims in the West, working for Islam's political goal, know how to play the game. They know what our buttons are. They know our Achilles' heel: White guilt (as it is known in America) or post-colonial guilt (as it is known in Europe). And they exploit it. They exploit this and many other psychological weaknesses in the Western mind, and gain one concession after another.

We have not had much historical exposure to Islamic ways of doing things, so we have no natural resistance. It's like introducing rabbits into Australia or mongoose into Hawaii. The other forms of life don't have time to adapt, so the new animals easily proliferate and ultimately dominate.

3. They keep having peace talks and peace summits and peace treaties to create "peace in the Middle East," meaning "peace between Israel and the Muslim countries surrounding Israel." Only someone ignorant of the most basic principles of Islamic doctrine would believe that anything approaching peace will ever be possible between Israel and the rest of the Muslim world. With no more than two hours of education about basic Islamic doctrine, any rational person would easily see that the goal is ridiculous.

But only someone who knows about Islamic doctrine could understand this. The non-Muslim world should be working toward security, not peace. Read the Quran and you will find there is no possible way for peace to exist between Israel and in the Muslim world. It is impossible.

There are obviously some Muslims who ignore much of their doctrine and who can live and let live with Israel. But as long as there are believing Muslims in the Middle East, Israel will be attacked. And all these efforts at disarming Israel or forcing Israel to make concessions to Muslims only prolongs the conflict.

This is another example of how it helps us defeat Islam's relentless encroachment to know the basic doctrines of Islam. It illustrates why an ignorance of Islam prolongs problems, weakens the position of non-Muslims, weakens the security of non-Muslims, causes the deaths of non-Muslims, and strengthens Islam's political power in the world.

4. The population of Muslims in Europe has grown large enough already that the politicians in Europe can no longer ignore the voting block represented by the Muslims, and they are working together (the Muslims and the politicians) to slowly dismantle, piece by piece, the hard-won freedoms, the principles of equality, and the economic viability of Europe's democracies.

And yet Europe is continuing to allow Muslims to immigrate to their countries in great numbers.

Why is Europe continuing such self-defeating policies? Because so many Europeans are so ignorant of basic Islamic doctrine.

5. Mosques are being built all over the free world. Non-Muslims allow this. In these mosques, Muslims are being taught that their loyalty to Islam is more important than their loyalty to the country in which they are citizens. They are being taught that the ultimate goal is an Islamic world. The ultimate goal is that all people on earth are subjugated to Islamic law. They are taught strategies to accomplish this goal. They are motivated to accomplish this goal in those mosques. They are given literature — books, magazines, and audio recordings — that teach these notions and motivate them to follow these notions.

This is happening in 75% of the mosques in America, and 80% of the mosques in Canada. It's probably being done similarly in the mosques of Europe.

Non-Muslims are allowing this because they are so ignorant of basic Islam that they unquestioningly accept the deliberate disinformation being given to them by orthodox Muslims. They are being fooled. They are being hoodwinked by orthodox Muslims with a political agenda.

The examples above barely scratch the surface. The list could go on and on. I'd be the first to admit that learning about Islam is not fun or easy. But it clears up a lot of false assumptions and greatly clarifies our situation. It allows you to look into the world and really see the forest for the trees.

We are being invaded. We are being colonized. And we are helping this happen. We are actively helping the invasion and colonization of free countries by politically-motivated Islamic supremacists. And the only reason we are not stopping it is that so many of us are so completely ignorant of basic Islamic doctrine.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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Why Antisemitism Sprouted So Quickly on Campus

I would like to recommend an article by Jonathan Haidt. He articulates one of the difficulties we have in getting through to people about Islam: The oppressor/victim binary mindset being encouraged on college campuses. Check it out:

Why Antisemitism Sprouted So Quickly on Campus

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Thought Contagion and Islam

Sunday

I searched Google to find out if anyone had written about Islam as a meme (if you don't know what a meme is, click here). I found several articles, but none were what I was looking for. Then I came across an excerpt from the book, Thought Contagion. It was exactly what I was looking for. But here's the funny thing: I already owned the book and had even read it!

But when I read it, the World Trade Center was still standing and the information was only mildly interesting to me at the time. Things have changed. I read it again, and it felt like I was reading it for the first time.

The author, Aaron Lynch, looked at several institutions in his book — families, politics, and religion — and in the religion section, he looked at most of the major religions, including Islam. What can memetics (study of memes) tell us about Islam and the trouble in the Middle East?

Memetically, Islam is a very successful memeplex (group of memes). Several embedded memes help make it so. For example, if Muslims drift away from Mohammed's teachings, Allah will end the world. That makes converting others and promoting Islam a matter of survival. It also motivates Muslims, as Lynch points out, "to dissuade each other from losing faith."

It is also a requirement of Islamic faith to make a public prayer five times a day. The unusual posture attracts attention, and the prayers can be heard by anyone within earshot. Under some circumstances, this might help Islam spread. And the fact that the Muslim is repeating his prayers five times a day makes it very easy for him to stay focused on Islam. It would be almost impossible for him to forget it.

