I've been reading this board for a while and thought I'd finally join and make a thread. I really don't know how this thread will be received, but here goes:
As a Somali living in the US, I feel conflicted. Although I have considerable affinity for my fellow Muslims, I belief that Islamic teachings are the root cause of atrocities like 9/11 or London 7/7/05. I'm not saying that all Muslims bare the blame--I'm saying Islam is what led to these events, and so long as we continue to avoid this reality we of the Islamic diaspora are putting ourselves in considerable danger.
Islam teaches--and calls for--the supremacy of Islam by any means. We recognize Jews and Christians as "people of the book" but Buddhists and Hindus and all the other religions of the world are to us beneath contempt, and if such people ever come under our power, we are quick to persecute them. Here is a conversation I had with a Muslim who is very close to me:
me: Islam teaches intolerance and hatred of different religions. It doesn't teach co-existance.
Muslim: That's not true! Islam treats Jews and Christians with respect!
me: What about Hindus?
Muslim: But that's different!
I swear I always think about this conversation. How is it different? Just because Judaism and Christianity influenced Islam we exempt them from the contempt with which we regard all other non-Abrahamic religions? Islam stridently divides the world into believers and non-believers--but Islam has a overwhelming supremacist element to it that is utterly troublesome for these non-believers. In Indonesia, Muslim extremists behead Christian school girls. This sort of barbarity--whether 9/11 or the murder of Christian school girls--doesn't seem to bother Muslims as much as some cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Shouldn't this be a cause of concern?
Islam retards progress by making secularism nearly impossible. In order for a country to economically, scientifically and culturally prosper in needs institutions that are secular--religious sentiment must be a personal issue and not a matter of the state. Islam demands Sharia--that is, the subjugation of all aspects of life under the rule of God. No one has the choice to opt out. What are the consequences for society? Poverty, ignorance, dictatorships--countries unable to provide for the common good and their people. Here is the terrible irony: Fanatical Muslims dream of overcoming the West but they never realize that strict adherence to Islam makes such a victory impossible. Okay, say you take on the West. What do you need? Technological supremacy. How is that achieved? By secular institutions--by the respect for science and progress. But as I said earlier the Islamic doctrine
makes such achievements impossible. So these fanatics are in a considerable bind--they want to "beat" the West and spread Islam but in order to so...they must become like the West! And that process of becoming like the West is surely guaranteed to lessen their extremism!
I am tired of being represented by these fanatics. Every time they commit terrorism and mention Allah and Jihad--we of the Islamic diaspora are closer to danger. Consider Europe. Muslims there and elsewhere hope to keep breeding and gain influence by their sheer numbers. But if these Muslims keep misbehaving, aren't the indigenous European populations at some point going to say "Enough" and expel those Muslims? Consider this rational: There is no way to tell a good muslim from a terrorist, so the only option is...kicking all Muslims out. It does have a terrible logic to it doesn't it? After all, various Arab countries expelled their Jewish populations because Israel was created...and those Jews clearly didn't present any sort of threat. Whose to say the West won't behave the same when Muslims--given the prevalence of extremism in the Islamic world and the fact that Muslims might...and already do... present a threat?
Thankfully I was never really religious--even in Somalia as a boy I simply went through the motions of prayer but, for whatever reason, my heart was never in it. But I remember the shame I felt on 9/11--the shame and the guilt, because I knew that Islam was responsible.
