by Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n
Private Papers<\/em><\/p>\n T<\/span>he\u00a0New York Times<\/i>\u2019s Thomas Friedman is right on the mark most of the time in his analysis of the dysfunctions troubling the Muslim world and of our own failures in confronting them. Particularly important is his frequent criticism of our feckless disregard of our dependence on fossil fuels. As Friedman argues, we should all be doing more about the fact that our oil consumption subsidizes the terrorists who want to blow us up.<\/p>\n But even Friedman has a blind spot that compromises his otherwise sensible analyses. His July 4 column is a perfect example. It accurately links global Muslim terrorist attacks to the intolerant chauvinism inherent in Islam, which to its adherents is \u201cthe most perfect and complete expression of God\u2019s monotheistic message, and the Koran is God\u2019s last and most perfect word.\u201d Yet this spiritual perfection collides with a world dominated by the same West that for nearly a thousand years quailed at the armies of Allah. \u201cThis creates,\u201d Friedman writes, \u201ca real dissonance and humiliation. How could this be? Who did this to us? The Crusaders! The Jews! The West! It can never be something that they failed to learn, adapt to or build. This humiliation produces a lashing out.\u201d<\/p>\n That last sentence, redolent of middle-class parents trying to figure out why their geeky kid vandalized the neighbor\u2019s SUV, is where Friedman loses it by indulging a reductive psychology that locates behavior not in the spiritual imperative he himself identifies, but in a neurotic\u00a0reaction<\/i>\u00a0to environmental pressures. By the end of the piece this misstep has become a pratfall: \u201cMuslims have got to understand that a death cult has taken root in the bosom of their religion, feeding off it like a cancerous tumor.\u201d<\/p>\n Notice that metaphor: jihad \u2014 for that is what the terrorists are engaged in, as they repeatedly tell us \u2014 is a cultic deformation of otherwise healthy cells in the body of Islam, an alien growth that needs to be excised so health returns. Yet this received wisdom, repeated over and over, even by the Bush administration, is simply false to Islamic history, theology, and jurisprudence. If one attends carefully to that record, it is obvious that jihad is not an alien \u201ctumor\u201d but a vital organ of Islam.<\/p>\n Of course, one can try to avoid this unpleasant fact by denying that what the terrorists are engaged in\u00a0is<\/i>\u00a0jihad. One can indulge the laughable rationalization that jihad is\u00a0really<\/i>\u00a0\u201cinward striving\u201d to be a better Muslim. This minority interpretation of jihad appears late in Islamic history, and is looked on with scorn by many Muslims themselves. Listen to the Ayatollah Khomeini, creator of the first modern Islamic nation, writing in 1942: \u201cThose who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! . . . Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and the shadow of the sword.\u201d And again in 1979, from a speech delivered at the Feyziyeh Theological School: \u201cIslam grew with blood . . . . The great prophet of Islam on one hand carried the Koran and in the other a sword . . . . Islam is religion of blood for the infidels but a religion of guidance for other people.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Westerners, following duplicitous Muslim apologists, no doubt would argue that Khomeini, a revered Muslim theologian, is distorting the traditions of his faith. But given that the 1979 speech was delivered at a theological school, where the audience is knowledgeable about their faith and so could identify distortions of its tenets, this rationalization is incredible. Common sense tells us that Khomeini and the other modern jihadists know their own faith and its doctrines, and are speaking squarely in that tradition, as can be documented from the Koran, Hadiths, and subsequent Muslim theologians, jurists, and other commentators (see Andrew Bostom\u2019s invaluable anthology,\u00a0The Legacy of Jihad<\/i>). All these sources tell us that jihad indeed is the imperative to follow the example of the prophet Mohammed, who said in his farewell address: \u201cI was ordered to fight all men until they say, \u2018There is no god but Allah.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n M<\/span>odern jihadists, then, aren\u2019t \u201cheretics\u201d or \u201cfanatics\u201d who have \u201chighjacked\u201d the \u201creligion of peace\u201d in order to compensate for their neurotic \u201chumiliation\u201d at Muslim backwardness. Bin Laden and his lieutenant Aymin Al Zawahiri have issued many writings that define their terrorist war as a traditional jihad, backing up their argument with numerous references to Islamic theology and jurisprudence. In a few weeks\u00a0The Al Qaeda Reader\u00a0<\/i>will be published, Library of Congress researcher Raymond Ibrahim\u2019s translation of the most significant al Qaeda treatises, many of which have not appeared before in English. This promises to be one of the most important books since 9\/11, a critical resource for accurately understanding the motives of al Qaeda. These writings, especially those intended for Muslims, ground the war against the West squarely in the Islamic tradition of jihad: \u201cZawahiri\u2019s writings,\u201d Ibrahim notes, \u201cespecially are grounded in Islam\u2019s roots of jurisprudence; in fact, of the many thousands of words translated here from his three treatises, well more than half are direct quotations from the Koran, the Sunna of Muhammad, and the consensus and conclusions of the Ulema [past and present commentators and interpreters of Islamic belief and practice].\u201d<\/p>\n Even the killing of women and children is argued for on the basis of that same tradition, which provides traction for rationalizations based on Islamic military weakness, sophistic definitions of \u201cinnocence,\u201d and the oft-repeated injunction to kill all infidels. This interpretation may be erroneous, but the mere fact that it can be argued for at all, and accepted by many Muslims, is itself significant. And such an interpretation is possible because there already exists the doctrine of jihad, which glorifies and justifies violence against non-believers. This helps to answer the obvious question why other ex-colonial peoples supposedly \u201chumiliated\u201d by their failure to keep up with the powerful West have not resorted to terrorist violence.