Tuesday 25 April 2017

True Freedom of Religion Is Two-Way Traffic

By Jacob Thomas                                            

In Islam freedom of religion implies that members of other faiths are encouraged to Islamize; on the other hand, a Muslim may not convert to another religion. Early in the history of Islam, this radical position became solidified against anyone who dared to go back on his or her Muslim faith. It had its origin in the defection of several Arab tribes from the Islamic Umma, soon after news about the death of Muhammad had reached them. In the summer of 632 A.D., Abu Bakr, the first caliph, and father of the Prophet’s favorite wife, Aisha,mounted military campaigns against the rebels and forced them back into the fold of Islam. Abu Bakr’scampaigns are known in Arabic as Huroob al-Radda, i.e. the wars against apostasy.

Eventually, the Four Sunni Schools for the interpretation of the Shari’ah codified the rules regarding the sin of apostasy (radda) and declared that, unless an apostate repents, he or she is to be punished with death. This harsh attitude towards Muslims who convert to other religions is based on the belief that Muhammad was Allah’s final messenger to mankind. To go back on Islam and renounce the Shahadah (Islamic confession of the radical unity of Allah, and the Prophethood of Muhammad) is tantamount to committing the unpardonable sin. Several Qur’anic verses may be adduced as a basis for this harsh treatment of the apostates; sufficient here is the following ayah (text) from Surah (chapter) Aal ‘Imran, a Medinan Chapter 3:85

وَمَنْ يَّبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْاِسْلَامِ دِيْنًا فَلَنْ يُّقْبَلَ مِنْهُ‌ۚ وَهُوَ فِىْ الْاٰخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخٰسِرِيْنَ

Waman yabtaghi ghair’l Islami deenan, flan yuqbala minhu, wa Huwa fi’l akhirati mina’l khasireen.”

“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the losers.” (Translation mine)

From Sahih International
And whoever desires other than Islam as religion – never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers.”

Tafsir al-Jalalayn, a Standard Tafsir (Commentary) on the Qur’an

The following was revealed regarding those who apostatized and became disbelievers: ‘Whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him and in the Hereafter he shall be among the losers, because he will end up in the Fire, made everlasting for him.’”

http://quran.com/3/85

Considering the draconian rules pertaining to the conversion of Muslims to other faiths, I was very impressed by an article that was posted by an Arab intellectual on 30 May, 2010, on the reformist Kuwaiti website, www.kwtanweer.com It had this title:

A Freedom We Don’t Understand:

The Call to Embrace a Religion or to Leave it

الدعوة الى الدين او تركه.. حرية لا نفهمها

The article was occasioned by an advertisement in the United States that appeared on buses, calling on Muslims to apostatize.
Here are excerpts from the article, followed by my analysis and comments.

“When I read the news about certain advertisements that appeared in America on buses calling on Muslims to forsake Islam, I was very disturbed. I couldn’t understand why Americans would manifest such a hostile attitude toward Islam by calling on Muslims to leave their faith! When my emotions subsided, I reflected on the subject and concluded that it was a reaction to the acts of violence that Muslims had perpetrated lately

“Christian” lands. Who can forget the events of 11 September, 2001?
“Ever since that day, the West has been asking: ‘Why do Muslims want to attack innocent people? And why Muslims forbid Christians to engage in mission work in their homeland, when Muslims living in Western countries freely call on people to Islamize? And, why do Muslims enjoy freedom of religion in the West, while adamantly opposing some of their own people the use that freedom and embrace another faith?’

“The fact remains that we, Muslims have always been in conflict with other religions, and have initiated unjustified wars especially against the West. Muslims are obsessed by this antagonism, and are unable to understand the true meaning of the word “hurriyya” (freedom); since it is absent from our dictionaries.
So how can we appreciate its value in Western societies? Historically, we have been antagonistic to the concept of liberty; our faith has an ambiguous attitude toward it. The West believes in your freedom to spread your religion in their lands; shouldn’t this imply that you allow them the same freedom? And why be angry when they place ads on buses that call on Muslims to forsake their faith, while you possess complete freedom to call Westerners to convert to Islam?

