Several political leaders around the world have said that Islam has nothing to do with Islamism. But how can this be so, when those who believe it literarily, are the most extreme ones? If Islam was a religion of peace, wouldn’t it make a Gandhi of the strongest believer?
Several political leaders around the world have said that: Islam has nothing to do with Islamism. It is noteworthy to mention that these politicians are: Barak Obama, The President of France, and Helle Thorning Schmidt, the former Prime Minister of my country, Denmark. How do they know Islam has nothing to do with Islamism? If you look at what it actually says in The Quran, you do not need to flip many pages until you find passages that call for murder upon the non-believers. So what does Islam have to do with terrorism?
Well, if you listen the actual statements of the terrorists, “Allahu Akhbar”, there is not much doubt as to why they are doing what they are doing. They are doing what they are doing, because it is written in their scripture – that there is a celestial reward to be harvested for those who kill the infidels (the Quran is pretty guaranteed on this).
Even if you fail in killing the infidel (e.g. if you are killed by the infidel), you will still be rewarded an eternal life in heaven. So, basically, it is a win/win situation. How do you compete against this? Or even worse, how is the problem of Islamism to be addressed, when politicians are turning a blind eye to the connection between Islam and Islamism?
Of course, I can understand that it would not be reasonable politically to link Islam with Islamism – or even to say that Islamism is an inherent part of Islam that is violently practiced by some Muslims. This would, undoubtedly, offend many Muslims and hence exclude many voters. Or perhaps, as a worst-case scenario, it would be political suicide.
But where is the integrity in telling people that Islam has nothing to do with Islamism? How are we going to solve the problems of Islamism, if we do not dare criticize Islam overall? Bad ideas have to be criticized, and there certainly are some bad ideas in Islam.
Second of all, there are those who say that Islam is “a religion of peace”. But how can that be so, when those who “offend” it are consequently put under police protection against certain groups of Islamists? If Islam is a religion of peace, how come those who practice it literally, are the most violent and dangerous ones? If Islam was good in its core, wouldn’t it make a Gandhi of the strongest believer?
Ahmed Akkari (a former imam) now lives in Greenland (not far away from where I live). He is known for having propagated the news of The Muhammed Cartoons (printed in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, 2005) to the Muslim world (Muslims were enraged, Danish embassies were under attack, (Danish) flags were burned and people were murdered). As he excused what he had done during the Muhammed crisis, he made enemies amongst his former fellow Muslims: He can no longer visit his family in Lebanon (since there are militant groups there). He can’t go to Denmark (which is supposed to be a secular country) without police protection. Hence he now lives in Greenland, the only place in which he is spared the threats of Islamism.
But I am really just scratching the surface here: It seems, as I said before, that everybody who does a good enough job of criticizing Islam, is automatically put under a life endangering threat that involves police protection. A Danish-Palestinian poet, Yahya Hassan, having “offended” Islam in his poems cannot make a public appearance without being a safety hazard to himself and those around him (is this happening in Denmark or in the Middle east?).
Why are the politicians so blind to see the obvious connection between Islam and Islamism? Do they not see that their conservatism comes at a great cost? If we dare not criticize the bad ideas of Islam (and there are, as I said before, certainly some), how are we to foster a reform from within that will give room for secular values, such as democracy and freedom to speak ones mind? How are we to change anything at all, if we only dare to point out specific terrorists (when something has happened or is about to happen) and not the problems with Islam overall?