Separation is So Bad?
Reader comment on item: Mecca Mean Time?

Submitted by Ron (United States), May 5, 2008 at 17:54

I could be misreading this, but with the phrase about "Muslims and Westerners by mutual consent going their different ways in a range of areas", I almost hear a whiff of Moral Equivalence as if the reasons for this separation are similar and make equal sense - or equal non-sense.

For if the West is separating, it's largely a reluctant process in a globalized world where almost all non-insular Westerners are intensely curious about all the world's other cultures and civilizations. And the process, to the extent it's happening, is due to a range of emotions which may include sadness and bewilderment (at all the hate), a rational fear (at all the preaching and practice of violence) and maybe even some moral disgust (at the many forms of intolerance, mistreatment of women, and, as always, the grotesque violence).

On the other hand, what reason is there for those Muslims who want to separate except a xenophobic grandiosity, as shown in the absurdity of the arguments for 'Mecca time'. In a combination of hatred and a lurking sense of inferiority, it's as if the separatists are saying, "if we can't conquer you and put you into a status of dhimmitude toward Islam, which is the only way we've ever related to non-Muslims since our religion was founded, we will wall ourselves off from you so as to avoid any material, cultural and above all moral challenge to our beliefs" ('you' apparently being not only the West, but all of humanity which is not Muslim).

What's so bad about separation from that? - until or unless the 'better angels' of those Muslims not consumed by hatred, loathing and fear of whatever is non-Islamic speak up decisively. That is, if those 'better angels' haven't been irretrievably suppressed by a religion whose founder, unlike all other major religions, gave it no conception of non-violence, and no Golden Rule.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.