“Actually, we get quickly upset by any criticism of Islam. This reveals that Islam is weak, and unable to withstand criticism. Whether those ads on American buses succeeded or failed to accomplish their goal, at least those who sponsored them were exercising their freedom of expression. In the final analysis, let’s admit that Islam has always been the beneficiary of Western tolerance; while Christianity has not received any reciprocal treatment from Islam. This is the verdict of history.”

Source: http://www.kwtanweer.com/articles/readarticle.php?articleID=2483#

Analysis

The author of the article deplored the total absence of a quid pro quo in the West’s relation with Islam. While Muslims in the West enjoy complete freedom of religion, including the right to propagate their faith; Christians in Daru’l Islam are forbidden to call on Muslims to convert to Christianity.

Comment
It is seldom that an Arab intellectual would go public and point to this anomaly within Muslim lands. I applaud his courage and integrity, and thank the Kuwaiti website for posting it.

Around two months after that article appeared on kwtanweer, news regarding the harsh treatment received lately by Christian workers in Morocco, this editorial was published in the Wall Street Journal on July 6: “Expelled in Morocco: A U.S. ally mistreats American Christians.”

Here are excerpts:
“Morocco has long been considered a bastion of relative religious tolerance in the Muslim world, but since March the government has summarily expelled dozens of Americans for Christian proselytizing. Most were denied any semblance of due process, and some were given only a few hours to pack their bags. The government has provided little or no evidence of proselytizing, which is illegal in Morocco.

“Eddie and Lynn Padilla had been foster parents in the Village of Hope, an orphanage located in the Atlas Mountains east of the capital of Rabat, where they were raising two Moroccan orphan boys under the age of two. The government has long known they are Christians and had granted them a 10-year visa.

“That changed on March 9. After three days of police inspection and interrogation, the Padillas were given a few hours to gather their belongings. ‘It happened so fast that you didn’t even really have time to feel the shock of it until later,’ Mrs. Padilla told us in an interview. ‘The worst moment of it all was handing over the boys. . . . These were abandoned by their birth mothers. We were their parents.’”

On 9 July, 2010, the Moroccan Embassy in Washington, D.C., responded:

“Your editorial “Expelled in Morocco” (July 6) is wrong about Morocco’s recent actions to enforce its laws against religious proselytism. Morocco guarantees its tradition of freedom of worship in its constitution and it applies equally to Muslims, Jews and Christians, people of faith who have lived and worked together for generations. To maintain the balance in its society and protect the public order. Moroccan law also prohibits proselytizing.

“After a thorough investigation, Moroccan authorities were obligated to enforce these laws. Those who want to challenge their repatriations are free to use the legal means at their disposal, including the right to appeal.

“Morocco remains committed to interfaith dialogue, tolerance, freedom of expression, worship and openness.”

Actually, the Moroccan ambassador’s response evaded the issue of freedom of religion, by claiming that those strong measures against some American Christians had to be taken in order “To maintain the balance in its society and protect the public order. Moroccan law also prohibits proselytizing.” In fact, no concrete proof was advanced to demonstrate that those Christians, who were looking after Moroccon orphans, had engaged in an illicit activity! Morocco’s action directed against Eddie and Lynn Padilla, bely the claim that “Morocco remains committed to interfaith dialogue, tolerance, freedom of expression, worship and openness.” The facts prove the very opposite. Islam remains unwilling to acknowledge that true freedom is a two-way traffic; and not only the freedom of non-Muslims to Islamize; but equally, the freedom of Muslims to convert to other faiths.

