Despising the Western apologists for the Islamic world’s self-imposed problems
Sharia societies are inferior in art, science, innovation, business and the standard of living of their peoples — not to mention their appalling lack of humor about these matters. They really do not have too much to offer in these areas, and the foundational cause is their bizarre idea that a seventh century book, properly interpreted, is a sufficient guide to not only spiritual, but worldly and governmental affairs.
We have catalogued just a tiny few of the problems of sharia in the Islamic world; take your pick:
– the Arab world, minus oil, has a combined lower GDP than tiny Finland
– Utah had more patents last year than the Islamic world in all of recorded history
– with a couple of exceptions, human portraiture and statuary do not exist in the Islamic world
– metaphors that art and science give us about the possibilities of life are missing from sharia societies
– sharia law on apostasy amounts to psychological torture
Today we happen to be particularly struck by the the world of Islamic banking. Sharia forbids banks to charge interest, but the world runs on leverage. Instead of interpreting such a ridiculous and impractical prohibition in metaphorical terms, we note that the Islamic world chooses to create odd financial devices (sukkuk) and engage in convoluted, and truly sad, debates, about how to get around the problem while passing muster with sharia law courts. This is a perfect miniature of why a modern country and sharia are incompatible.
But that is not our point this morning. Countries can organize themselves as they like, and people can choose paths that lead non-stop to poverty if they feel it gives them a leg up in the spiritual world. Indeed, we have no problem with people who think their strange and antiquated ways should govern the entire world, as long as they confine themselves to arguing for that point of view, and skip the jihad bit [if there's not a metaphorical way around something trivial like paying interest, why do you expect one regarding something important like jihad? We don't -- ed.]
What really bugs us are those in the West who seek to downplay the real and dramatic differences between sharia societies and ourselves. Sharia adherents are all about religion, they want to refer everything back to sacred texts, fine — just don’t pretend that they don’t. And it is the elites of the West who do this constantly, the professors, the great institutions, the MSM potentates, and so forth. Don’t tell us that the destruction of the ancient Buddhas in Afghanistan had nothing to do with religion, don’t tell falsehoods about their laws on art, don’t misrepresent the Islamic world’s terrible record in invention and innovation, don’t show us your fear and tell us it is sensitivity.
It’s funny, isn’t it? We think sharia societies are dreadful and inferior, and they feel the same way about us. Fair enough. But what we have in common is that we both can despise the weaklings who would rather cower than honestly disagree.
March 14th, 2006 at 5:33 pm
There are those who are materially poor and spiritually rich, but I do not see either kind of wealth in the Islamic world. They are spiritually wretched as they are materially and they will never see it.
March 16th, 2006 at 11:49 am
Brilliant, as usual.
March 19th, 2006 at 10:36 am
” Up to 200,000 Algerians have died in a 15-year Islamic insurgency, the head of the government human rights body said Saturday - the highest official toll ever given “.
Where is the MSM reporting on these numbers?
I gatherthat it is not significant given that they were not killed by Jews or Christians or Hindus but by the practitioners of THE RELIGION OF PEACE.
By theway what exactly is an”islamist insurgency” and why did it start? Did someone draw a cartoon of mohamad with a missile coming out of his left nostril?
The term “islamist insurgency” is as useless as “undocumented workers”
Nabil Shwarma