« Acceptance of their intolerance - it's all part of radical Islam's plan | Main | New York Times Hypocrisy »
February 9, 2006
On Bedouin Islam: Influential Muslim Scholar - ''We must rage, and show our rage to the world'
Topics: Understanding IslamFirst, our main point in this post:
.. in the past few decades, if you look at all the sources of violence, they have all been touched by, or emerged from, Bedouin Islam. What I mean is that they have been touched by the Puritanism of Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab, (the 18th-century founder of Wahhabism). ...his ideas were married to Saudi resources, and therefore have become an enormous problem......is that what we are witnessing in the Muslim world today is irrational, uncivilized, Bedouin behavior which tends to see the world in terms of how everyone is out to get you unless they prove otherwise. It is childish, dangerous, and destructive, and we must come to understand it if we are to win the war against radical Islam, a war that must be fought by moderate Muslims and non-Muslims, together.This Bedouin mentality also contributes to the radical anti-rationalism (of the extremists). In all the violent movements today, we witness the idea that rationalism is the instrument of the Devil, and is fundamentally evil. You find that all (the leading terrorist ideologues) have been influenced by a black-and-white concept: that all people fall either into the category of good or the category of bad...
- Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl, "The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From The Extremists."
Now the post.
In our previous post we pointed to Miranda Devine's piece in the The Sydney Morning Herald, in which she wrote that civilised people don't usually make their "hurt felt" by torching other people's embassies, stoning churches and waving the sort of banners reported at a protest over the cartoons in London last week: "Massacre those who insult Islam", "Europe, your 9/11 will come."
With this in mind, it's very difficult to read what's coming out of the "mainstream" Muslim world and believe that the we in the West (which for the most part includes many truly moderate Muslims and virtually all non-Muslims, regardless of political orientation) are witnessing the acts of rational and civilizied human beings. Take for example, these excerpts from MEMRI:
(...) In a February 3, 2006 Friday sermon, Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, who is head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS), and the spiritual guide of many other Islamist organizations across the world (including the Muslim Brotherhood), exhorted worshippers to show rage to the world over the Danish paper Jylland Posten's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The sermon was aired on Qatar TV on February 3, 2006.Of course, this is language that is purposeful, it is intended to incite rage, and calls upon Muslims to think of themselves as Muslims first, irregardless of where they live - they are Muslims, not British, American, Irish, Danish, Norweigian, Finish, French, etc. But the Sheikh is just getting warmed up here, the real "icing" is yet to come.(...) "The nation must rage in anger. It is told that Imam Al-Shafi' said: 'Whoever was angered and did not rage is a jackass.' We are not a nation of jackasses. We are not jackasses for riding, but lions that roar. We are lions that zealously protect their dens, and avenge affronts to their sanctities. We are not a nation of jackasses. We are a nation that should rage for the sake of Allah, His Prophet, and His book. We are the nation of Muhammad, and we must never accept the degradation of our religion."
(...) "We must rage, and show our rage to the world."
Please do yourself a favor and read the rest, then ask yourself if there is anyway whatsoever one could believe that we are dealing with rational-thinking civilized human beings.
What we are all witnessing is more characteristic of tribal behavior, more specifically, Bedouin behavior, not what one expects from people living in a modern civilized society.
In an interview discussing his book, "The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam From The Extremists," which the Associated Press has called 'the most dramatic manifesto from an American Muslim since the September 11 attacks, Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl, the academic voice of the world's majority moderate Muslims, says that indeed, there is an element of tribalism involved, however, more importantly, what we are seeing in radical Islam (and by implication - also in the Muslim rage over the Muhammad cartoons) is the Bedouin element, and described Bedouinism, as opposed to tribalism, as being the existence of a system of allegiance to a family or tribe in an environment that is arid and rather uncomplicated, compared to the urban centres, and in which either someone was your friend or your enemy. You existed in a state of all-out war, and there was a presumption that someone was out to get you until proven otherwise.
Doesn't this accurately describe the apparent mindset of Muslim leaders like Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, whose words we just read?
Here is what Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl actually said in the interview about what I would call the "Bedouin mindset manifesting itself in the Muslim street, fueled by Islamist leaders like Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi :
There is a tribal element, but a slightly different (and more important issue) is the Bedouin element. Tribalism has existed in most of the world. You look at a country like England. Until the Romans left, it was a fairly tribal society, as was France, as was even Venice. But that was not necessarily an obstruction to the development of humanistic ideas and human values.When asked how this Bedouin mentality manifests itself among today's extremists, Dr El Fadl attributed virtually all the sources of violence during the past decades as being touched or emerged from - Bedouin - Islam.But Bedouinism, as opposed to tribalism, is the existence of a system of allegiance to a family or tribe in an environment that is arid and rather uncomplicated, compared to the urban centres, and in which either someone was your friend or your enemy. You existed in a state of all-out war, and there was a presumption that someone was out to get you until proven otherwise. You needed a military-type structure that needed a leader who could not be questioned. The environment was often a mentality of black and white or yes and no, not the cultured mentality of the arts and sciences and humanities and of philosophy and contemplation. The Quran itself is quite critical of Bedouin society, and speaks about the immoderate nature of those who remain with a Bedouin mentality.
(In contrast) take countries like Egypt or Syria or Iraq. These were highly developed, cosmopolitan places. You had layers of civilisational experiences that created an appreciation for the product of the intellect and sophisticated thought, and an inability to see things as black and white anymore.
It is interesting that in the past few decades, if you look at all the sources of violence, they have all been touched by, or emerged from, Bedouin Islam. What I mean is that they have been touched by the Puritanism of Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab, (the 18th-century founder of Wahhabism). This does not mean that he was the only Puritan. But his ideas were married to Saudi resources, and therefore become an enormous problem.Dr. El Fadl says that this harsh Bedouin Islam of Arabia is making inroads well beyond the Middle East - we're seeing throughout Europe, and it's becoming more prevalent in Asia.Such Puritanism is a phenomenon that tends to have no appreciation for history, which tends to see the world in terms of how everyone is out to get you unless they prove otherwise, that devalues women and expects obedience from the flock, which should always obey. If the flock participates, it is through the 'grace' of the leader, who allows it the 'privilege' of expressing an opinion.
This Bedouin mentality also contributes to the radical anti-rationalism (of the extremists). In all the violent movements today, we witness the idea that rationalism is the instrument of the Devil, and is fundamentally evil. You find that all (the leading terrorist ideologues) have been influenced by a black-and-white concept: that all people fall either into the category of good or the category of bad.
When he visited Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia last year, every scholar and every official that he spoke to, said their main concern was that they have Islamic groups or organisations that are funded by Saudi Arabia, whose officials come in to the region and tell them that their local practice of Islam is forbidden, such as with women, music, poetry, and art - even clapping.
We could go on for hours here, but the point here is that we MUST recognize that, WE, moderate Muslims and non-Muslims, are at WAR with radical Islam, that it being continually funded and encouraged by the Saudis and petro-dollars, that we are dealing with an irrational and harsh Arab Bedouin mentality, that it is spreading like wildfire, and that it is indeed a war FOR civilization, and AGAINST radical Islam - in all of it's forms.
Please read all of the interview with Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl.
Related:
AP: Scholar says this generation's Muslims face a momentous choice: Nothing less than the very soul of Islam is at risk.
Posted by Richard at February 9, 2006 10:11 AM
Articles Related to Understanding Islam:
- On Bedouin Islam: Influential Muslim Scholar - ''We must rage, and show our rage to the world' - Feb 09, 2006