The URL for the WSJ article is:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704862404575351790245971802.html?KEYWORDS=Expelled+in+Morocco

Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/articles/op-ed/true-freedom-of-religion-is-two-way-traffic/

I need your help

Hello Ali,
I need your help severely…I am a Muslim till now..but I am Confused well let me say I am one hell of a Confused man.
I need to ask you some Questions please do help me….Why did you leave Islam ???
Now which religion do you follow sir??? Please reply me…and I really hate Muslims..though I am also a muslim but my friends say I am “Satan” because criticize Islam …

If Islam is false than why it is the FASTEST SPREADING religion in the world…I myself didn’t believe it but I was shocked because I did some Hard research on it and Ali even US Department of Statistics confirm that Islam is the fastest spreading religion …
My life is completely out of order now a days ,You should have experienced it that how difficult is it to think critically against ISLAM because it is such an Powerful Ideology but I want truth.
Kindly reply me as early as possible,
thanks


regards

Akbar (name changed by Ali Sina)

Hello Akbar

The confusion is normal. All ex-Muslims go through it. For some it lasts a long time. I had to battle with mine for nearly two years.

The reason I left Islam is simple. I did not find any truth in it. Furthermore, I saw it is very evil and dangerous.

I do not follow any religion. I have made up my own religion. The gist of it is, don’t do to others what you would not want to be done to you. It is simple but it is absolute truth.

I have also devised a philosophy to go with it. What is a religion without a philosophy? Based on my philosophy all creation is interrelated, or to use a more fancy word, entangled. We are not distinct beings but manifestations of one single reality. Our individuality is an illusion even this illusion is temporary. Take the example of rain drops. They form in the clouds and as they become heavy they gravitate towards the earth. The individuality of a drop of rain lasts one or two minutes.  It shatters when it hits the ground. But the drop does not get destroyed. It goes back to the ocean from where it came from and becomes one with all other drops. The rain drops last a minute or two but oceans have been around for billions of years and will be around for billions more.

What is the purpose of this coming and going? The rain brings life to the world. Thanks to it, plants and animals in the dry land can flourish.
For the dropm the rain cycle may mean a futile exercize, but for the world it is everything.

Now take the example of a tree. What is the purpose of a tree? It strives against all odds to survive and to grow. Its fruits are eaten by birds and other animals to eventually fall to the ground, become food to ants and compost for other trees. What was the purpose of all this? For the tree it may have meant nothing but all trees and plants together make life possible on earth, the insects, the birds, the four legged animals and humans depend on trees for their survival. 

Our lives as individuals may mean nothing. We come to the world only for a few short years and die. What is the point of life? The point is that we are part of this universe, making it churn and go around.  

This is the philosophy of my made up religion. We don’t come to the world to be tested for our stupidity and then rewarded with virgins. We come to the world to enrich it. In fact we are never born and will never die. We have existed always and will exist always, only in different forms. We are part of each other. You, me, the mountains, the oceans, the trees, the fish, the birds and the kitty that is curling on my lap, are one in essence. But we are not aware of it, because this illusion of individuality has separated us.  If you become aware of this oneness, you will come to see that kindness to others is kindness to yourself. And likewise cruelty to others is cruelty to yourself.  We are like cells in the same body. Our wellbeing depends on the wellbeing of all other cells.

Is this philosophy true? Maybe it is and maybe it is not.
But that is the beauty of a made up religion. If tomorrow I find something better I just change it. I don’t have to believe in a foolish dogma made up by some camel herder psychopath. I am much more smarter than him and can make up a religion than make sense.

You say you hate Muslims. Indeed, those who follow Muhammad can be disgusting.
I am baffled of how much evil these people are capable of. But they are sill part of us. Even if a member of your body is sick and pains you, it is still your body. You can’t chop your arm because it aches. You can’t throw away your liver because it is sick. Muslims are sick and a pain in the ass, but they are not separate from us.  We fight darkness not with the sword but with light.

Your friends who think you are from Satan because you criticize Islam are fools. All those who blindly follow, do not use their brains or maybe don’t have a brain.

Islam is false, but it is growing thanks to procreation. Muslims procreate like rabbit. If you leave rabbits unchecked they can multiply fast. This does not mean there is more truth to them. Muslims come to the west, procreate and use the tax payer’s money of the non-Muslims to raise their litters who grow up hating those very people who feed them.

I can fully appreciate how you feel. Islam is not a powerful ideology; it is a controlling ideology. It is a fear based ideology and often getting out of this web of fears is difficult.

