FGF OP-ED
A Voice from Fly-Over Country
April 14, 2016
Failing to Understand Islam Could be the West's Final Failure
by Robert L. Hale
fitzgerald griffin foundation
MINOT, ND -- It seems that America's political class, particularly those holding secular views of the world, are incapable of understanding Islam. Even when Islam acknowledges what it is and what its aims are, our leaders simply do not understand, let alone believe, what they are being told.
This problem is not limited to America. Elected secularists constitute the majority of those in leadership positions in countries around the world. Many, possibly most, wear a veneer of "belief." They do so as the price they must pay for holding positions of power. Serious examination of these leaders' "beliefs" will show that they have no religious beliefs, or at least not any that they cannot quash with equanimity. They promote one violation of the Decalogue after another with impunity.
"Every Muslim who is well aware of the history of Islam knows that the holy war against infidels is an integral part of Islam."
Most leaders and their cohorts of followers look upon those who have serious religious convictions, and those who attempt to honor the Decalogue, as little more than fools, out of touch with reality. These leaders have the same view of Islam and just as much understanding -- none at all.
The threat of Islam is something that world leaders, especially those in the West, have attempted to ignore. Most consider that those with faith in a transcendent God and attendant beliefs are to be tolerated at best and ignored if possible. Their inbred feeling of superiority over the masses render them wholly unprepared mentally and emotionally to deal with the Islamic threat.
What if ISIS sees itself as the Hammer of God? What if ISIS means what it says? What if ISIS believes in the Koran? Believes that all must convert to Islam? Believes that all who refuse to convert -- infidels -- must be killed?
What is the Islamic threat? Following the attack in Brussels that killed 34 people and injured others, the Islamic State released a video calling on its followers to wage jihad. The video identified Belgium as a member of the coalition that is fighting militants in the Middle East. The video featured training scenes of the militants who killed 130 people in the Paris bombing in November 2015.
The narrator of the video stated, "Every Muslim who is well aware of the history of Islam knows that the holy war against infidels is an integral part of Islam…."
Professor Philip Seib at the University of Southern California recently wrote an article detailing the strategy needed to defeat Islam. He stated, "Defeating the Islamic State must occur on other battlegrounds (than bombing their strongholds), such as the realms of social media and public diplomacy. As of now, anti-ISIS countermeasures on this terrain have been puny compared to the masterful manipulation by ISIS proselytizers."
"Defeating the Islamic State must occur on other battlegrounds (than bombing their strongholds), such as the realms of social media and public diplomacy." --Dr. Philip Seib of the University of Southern California
He continues, "To put this in terms U.S. officials might understand, we need a surge of media content, crafted by indigenous sources, that will be delivered at such a volume and with such forceful content that the lies of the Islamic State can be drowned out.… Contrary to the protestations of the U.S. counterterrorism establishment, the Islamic State has momentum and its menace is growing. This is a war that must be fought through ingenuity and persistence that we have not yet seen."
Professor Seib sees Islam through the eyes of a Western agnostic. To him, ISIS is simply a bunch of manipulators who use religion to motivate and direct followers. What if he is wrong? What if ISIS sees itself as the Hammer of God? What if ISIS means what it says? What if ISIS believes in the Koran? Believes that all must convert to Islam? Believes that all who refuse to convert -- infidels -- must be killed?
"We need a surge of media content, crafted by indigenous sources, that will be delivered at such a volume and with such forceful content that the lies of the Islamic State can be drowned out." --Professor Philip Seib
These are not what-ifs. These are exactly what the Koran teaches. Islam wishes to establish a worldwide caliphate and is doing so at an alarming rate. The mass migration of Muslims to Western European countries is an invasion. The goal is to populate and eventually take political control of these countries. Such control will establish these countries under a caliphate; once established, Sharia law will be imposed.
Is this analysis far-fetched? I spent many hours in the 1980s discussing Islam and Christianity with a Saudi acquaintance, who was educated at a Jesuit university in America. He predicted precisely what is happening today. He stated that as this process occurs, we might meet again; unless I was willing to convert to Islam, it would be his duty to kill me as an infidel.
He was serious. He was not being manipulated. Rather, as he said, "This is the teaching of my faith, a teaching I take literally, and when the time comes, will live out."
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A Voice from Fly-Over Country is copyright © 2016 by Robert L. Hale and the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation. All rights reserved.
Robert L. Hale received his J.D. in law from Gonzaga University Law School in Spokane, Washington. He is founder and director of a non-profit public interest law firm. For more than three decades he has been involved in drafting proposed laws and counseling elected officials in ways to remove burdensome and unnecessary rules and regulations.
See Mr. Hale's complete biographical sketch.
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