Errors in Dan Pipe's article
Reader comment on item: [The RAND Corporation and] Fixing Islam

Submitted by silas (United States), Apr 10, 2004 at 07:22

Daniel Pipes usually hits the nail on the head but he's consistently misunderstood Islam's true nature. His article "Fixing Islam" represents a step in the right direction.

I'll comment on a few points.

His goals are excellent:

"The immediate war goal must be to destroy militant Islam and the ultimate war goal the modernization of Islam."

But if you compare Benard's and Pipe's approach, one is left with little hope because Benard places her hope on the Modernists, while Pipes places his hope on the Secularists. Both downplay the other's favorite son.

Pipes makes a significant mistake in calling Turkey a success story of our time. Turkey is no success. It is not a true democracy: several times during the last 50 years, their army staged mini-coups and nullified elections or removed politicians from power, outlawed Islamic political parties, and influenced political policies. Muslim fundamentalists are active in Turkey and have murdered dozens, if not hundreds of liberal thinking Turks and a few Westerners, and have carried out bombings recently. The war against the Kurds has been carried out brutally, with the Turks basing troops in Iraq, to further crush the Kurds.

No, Turkey cannot suffice as our "success story". The people of Turkey would have chosen a more Islamic form of government had they had the freedom to do so. Only the strong arm of their military has prevented them from that taking that step.

Pipes is moving in the right direction when he states:

Only when Muslims turn to secularism will this terrible era of their history come to an end.

But he leaves the major problem untouched: Islam itself.

Trying to force Islam to fit into a secular mold is like trying to prohibit iron particles from aligning in a magnetic field. There is a natural force or inclination in Islam. It does not take much study of the Quran, Hadith, and Sira, to understand violence's fundamental position in Islam. The problem isn't "militant Islam", the problem is real Islam itself. That is why so many Muslims worldwide are not engaging in violence, or support violence against non-Muslims.

Study Islam's historical relationship with all that is non-Muslim. It is a relationship of dominance and violence. From the time when Muhammad's murdered his political opponents in cold blood, to Abu Bakr's massacres of Arabs who wanted to leave Islam, to the 9/11 attacks, the murdering of Buddhist monks in Thailand, the killing of Catholic nuns in Algeria, etc., real Islam has shown its true face. Like a leopard it cannot change its spots Islam cannot help but be violent. Only when the non-Muslim forces have proven themselves stronger have the Muslims sued for peace.

Islam has never been a religion of peace, only of dominance. Islam, real Islam, is a poison in humanity's body. Those that say Islam is a religion of peace are ignorant or deceptive. Those that believe that are naive and ignorant.

Pipes urges a good step: encourage Muslims to become secular. I say there is a better way, a method Pipes omitted: encourage Muslims to follow Jesus. People do not thrive well on atheism because they know that there is more to life than just dumb luck. Christ came to give mankind truth and abundant life.

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