You did not say whether you live in the west or in an Islamic country.
If you live in an Islamic country you have to be very careful. Don’t discuss religion with your friends. Muslims are not your friends. Your best friend can turn against you. Stay safe and keep your beliefs to yourself. When we have enough people who have secretly left Islam we can bring the change suddenly.

Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/articles/apostates/i-need-your-help/


IHS

Pakistan Ranks No.1 in Porn Search

Pakistan, the so-called “Land of Pure” openly degrades the western culture and takes pride in preserving modesty. The country also has banned about 17 anti-Islamic websites.

Yet, Google has revealed that Pakistan tops in certain word search, such as “Horse Sex”, “Donkey Sex”, “Rape Picture”, “Rape Sex”, “Animal Sex”, “Camel Sex” and “Dog Sex”.

Following the tradition of Prophet Mohammed, Pakistan also tops in searching, “Child Sex”.

Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/features/news/pakistan-ranks-no-1-in-porn-search/

IHS

A Terrorist by Any Other Name . . . Still Kills

Reposting

Westerners can’t conceive of a “religion” that demands mass murder of non-believers as a foundational pillar, so we tend to deny its reality.
FSM Contributing Editor Susan MacAllen points to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s counterintuitive reaction to the failed car bombings as an example of cognitive dissonance in the extreme.

A Terrorist by Any Other Name . . . Still Kills
By Susan MacAllen

Cognitive Dissonance: Those who remember their Psychology 101 will recognize this term as the widely accepted theory describing the discomfort we feel when what we already know doesn’t agree with what we then learn to be true. Each of us has had those moments: you think you understand a situation and you are feeling confident when suddenly a different reality hits you in the face. It’s what we feel when a child behaves in a way contrary to that which we so carefully taught; it’s what we feel when we learn that a spouse has cheated, or a trusted friend has betrayed us; it’s what happens when the idea we had about the way our world works is confronted with a new reality. It’s what many felt on that reality-shattering September 11.

The theory of Cognitive Dissonance says that when we are confronted with the uncomfortable tension between former belief and new reality, we as individuals tend simply to adjust our beliefs to accommodate the new factswe don’t bother much with the actual reality. Unfortunately, in order to alleviate the tension we tend not to change our behavior, but to change our belief about the situation.
We humans are a crazy bunch – we simply create a new reality.

Last week’s thwarted terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow provide a disturbing glimpse at the usual human reaction to cognitive dissonance, and that to which many Western diplomats will resort to preserve a pleasant little lie and avoid an uncomfortable truth.

Those living in Great Britain were relieved when the new British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, responded to the attacks with firm resolve. His people, he seemed to say, would not be moved. They would be vigilant, and alert for the dark forces at work in their society who wished to destroy their way of life. And the people breathed a sigh of relief – this new PM seemed to have the backbone required to face realistically the future struggle with radical Islamist elements that had developed over past decades – and which many believe England to be a target as a direct result of her too-liberal immigration policies.

So it is no surprise that many inside and outside the British government were more than a bit disturbed when a few days later, Prime Minister Brown seemed to take a few steps back from his resolve, when he began to speak of his government needing to make greater effort to “win the hearts and minds of Muslims”, and word leaked through reliable press that he had cautioned his ministers to watch their language: apparently, they were not to use “inflammatory” language when speaking of the two bomb-wired vehicles ready to kill hundreds in a conflagration in London, or the fiery Jeep crashing into the Glasgow airport, loaded with explosives.

It almost makes sense when one considers that a “classified” EU document had been sent out by the EU to all European member governments, cautioning them that inflammatory language would stir unwelcome sentiment.
Therefore, the EU offered a list of words it called a “common lexicon” to use when describing terrorist events – a banal list of words deemed “non-emotive”. The list also included normally descriptive words not to be used – such as “Jihad”, “Islamic” and “fundamentalist”. Thank goodness for politicians like Gerard Batten of the Independence Party, who is demanding that the full list be published, so that the British public fully can appreciate how the EU – from its seat afar in Brussels – is dictating to them how they should speak English. Or like Denis MacShane of the Labour Party, who responded that “Islamist” is an accurate description of the ideology behind the attacks, and needs to be used.

