Muslims vs. Islamists Hurriyet Daily News EXCERPT
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Soner Çağaptay
I am thankful to Mr. Umaru Abdul Mutallab, the father of the failed Christmas day bomber. In late 2009, Mr. Abdul Mutallab, a Muslim, approached U.S. authorities in his native Nigeria to warn them of his sons slide into Islamist ideology. Mr. Abdul Mutallabs altruistic initiative is a case in point about the conflict between Muslims and Islamists.
While Islam is the faith of 1.4 billion people, Islamism is not a form of the Muslim faith or an expression of Muslim piety. Rather, it is a political ideology that strives to derive legitimacy from Islam. Islam and Islamism are not synonymous, and there is even a tension between the two, exemplified by the case of this Nigerian Muslim father turning in his Islamist son to the authorities.
So if Islam is a faith, then what is Islamism? It can be best described as an anti- ideology, in the sense that it defines itself only in opposition to things. That is, Islamism stands not for but against.
For starters, Islamism is anti-Semitic in promoting the view that Jews are evil. Because Jews live in Israel, it is also anti-Israeli, and it is also anti-American due to its distorted view of Jews role in the United States. Jews are evil, they run America, therefore America is evil this is the mantra of Islamist thinking.
Islamism is also anti-Christian, having a perverted view of the religion as well. And since Jews and Christians live in the West, many Islamists are anti-Western. They likewise oppose liberal democracy and secularism, as these institutions originated in the West.
What is more, Islamists tend to be anti-capitalist because now you follow the logic capitalism originates from the West. Many also believe that Jews invented capitalism and therefore see capitalism as doubly evil. When they make money, however, Islamists often soften their negative attitude toward capitalism, anti-capitalism being ever the corruptible link in the Islamists anti- ideology.
Paradoxically, Islamists also consider communism evil the Jews invented that as well. That Karl Marx, who had Jewish grandparents, was raised a secular Protestant is irrelevant to Islamist zealots who find evil Jews everywhere. Islamists see Jewishness in all things they dislike politically. Take, for instance, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who had no Jewish heritage. Many Islamists, who cannot imagine a genuine Muslim who shares Western values, will tell you he is a crypto-Jew.
Islamism is therefore not about the Islamic faith. Rather, it is a dystopian ideology that distorts religion and reality to fit its anti- platform. In fall 2009, in a recent case demonstrating this pattern, Turkish Islamists attended the funeral of Caliph Ertuğrul Osman, the descendant of Westernizing Ottoman sultans, lamenting the caliphate as the anti-Western institution par excellence.
END EXCERPT
Thank Carol, she linked to this. It needed to have it's own thread.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Soner Çağaptay
I am thankful to Mr. Umaru Abdul Mutallab, the father of the failed Christmas day bomber. In late 2009, Mr. Abdul Mutallab, a Muslim, approached U.S. authorities in his native Nigeria to warn them of his sons slide into Islamist ideology. Mr. Abdul Mutallabs altruistic initiative is a case in point about the conflict between Muslims and Islamists.
While Islam is the faith of 1.4 billion people, Islamism is not a form of the Muslim faith or an expression of Muslim piety. Rather, it is a political ideology that strives to derive legitimacy from Islam. Islam and Islamism are not synonymous, and there is even a tension between the two, exemplified by the case of this Nigerian Muslim father turning in his Islamist son to the authorities.
So if Islam is a faith, then what is Islamism? It can be best described as an anti- ideology, in the sense that it defines itself only in opposition to things. That is, Islamism stands not for but against.
For starters, Islamism is anti-Semitic in promoting the view that Jews are evil. Because Jews live in Israel, it is also anti-Israeli, and it is also anti-American due to its distorted view of Jews role in the United States. Jews are evil, they run America, therefore America is evil this is the mantra of Islamist thinking.
Islamism is also anti-Christian, having a perverted view of the religion as well. And since Jews and Christians live in the West, many Islamists are anti-Western. They likewise oppose liberal democracy and secularism, as these institutions originated in the West.
What is more, Islamists tend to be anti-capitalist because now you follow the logic capitalism originates from the West. Many also believe that Jews invented capitalism and therefore see capitalism as doubly evil. When they make money, however, Islamists often soften their negative attitude toward capitalism, anti-capitalism being ever the corruptible link in the Islamists anti- ideology.
Paradoxically, Islamists also consider communism evil the Jews invented that as well. That Karl Marx, who had Jewish grandparents, was raised a secular Protestant is irrelevant to Islamist zealots who find evil Jews everywhere. Islamists see Jewishness in all things they dislike politically. Take, for instance, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who had no Jewish heritage. Many Islamists, who cannot imagine a genuine Muslim who shares Western values, will tell you he is a crypto-Jew.
Islamism is therefore not about the Islamic faith. Rather, it is a dystopian ideology that distorts religion and reality to fit its anti- platform. In fall 2009, in a recent case demonstrating this pattern, Turkish Islamists attended the funeral of Caliph Ertuğrul Osman, the descendant of Westernizing Ottoman sultans, lamenting the caliphate as the anti-Western institution par excellence.
END EXCERPT
Thank Carol, she linked to this. It needed to have it's own thread.