<\/p>\n Again, it beggars belief that a Zawahiri or a Khomeini is distorting his faith\u2019s traditions and dogmas, particularly when millions of Muslims world-wide agree with those traditional interpretations. Are we to think those millions don\u2019t know their own religion? That they are dupes of manipulators and distorters? Or is it rather the case that they know very well their faith and see bin Laden et al. as traditionalists attempting to restore to Islam the doctrinal purity that fueled Islam\u2019s remarkable conquests? Perhaps this agreement with the so-called \u201cIslamists\u201d explains the dearth of protests against these presumed \u201cdistortions\u201d on the part of all those \u201cmoderate\u201d Muslims we keep hearing about.<\/p>\n No, it is we who are the dupes of distorters, all those apologists, propagandists, and Western useful idiots who obscure the truth of Islam and its history. And they are successful:\u00a0Washington Times<\/i>\u00a0columnist Diana West, writing on July 6 about Robert Spencer\u2019s important web-site jihadwatch.org, reports that \u201cvery ominously, Mr. Spencer’s Web site is being blocked by assorted organizations which, according to his readers, continue to provide access to assorted pro-jihad sites. Mr. Spencer reports he’s \u2018never received word of so many organizations banning this site all at once.\u2019 These include the City of Chicago, Bank of America, Fidelity Investments, GE IT, JPMorgan Chase, Defense Finance and Accounting Services and now, a federal employee in Dallas informs him, the federal government.\u201d Why? \u201cSome Internet providers deem the factually based, meticulous analysis on display at jihadwatch.org to be \u2018hate speech.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n This is the pass that we have come to: facts about the motives of an enemy sworn to our destruction are censored as \u201chate speech.\u201d This betrayal of the truth demonstrates perfectly the West\u2019s self-loathing failure of nerve that confirms the enemy\u2019s belief in his spiritual superiority \u2014 and his ultimate victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a92007 Bruce Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The\u00a0New York Times\u2019s Thomas Friedman is right on the mark most of the time in his analysis of the dysfunctions troubling the Muslim world and of our own failures in confronting them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,756],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-1q2","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2228,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-lefts-selective-outrage\/","url_meta":{"origin":5458,"position":0},"title":"The Left’s Selective Outrage","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine You know liberals are edging toward a full Jonestown-style meltdown when someone as smart as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman starts losing it. Last week Friedman worked himself up into a paranoiac frenzy over the tone of some of the criticism Obama and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5393,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/epistle-to-the-muslims\/","url_meta":{"origin":5458,"position":1},"title":"Epistle to the Muslims","author":"victorhanson","date":"November 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Christian leaders abase themselves before Islam by Bruce S. Thornton City Journal On November 18, the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0ran a full-page ad entitled \u201cA Christian Response to\u00a0A Common Word Between Us and You.\u201d\u00a0A Common Word\u00a0is an October letter from 138 Muslim scholars and clerics \u201cto leaders of Christian churches, everywhere.\u201d It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5380,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/muslim-moderates\/","url_meta":{"origin":5458,"position":2},"title":"Muslim “Moderates”","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 6, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What's in a word? by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The war against Islamic jihad continues to be compromised in the West by the dominant narrative that supposedly makes sense of the conflict. In this scenario, the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful moderates, while the jihadists exploit a distortion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3362,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/running-scared-of-islam\/","url_meta":{"origin":5458,"position":3},"title":"Running Scared of Islam","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society One of Broadway\u2019s big hits this season is the musical\u00a0The Book of Mormon, a creation of the scatological geniuses behind the cartoon\u00a0South Park. As one would expect, the show is \u201cblasphemous, scurrilous and more foul-mouthed than David Mamet on a blue streak,\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8182,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/more-delusional-apologetics-for-islam\/","url_meta":{"origin":5458,"position":4},"title":"More Delusional Apologetics for Islam","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine It\u2019s pretty embarrassing when the on-line comments about an article are more logical and knowledgeable than the article. Such is the case with a Wall Street Journal\u00a0op-ed last week that argued Muslim violence does not reflect traditional Islamic doctrine, but is merely a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Turkey"","block_context":{"text":"Turkey","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/turkey\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Koran-cover-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1358,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-dangers-of-democracy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5458,"position":5},"title":"The Dangers of Democracy","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine The parliamentary elections that have begun in Egypt will impress only the most starry-eyed of democracy champions. These are the people who, like Senator Joe Lieberman, think that the \u201cArab Spring\u201d is all about people \u201cdemanding lives of democracy, dignity, economic opportunity, and involvement\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Muslim Brotherhood"","block_context":{"text":"Muslim Brotherhood","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/muslim-brotherhood\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5459,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5458\/revisions\/5459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}