So…if we don’t call the spade a spade, it magically can be…what…a spoon? All the semantic molding in the world won’t erase the fact that witnesses to the Jeep crash saw one of the passengers get out, light himself on fire and scream in Arabic, “Allah! Allah!”, over and over again. Inflammatory in itself, how is this not related – indeed central to – Islam, Jihad, and fundamentalism?

Maybe it’s a little cognitive dissonance. We as a Western society believe all that is “religious” in origin must ultimately be core to what we view as a religious ethic: peace, equality, non-violence. We cannot believe that there is a religious ideology that consciously and actively embraces violence against non-believers, and is so committed to the inequality of religions that it would want to replace established governments with only Islamic law. We simply can’t conceive of such a belief system as a “religion”, so we invent a new reality – a reality with no evidence of truth or even common sense.

It goes like this:

- Islam is really a peaceful religion. (It MUST be, after all…because it IS a religion, right?)
- Only a handful of Muslims believe in the radical ideal. (This idea collided with some recent public polls in Europe and the U.S. that demonstrate far too many Muslims agree with radical ideology – establishment of Sharia Law in the West, the attack on 9-11 was a Zionist/Bush conspiracy, etc. Oops! More dissonance!)
- Terrorism rises from Western colonialism (forget that Muslim violent ideology and its pillaging, torturing and subjugation existed before there even was a West).

And so on.  You get the picture. Here is one of my favorites: suicide bombers are people who struggle in poverty and misery, and from this economic deprivation and political hopelessness comes their anger. I, like many who study the phenomenon of radical Islam, was not surprised to learn that the planners and instigators of the attacks in Britain were all doctors or in the medical field, but I would imagine the general public experienced a little cognitive dissonance. These most recent London bombers are educated, privileged, and driven by the same insane ideology that drives their brothers to blow up soldiers in Iraq, or nightclubs in Israel, or subways in London, or skyscrapers in New York: a terrorist by any other name or profession still kills innocent people.

We are standing on the brink of an earthquake – a shaking of Western civilization and a test of its endurance and commitment to its ideals. But we also stand witness to a shaking of the very foundations of Islam. The war is not only between Islam and non-believers, it is within Islam itself.  It is between those who want to live by its centuries-old ethics and those who want to live peacefully in the modern world, and embrace some of the values of modern mankind.
And yes, it was Judeo-Christian thought that shaped those values. I have no doubt that there are Muslims who wish for peace, who accept non-belief as valid, who understand equality between the sexes, the value of a child’s life, and the meaning of individual freedom. But frankly, I don’t know if they know what to do with the quagmire that Islam has become.  It is what it is – a “faith” that is more a political ideology; a path that teaches submission to the state of Islam, not individual freedom; a “religion” whose founder spent the last part of his life as a crazed killer. No one can presume to guess whether these things can in fact be resolved – whether Islam’s practitioners can find a way that moderation works within a fundamentally non-flexible ideology. I pray for the sake of good people caught up in Islam, who dare to hope and search for a better path without abandoning their traditions, that it is possible.

But meanwhile, we in the West need to call Islamist ideology for what it is. We need to look at ourselves, and think about how we refuse to confront that which is before our eyes; how we make excuses for the ugliness which we cannot comprehend, rather than to examine it; how we avoid looking at that which shakes our comfortable notions of the world and its peoples. We need to be conscious of how we would rather declare that it isn’t real, than to be forced to deal with its hideous qualities and existential threat to our security.
If we do not, we are failing ourselves and our children’s future. We need to dare to see evil and dare to speak its name. Its name, Mr. Brown, is ISLAM.

http://www.faithfreedom.org/articles/jihad-articles/a-terrorist-by-any-other-name-still-kills/

IHS

Understanding Muslims’ Mindset ‎

Diffusing the present dangerous confrontation between Islam and the West demands rational impartial and cool heads to untangle facts from myth, understand the Muslims’ mindset, and redress any grievances on either side.

