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What is the root cause of Islamic terrorism?
Is it poverty?
Is it government policy which is causing the terrorism?
Does the root cause lie within Islam itself, as found in the Quran, Hadith and Early biographies about Mohammed? (If a contract is good you can look closely at the details and it will turn out to be ok. If the Quran, Hadith and early biographies about Mohammed only encourage that which is good then the details within those texts will be good. As we say in English, "the Devil is in the detail." If there is an inherent flaw within Islam which makes it particularly susceptible to encouraging terrorism it will be in the details. The message? Take a closer look.)
Some say the cause of Islamic terrorism was the Crusades which ended over 700 years ago. (But that explanation raises other questions. Why is there no forgiveness? And how does one explain what happened before the Crusades?)
No matter what the cause is, Muslims and non-Muslims are suffering because of it.
Are you a Muslim who is angry that some are using the Quran and Hadith to justify terrorism? (I have some Muslim friends who would fit into this category.)
If you are truly disgusted by what the Islamists do and you wish to defeat their arguments then, in private, try this experiment in thought. Use the Quran and Hadith (and the earliest biography about Mohammed) to argue the case for Islamic terrorism as forcefully as you can, don't neglect any verses in the argument. (Why is this important? Islamists claim they are following the prophet Mohammed's example. Only when you argue the case for terrorism based on Mohammed's actions and words will you understand the Islamists position. This might help: Index to the Hadith. ) Once you have done this try and defeat those arguments using the same respected texts. If it is true that Islam is peace loving then you will be able to defeat the Islamists in argument and stop the young joining their cause. (If you think this is unfair, try the same experiment using the New Testament. If you are a young Muslim you might be afraid of being brain washed by the Islamists; if so start your investigation here and then investigate those claims.) It is very important that the Islamist's arguments be defeated; if they cannot be defeated in the manner outlined above the only other alternative in the war on terror is this.
There are some who believe such an exercise is a waste of time, isn't the real cause of Islamic terrorism big governments and big corporations?
Big governments are taking advantage of smaller and poorer countries. Big corporations are abusing people all over the world. But if this is happening to Muslims and non-Muslims why do the Muslims seem to respond so differently? (In places like
Take a look at the following list of terrorist attacks and see if you can identify one theme common to them all. www.thereligionofpeace.com (There are many in which I can see absolutely no relation to Israel, Iraq or Afghanistan.)
We would have to look closely at poverty, government policy and the texts that Islamic extremists are using to justify what they do before we can make an accurate assessment about what the major cause of Islamic terrorism is.
Unfortunately, many academics are not prepared to do this. They have made up their minds and that is all there is to it. They have met nice Muslims and have assumed that Islam must be peace loving. Before WWII many non-Germans had met movie stars and professors who were Nazi's and concluded that the Nazi ideology could not be a bad thing. After all, look at all the good things the Nazi's did for
It is important that we correctly identify the root cause of Islamic terrorism; a wrong diagnosis will not lead to a cure. If the root cause is not poverty we can throw all the money in the world at poverty and all we will do is create more places like
Obviously poverty and some policies are not helping the situation, but simply to believe policy change will stop the march of Islamic extremism is naive. The hot bed of Islamic extremist ideology is Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries in the world (See Saudi Venom in U.S. Mosques).
So if they want the Sharia so badly shouldn't we just let them have it? Isn't it their business what they do? This sounds good, but is it?
Every society should be judged by how minorities and those with dissenting views are treated. How then are non-Muslims treated under the Sharia? If they are not treated as equals then "letting them implement the law" is no different to letting a man abuse his wife. Calling it respect and understanding for another's culture is not kindness but cruelty and cowardice. (It is the victim who understands what a crime is not the criminal. "It is the woman who has been raped who understands what rape is, not the rapist." If he knew what rape was he wouldn't have done it. Would you want someone to speak up for you if you weren't treated as an equal under the law?)
The extremist believes that Allah will use him or her to help bring the whole world under Islamic law. The future of the west will be determined by how we respond to the victims of the Sharia; if we ignore their cries a time will come when we, moderate Muslims and non-Muslims, find ourselves under a Taliban style of rule (see under the Sharia).
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Thoughts
Sadly today, the west is so weak that most people don't have the courage to confront their own kids let alone terrorists. We lack the moral conviction to label something as wrong; after all people might not like us if we tell someone that what they are doing is wrong. In fact, in some circles calling something evil is regarded as a worse crime than actually doing something which is evil. It is time we called a spade a spade.
We need men who treat women, children and the elderly kindly; we need men who treat those with different beliefs kindly. But if that is all a man can do he is a fairy, he will be no use when violent men try to destroy us.
We need men who are able to crack skulls when necessary. But if that is all a man can do he is a brute who will himself destroy society.
We need men who are a combination of the two.
The west will only be saved if we recover the old virtue of chivalry. We need men who are kind and brave; men who can label things evil but treat those who do such things fairly without denying justice. If you are a woman and you are reading this you know in your heart that that is what you want a man to be. If you are a man you know that that is what you ought to be.
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