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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Wilders in Australia and the "Islamic Problem" - Part II

This post was moved. It can be read HERE.

6 comments:

  1. Christianity, as exercised in the West, is a water-downed version of "authentic Christianity." But the factors that made possible that water-downed version of "authentic Christianity" have no power to change Islam - even if this religion is practiced in the West.

    Rather the reverse is true: with increasing numbers of Muslims, it is Islam that will change the West. This on his turn explains also why a “Western Islam” (or a Western version of Islam) will never exist in the future neither.

    And here is the reason why:

    Islam adopted Christian practices in all departments of life. The state, society, the individual, economics and morality were thus collectively under Christian influence during the early period of Muhammedanism.

    Thus in every department we meet with that particular type of Christian theory which existed in the East during the seventh and eighth centuries. This Christian theory of life was subjected to many compromises in the West, and was materially modified by Teutonic influence and the revival of classicism.

    However, in Islam, this Christian theory underwent NOT a similar modification. Why? Because Muhammedan scholars were accustomed to propound their dicta as utterances given by Muhammed himself, and in this form Christian ideas also came into circulation among Muhammedans. When attempts were made to systematise these sayings, all were treated as alike authentic, and, as traditional, exerted their share of influence upon the formation of canon law.

    Sayings of Muhammed became part of canon law and therefore binding for all time. Thus the process of development which was continued in Christendom, came to a standstill in Islam, thus questions of temporary importance to Christianity became PERMANENT elements in Muhammedan theology.

    Here began the development of Muhammedan jurisprudence or, more exactly, of the doctrine of duty, which includes every kind of human activity, duties to God and man, religion, civil law, the penal code, social morality and economics.

    All human acts are thus legally considered as obligatory or forbidden when corresponding with religious commands or prohibitions, as congenial or obnoxious to the law or as matters legally indifferent and therefore permissible. The arrangement of the work of daily life in correspondence with these religious points of view is the most important outcome of the Muhammedan doctrine of duties.

    It will thus be immediately obvious to what a vast extent Christian theory of the seventh and eighth centuries still remains operative upon Muhammedan thought throughout the world.

    However: a change may well take place. Islam may gradually acquire the spirit as well as the form of modern Europe. Centuries were needed before mediaeval Christianity learned the need
    for submission to the new spirit.

    Within Christendom itself, it was non-Christian ideas which created the new movement, but these were completely amalgamated with pre-existing Christianity. Thus, too, a Renaissance is possible in the East, not merely by the importation and imitation of European progress, but primarily by intellectual advancement at home even within the sphere of religion.

    cf. Carl Heinrich Becker, "Christianity and Islam" (1909).

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    Replies
    1. Bruce, please read Mark's post on the Christian vs the Islamic reformation: http://markdurie.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/they-are-reformation.html

      Also, regarding the Renaissance, Rodney Stark (The Victory of Reason) demonstrates very clearly that Christianity created the scene in its former centuries for the Renaissance to happen. Vishaal Mangalwadi (The Book that Made Your World) is another interesting read on this topic. Finally, I have just finished reading Ibn Warraq's 'Why the West is Best', and even though he is an atheist, he argues that Christianity made the west 'best'.

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  2. I wanted to communicate offline but see no way of doing so. I just tried to share this very interesting article on my FB page and was deterred from doing so because this is what showed up: "Comments are moderated. Avoid profanities or foul language. Stay on topic. Avoid ad hominem attacks. Posts which violate these principles or are deemed offensive in any way will be deleted."

    Unless the actual content of your articles can be displayed in FB summarised in a few sentences, there is a problem for your work to be more widely read. Please see if anything can be done. I would never click on a link that has the boilerplate text above. The title is very important and may be enough for some to click to read, but I think your blog articles should also have a proper description of the content as well. Do hope this can be fixed!

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    Replies
    1. Caroline, I have fixed this up. The most recent post should come up OK. The solution was for me to put text into the search settings.
      Also, you can also correct this if it happens again or you don't like the description which comes up, by clicking on the text and replacing it with something else.

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  3. Thank you Mark, for another amazing post. It helps me to understand why there is such willful ignorance of the press and the political class when it comes to Islam. The truth is so clearly obvious, but when masked by the thick fog of relativist and universalist world-views, it disappears. I look forward to the next post in this series.

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  4. Our media and politicians embrace what Aldous Huxley called 'vincible ignorance': "Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know."

    Huxley practiced 'vincible ignorance' himself. He understood the power of suppression of truth and it's value in totalitarian propaganda. As he wrote elsewhere:
    "Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects... totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations."

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated. Avoid profanities or foul language. Stay on topic. Avoid ad hominem attacks. Posts which violate these principles or are deemed offensive in any way will be deleted.