The Muslims’ perennial complaint is that the imperialist West—all colonial powers of the past, as well as the United States of America—have victimized them for decades and even centuries and continue to do so in every conceivable way. The litany of the alleged wrongdoings by the West is encyclopedic. To begin with, the West has shown utter contempt for the legitimate rights of the Muslim nation by arbitrarily dividing much of the Islamic land into fractured entities, plundering its resources, and topping these crimes by installing in its midst its illegitimate stepchild of Israel—a huge thorn in their side, so they complain. “A grain of truth is needed to make a mountain of lies believable,” is an old saw. In fairness to Muslims, there is some substance to their claims against the West. For now, let us focus on the general mindset of Muslims which bears heavily on the hostility toward the West—a serious hostility that may bring about the dreaded Armageddon.

* Patriarchy and authoritarianism:
The Muslim’s mind is imprinted with authoritarianism which starts with the supreme authority, Allah, through his one and only prophet, Muhammad, his Caliphs or Imams, and the high-ranking religious divines all the way down to the village clergy. This authoritarian mentality encompasses all aspects of life for the Muslim. The king and his dominion as the viceroy of God, the Emir and his despotic ways, the Khan and his unchallenged rule over the tribe, the village headsman and his extensive power, and finally the father and his iron grip at home over the women and children. All these authority figures are male.

The authoritarian type poses numerous problems and presents many ramifications—ramifications much too important and complex to be comprehensively treated here. For now, it is important to understand that a person with the authoritarian personality is an extremist. He can be docility itself under certain circumstances and a maniacal murdering brute under others. He is the type who would just as happily kill or die, when he is directed to do so. He would, for instance, gladly strap on an explosive vest, in obedience to a superior’s order, and detonate it in a crowd of innocent civilians without the slightest hesitation.

* Blind obedience: A dangerous feature of the authoritarian personality is the relative lack of independent thinking. This deficiency makes the person highly amenable to manipulation. Islam, by its rigidly authoritarian make up, robs a Muslim of independent thinking to the extent that the believer blindly adopts it as his infallible system of belief. Hence, the religion of Islam is guilty of conditioning masses of people as easily manipulatable instruments in the hands of authority figures.

Studies have shown that the authoritarian personality type can be found among all people, including Americans. The important difference is in the degree and prevalence of the condition. Islam breeds vast numbers of extremists, while in America, for instance, the prevalence is significantly lower and less severe.

* Focus on goal: To Muslims, the goal is everything. As religious fascism, Islam condones any and all means to achieve its goals. The ultimate objective of Islam is the rule of the entire world under the Islamic Ummah—never mind that these life-in-hand soldiers of Allah disagree with one another regardi1ng the Ummah itself and who is going to reign over it. That’s a “family dispute” that they will resolve by their usual favorite method—brute force. Each Islamic sect believes that it has the Prophet and Allah on its side and it will prevail over the other. For now they have to work diligently to achieve the intermediary goal of defeating all non-believers. There are countless instances that substantiate Muslims’ “End justifies the means” guiding principle. This policy dates back to Muhammad himself. Muhammad repeatedly made peace covenants with his adversaries, only to violate them as soon as he was in advantageous position to do so. Betrayal, deception and outright lies are fully condoned in furthering the work of Islam. In the present-day world, the work of Islam is defined by a deeply-entrenched and influential clergy who issue fatwa—rulings—that become directives and laws to the faithful.

Khomeini, the founder of the Iranian Islamic state, for one, made extensive use of the fatwa. Widely-known in the west is Khomeini’s fatwa condemning Selman Rushdie to death for his book. A less known fatwa of Khomeini during the last Iran-Iraq war led to the slaughter of thousands of Iranian children. Children, nearly all under 15 years of age, were given plastic keys to paradise as they were commanded by the fatwa of the imam to rush forward to clear minefields for the tanks to follow. The Islamic murderers, in obedience to the fatwa of a bloodthirsty man of Allah, had no problem in deceiving the clueless lads clinching made – in – China plastic keys to paradise.

Such is the existentialistic threat of Islam. It is a rigid stone-age authoritarian system with a stranglehold over many of the nearly one and a half billion people under its command.