Islam is different from other religions in at least one important way: It began at a time and in a place where no empire constrained its spread. In other words, if you start a religion within the Roman Empire, you're going to have certain limitations. The Romans would see any new religion — especially a militant or political religion — as a threat to its power and would make sure it stayed peaceful. A religion that preached tolerance and goodwill toward others might survive, but a violent or militant or political new religion would be quashed immediately.

But Islam had no such restriction when it began, so it could incorporate "conversion by warfare" into its memeplex, and it did. As Lynch wrote, "The faith provides for a jihad or holy war, which historically led to Islamic rule over whole societies." Once a country was conquered by war, pagans were often given a simple choice: convert to Islam or die. That is written into Islamic law. If any members of the newly acquired country were Christian or Jewish, they were required to pay a special tax and became a second-class citizen, unless they wanted to convert.

This information answered a question I had for a long time. Why are there "Muslim" countries? Do you see Buddhist countries? Hindu countries? Christian countries? I know there are countries where these religions are in the majority, but has the religion taken over the government? No. But the way Islam was created, taking over the government is what the faithful will do. Not the "extremists." Not the crazy ones. The faithful Muslims, if they follow the teachings of Muhammad, will take over the government, establish the religion as the national religion, and rule using the law of Allah.

MEMES FOR WAR

According to the Koran, if you die while fighting for Islam, you are guaranteed eternal paradise. This meme not only encourages bravery in battle, but it encourages continual warfare against non-Muslim nations. You cannot die fighting for Islam if there is no fighting going on. This answered another question I had for a long time: Why can't the people in the Middle East just work out their differences and get on with their lives? That question assumes that warfare is not desirable. I was assuming war is a temporary break in an otherwise peaceful, productive life. But that is an assumption that was not shared by the author of the Koran.

So continual warfare is part of the teachings of Islam. And another meme has been added to reduce the costs of war. When men die, the ratio of women to men changes, of course, leaving widows childless or unable to take care of the children they already have. But the Koran says each man can marry up to four wives. This makes sure warfare doesn't reduce the numbers of the next generation of the faithful.

This is all very interesting in a detached, academic sort of way, but as you can easily surmise, this has profound implications. How then, should the rest of the world interact with Muslim countries? The religion has slowly spread and taken over countries. Should they be stopped? How can you stop such a thing?

In the heyday of Islam, Muslims were invading India, China, Europe, and Africa all at the same time, spreading rapidly, taking over countries, building an Islamic empire. They were fought back and contained, and had been contained for a long time. But they are inventing new methods to fight.

What can we do? The first thing is to know what we're dealing with, and political leaders repeating "Islam is a religion of peace" doesn't really help clarify the situation.

I have heard from several people saying they are Muslims and they have no desire to fight anyone. Obviously, it is possible to be moderate about anything. But Islam requires a lot from its followers and appears to inspire more commitment more often and with more militancy and governmental aspirations than any other religion.

If you'd like to know more about the memes in Islam, the best way is to read the Koran (you can do it online) and find out for yourself what it really says. This is the manual orthodox Muslims are using. Since you and I are their target, it seems like a good idea to know what they are basing their actions on and why. I think you'll find it surprising.

Read more: The Terrifying Brilliance Of The Islamic Memeplex.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

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The Bright Line Between Good and Evil

Monday

The link below goes to a written excerpt from a podcast with Sam Harris. I haven't listened to the podcast, but the written excerpt is really good, and it's a useful piece to share with people.

I first came across Harris when I read his book, The End of Faith. Each chapter is about a different religion, and one of the chapters was about Islam. I remember Harris saying many years after his book's publication that the only flak he got about his book, and the only thing interviewers wanted to talk about was his chapter on Islam.

He criticized every major religion in The End of Faith, and every other religion except Islam accepted the fact that people sometimes criticize their religion. But Islam does not accept that.

Anyway, Harris has a real talent for clarity. Check it out: The Bright Line Between Good and Evil.

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The Most Islamophobic Americans Are Muslims

Tuesday

The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding is a Muslim think tank in Michigan. They did a poll to find out just how Islamophobic Americans are. They asked questions like do you think Muslims are more violent than other groups, do you think they are less civilized, do you think they are hostile to the U.S., etc.

The results
show that American Muslims are by far the most Islamophobic group in America. And usually by a hefty margin. For some of these questions, they are several times more Islamophobic than any other category (such as Jews, Catholics, and white Evangelists).

My first thought when I read this was: They should know. They know Islam (and their fellow Muslims) better than the other groups do, so their answers are bound to be more informed. When I told a friend of mine about it, his first thought was that many of these Muslims have escaped Muslim countries, so they know what Islamic doctrine looks like (how it manifests itself) when it has pervaded a country, which is another angle on the same idea: They would know better than anyone.

You can read more about the poll here.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.

Read more...

Article Spotlight

One of the most unusual articles on CitizenWarrior.com is Pleasantville and Islamic Supremacism.

It illustrates the Islamic Supremacist vision by showing the similarity between what happened in the movie, Pleasantville, and what devout fundamentalist Muslims are trying to create in Islamic states like Syria, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia (and ultimately everywhere in the world).

Click here to read the article.


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