UPDATE: a former Hezbollah fighter who’s proud to be called a terrorist advised the Midland Police to ban Israelis from a football match, and he seeks to ban Israel from sport globally
Very interesting piece, and hard to disagree with much of the analysis. Suppose there were a 'path out' for this more paranoid and reactionary mode of Islam, though? What would that potentially look like? Is the faith, in other words - or this particularly aggressive and politically activist version of it, at least - just condemned to be at odds with our modern norms? And, if not, what kind of organic intellectual and interpretive work could/needs to be achieved to leaven the hard edge? This also presuming that a great number of committed Muslims will not simply be persuaded out of their deeply felt faith convictions. I have some tentative thoughts, myself, but will hold them at bay for now.
I believed it at one time. October 7, 2023 changed that for me. I honestly don’t know. I don’t think there’s such a thing as moderate Islam, that’s a lie westerners tell themselves. When I was in the Muslim community for a brief time I saw lots of Jew hate, and reasonable people losing their sh1t about Israel, I saw Holocaust denial, I saw so much hostility and hatred to Judeo Christian ethics and culture, and I saw no rebuke of any Islamist terror or the regimes governed by it. I was shocked by the hate and then 7/10 happened and the veil fell completely.
People must want to change. Do they? I don’t see it. That’s very sad. And all I can do is pray for those hearts to soften.
Right. I wouldn't deny the claims outright and - ever since 9/11, for certain - there's been this long, extended meta-discourse going on about Islamic faith reform and so on. My sense is that, as long as the most hermeneutically 'thin' versions of the faith are still getting the lion's share of international patronage and support (which is to say, the reductive Salafist variety that is official dogma and orthodoxy in Saudia Arabia), would-be reformists and moderates within the faith, plus their outside supporters, are yet swimming upstream. Notwithstanding as much, there are perhaps some slightly wonky and technical reasons to believe that the sociopathy and pernicious effects of Wahhabism could be eroded at the margins and over time. And by hypothesis, at least. It would be epic lift, instrumentally, but I am not sure what the alternative is either - honestly - if the status quo is (likewise) not considered acceptable.
Thank you, Rukhsana. Stuart's made some interesting observations in the past, as well, about how the U.S. and Canada's continued and shared interest in petroleum development and wealth - which is mirrored by Saudi and a number of Persian Gulf states - complicates the dis-entanglement of this Islamic extremism problem from its real and enduring material support. So, that's not merely to sit here and 'admire' the puzzle, but rather to just show up how truly persistent and urgent it is. And my personal judgment is that we have all have to do more mutual work in meta-ethics (which Stuart's intellectual project and classes, incidentally, handsomely enable) to at least clarify some of the stakes, and allow the contradictions and tensions to be shown in clear day. It won't be everyone's work, for sure, but at least those among us that give these matters serious attention and professional focus. It seems almost like some sort of moral or ethical duty, in my opinion.
Very interesting piece, and hard to disagree with much of the analysis. Suppose there were a 'path out' for this more paranoid and reactionary mode of Islam, though? What would that potentially look like? Is the faith, in other words - or this particularly aggressive and politically activist version of it, at least - just condemned to be at odds with our modern norms? And, if not, what kind of organic intellectual and interpretive work could/needs to be achieved to leaven the hard edge? This also presuming that a great number of committed Muslims will not simply be persuaded out of their deeply felt faith convictions. I have some tentative thoughts, myself, but will hold them at bay for now.
I believed it at one time. October 7, 2023 changed that for me. I honestly don’t know. I don’t think there’s such a thing as moderate Islam, that’s a lie westerners tell themselves. When I was in the Muslim community for a brief time I saw lots of Jew hate, and reasonable people losing their sh1t about Israel, I saw Holocaust denial, I saw so much hostility and hatred to Judeo Christian ethics and culture, and I saw no rebuke of any Islamist terror or the regimes governed by it. I was shocked by the hate and then 7/10 happened and the veil fell completely.
People must want to change. Do they? I don’t see it. That’s very sad. And all I can do is pray for those hearts to soften.
Right. I wouldn't deny the claims outright and - ever since 9/11, for certain - there's been this long, extended meta-discourse going on about Islamic faith reform and so on. My sense is that, as long as the most hermeneutically 'thin' versions of the faith are still getting the lion's share of international patronage and support (which is to say, the reductive Salafist variety that is official dogma and orthodoxy in Saudia Arabia), would-be reformists and moderates within the faith, plus their outside supporters, are yet swimming upstream. Notwithstanding as much, there are perhaps some slightly wonky and technical reasons to believe that the sociopathy and pernicious effects of Wahhabism could be eroded at the margins and over time. And by hypothesis, at least. It would be epic lift, instrumentally, but I am not sure what the alternative is either - honestly - if the status quo is (likewise) not considered acceptable.
That’s a sound and fair assessment.
Thank you, Rukhsana. Stuart's made some interesting observations in the past, as well, about how the U.S. and Canada's continued and shared interest in petroleum development and wealth - which is mirrored by Saudi and a number of Persian Gulf states - complicates the dis-entanglement of this Islamic extremism problem from its real and enduring material support. So, that's not merely to sit here and 'admire' the puzzle, but rather to just show up how truly persistent and urgent it is. And my personal judgment is that we have all have to do more mutual work in meta-ethics (which Stuart's intellectual project and classes, incidentally, handsomely enable) to at least clarify some of the stakes, and allow the contradictions and tensions to be shown in clear day. It won't be everyone's work, for sure, but at least those among us that give these matters serious attention and professional focus. It seems almost like some sort of moral or ethical duty, in my opinion.