* Fatalism: One of the greatest subtle, yet important differences between the Muslim’s mindset and that of the people in the West is the extent to which Muslims are fatalistic.
There is hardly a statement that a Muslim makes without being conditional—conditional on the will of Allah. “I shall see you tomorrow, Allah willing,” “You will make it home, Allah willing,” “Things will work out, Allah willing,” and on and on and on. To the Muslim, Allah is on the job—on every job. Allah, with his invisible mighty hand, literally does and runs everything. “Allah’s hand is above all other hands,” adorns every imaginable space in Islamic lands—a telling point about the Muslim’s fatalism and submission to the omnipotent omnipresent hand. If something happens, it is Allah’s will. If it doesn’t, it is Allah’s will. The rank and file Muslim has little will of his own. It absolves him of any and all responsibility. This mentality is in stark contrast with the “take charge” and “can do” mentality characteristic of Americans and others.

* Psychological uniqueness: People as a group or as individuals are different and none is perfectly healthy psychologically. We all have a loose wheel or two as we travel the bumpy road of life. Yet, most people manage to stay on course most of the time, with perhaps a stop or two at a repair shop of a mental health professional.

Most psychological disorders are exaggerations, deficits or surfeits of the generally accepted norm—whatever the norm may be. When caution, for instance, is practiced past suspicion, then we have paranoia; when reasonable fear is exercised beyond any justification, then there is phobia. The degree and severity of a condition frequently determine the presence or absence of psychopathology.

Muslims share a common Islamic psychological milieu, they are on an Islamic “diet,” whether they live in Islamic lands or in societies predominantly non-Islamic. The psychological condition of any Muslim group or individual is directly dependent on the kind and amount of Islamic diet they consume. The Islamic diet has numerous ingredients—some of which are wholesome, some are dangerously toxic, and some are between the two extremes.

Over the years, the Islamic leaders have found it expedient to feed the masses mainly the toxic ingredients to further their own interests. Individuals and groups, for instance, have used the immense energizing power of hatred to rally the faithful; the cohesive force of polarization to create in-group solidarity; and, the great utility value of blaming others for their real and perceived misfortunes. Jews have been their favorite and handy scapegoats from day one. To this day, as true fascists, like the Nazis, Muslims blame just about everything on the Jews.

Providing a comprehensive inventory of the psychological profile of the Muslims is beyond the scope of this article. Yet, there is no question that the psychological makeup of a Muslim, depending on the extent of his Muslim-ness, is different from that of non-Muslims. This difference, often irreconcilable as things stand presently, is at the core of the clash of Islam with the West.

* Conclusion. Admittedly, the non-Islamic culture is no panacea. It has, however, one outstanding feature the Islamic lacks—it allows for liberty with all its attendants— good, bad, or indifferent. Those who have experienced liberty, no inducement is likely to make them give it up—particularly not the fictional promises of the Islamists that have failed in the past and are doomed to fail even more miserably in the future.

The best, yet difficult resolution of the conflict is to do what hundreds of thousands of Muslims have already done. They have abandoned the slaveholder Islam: they broke loose from the yoke of the exploitative clergy, renounced Islamofascisim, purged the discriminatory and bizarre teachings in the Quran and the Hadith, and left the suffocating tent of dogmatic Islam for the life-giving expanse of liberty.

Within the emancipating and accommodating haven of liberty, those who wish to remain Muslim can retain and practice the good teachings of Islam but renounce intolerance, hatred and violence. It takes great effort and courage to ascend from the degrading pit of slavery to the mount of emancipation. Yet, it is both possible and exhilarating to do it, since many have done so successfully and happily. As more and more people leave the shackles of religious slavery, more and more will follow, and the long-suffering Muslims, victimized by Islam itself for far too long, will be a free people in charge of their own life and destiny. It is a painful process of growing up, of asserting one’s coming of age, and marching lockstep with the free members of the human race.

Slavery of the mind is as evil as the slavery of the body. Islamofascisim enslaves them both.

Source: http://www.faithfreedom.org/articles/op-ed/13186


IHS