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I have a hard time picking what great stuff out of this editorial should be quoted, but here goes:
Quote:
Being a totalitarian ideology, radical Islam demands absolute submission. And since it knows that enlightened and informed souls do not make obedient slaves, it is committed to keep Muslims backward and uninformed. Radical Islam, like any other totalitarian ideology that thrives on lies, manipulated Holy Scriptures, fabricated traditions of the Prophet and literalism, and cannot allow its prey to be exposed to an open intellectual environment. That's why it enforces strict censor and does not allow unconditional pursuit of knowledge. This is the only way it can keep the masses in the dark and in its control.
In an Islamist controlled society, debate is forbidden, difference of opinion and dissension is considered a perversion, and modern education a threat. Individual reasoning is forbidden. And expression of doubt about any aspect of the "religiously mandated" social, cultural and political sociology is barred as blasphemy.
Anyone attempting to challenge the status quo is instantly declared an apostate. An Islamist mind is a possessed mind - a condition that compels him or her to live to destroy others. An Islamist does not believe in living side by side with anyone who does not conform to his or her ideology. His life is a constant Jihad (holy war) to overwhelm and eradicate infidels.
No one is more threatened by radical Islam than the Muslims themselves. That's why some of us who have somehow escaped the Islamist control and influence have taken upon ourselves to expose the scourge and by doing so exterminate it. As a Muslim, it is my experience and observation that radical Islam can only be defeated by providing Muslims a basis of comparison - by informing them of the truth about the others. In an Islamist controlled society, Muslims see Jews, Christians and Hindus through a cleric's lens.
Whatever image of the others has been created by a dogmatic and obscurantist clergy has been accepted by the Muslim masses as truth. Nobody is permitted to challenge this one sided propaganda. The result has been that this state of affairs has deprived the Muslim street of the ability to make an impartial and rational judgment.
No Muslim living in this darkness is aware of the light outside. Only a Muslim can change it. Only a Muslim can remove the darkness of hatred.
You know, I was thinking the other day that the Muslim faith could use a good Martin Luther to start a reformation of fanatical Islam, and this guy just drives that point home to me. Here's hoping more of the author's type take control of the Muslim faith.
I'm not sure how good of a deal this is, since Pakistan Today is apparently published from California and not Pakistan itself, but it is still nice to read such a rational and thoughtful look at the world from a Muslim author.
This would be an intersting perspective on Islam. Currently, the Islamic world is divided between those controlled by extreme fundamentalists and those controlled by secularists. There are plenty of moderates, but they don't control a heck of a lot. I think many moderate, devout Muslims would love to have leaders that don't seem materialistic or corrupt, yet do not spew venom and vitriol.
Great Muslim Read on Islamism
