Hi Guys,
During the twentieth century with the fall of the Ottoman Empire and then the end of Colonialism, most of the Middle-Eastern and historically Islamic Asian nations (Pakistan and Indonesia in particular) went through an Islamic revival that is still ongoing. This applies to both Shia and Sunni Islam, with the strength of the Shia revival being seen, for instance, in the Islamic revolution of 1979 that overthrew the Shah and established Iran as a specifically Shi'ite Islamic state. While there are indeed various brands of this revivalist fervor, all of them are essentially committed to achieving the same objectives commanded in the Quran and spelled out by pan-Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood (Al-Ikhwan). Here for instance, is the overall plan of the Muslim brotherhood, which could easily be applied to almost every major Islamist organization on earth (indeed many have simply adopted this one) which is available online at
http://www.ummah.org.uk/ikhwan/:"1- Building the Muslim individual: brother or sister with a strong body, high manners, cultured thought, ability to earn, strong faith, correct worship, conscious of time, of benefit to others, organized, and self-struggling character
2- Building the Muslim family: choosing a good wife (husband), educating children Islamicaly, and inviting other families.
3- Building the Muslim society (through building individuals and families) and addressing the problems of the society realistically.
4- Building the Muslim state.
5- Building the Khilafa (basically a shape of unity between the Islamic states).
6- Mastering the world with Islam."Items 4 through 6 essentially work out this way: first the nations of the Dar-Al-Islam are purged of non-Islamic elements and an Islamic revolution brings in a new government founded on Sharia. This for instance was the objective of the Taliban, an Islamic movement that transcended the historic tribalism of the area. Then once the nations of the Dar-Al-Islam have become thoroughly Islamic theocracies, they are banded together to form the Khalifa and theoretically unified under one ruler who inherits the mantle of the prophet, this is "the Caliph." Then under his leadership the new unified Ummah completes the Jihad by subduing the world under Islam (stage 6). This is essentially the same plan mapped out in the Quran and initiated by the prophet himself, so arguing against it is going to be fruitless.
So how does one dismantle the above plan assuming of course that no matter what our differences are we are all agreed that step 6 is not something we wish to see realized?
Well, to date, Western foriegn policy has been aimed at preventing the accomplishment of stage 4 by encouraging, supporting, defending and when necessary, establishing governments sympathetic to the West and her ideals. This methodology however is proving unsustainable in the long term, and is totally ineffective when it comes to preventing direct action by terror-cells bent on moving on to step 6 before 4 and 5 are fully achieved (this is actually an ongoing argument amongst Islamic direct action groups - work towards 4,5,6 all at once or take each step one at a time.)
I would argue that the place to concentrate is actually steps 1-3. Work to prevent the ideology from taking hold and encourage the development of a different one entirely. This, however, the west is increasingly unwilling to do for obvious reasons, even the idea of saying we can't co-exist with consistent Islam even when they themselves say the same thing is abhorent to us. In our current worldview thinking somehow even militant fascists and militant communists should be able to live together side by side in peace and harmony and love and granola.
Simply put, the Muslim brotherhood and the Pan-Islamic vision is for Muslims only, so even if you are appalled at the idea of Christian missions, think of it this way - every Muslim who becomes a Tibetan Buddhist is one less potential recruit for Al-Qaeda and one more individual whose throat they are duty-bound to slit. But if everyone becomes a Kufr (apostate) in their society, then no one is left to slit throats. Our concentration needs to be on changing the hearts and minds of the Umma and discouraging the spread of the ideology in Europe. Merely advancing "liberal" Islam won't work in the long run, if only because it has no traction amongst the common people, and because even the children of the liberal intelligentsia end up actually reading the Quran and discovering, "Hey, Mom and Dad haven't really been practicing what the prophet taught" and then going off and to learn what Islam really teaches. It isn't that Al-Zarqawi or Khamenei don't understand Islam (incidentally the disagreement between Shia and Sunni is more historical/hierarchial rather than being entirely theological), their understanding of it is actually quite developed and in their own right they are quite adept exegetes and communicators, they understand the ideology very well, but we in the West simply cannot co-exist with their implementation of it.
- SEAGOON
