An observation you may not have considered

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), Aug 28, 2013 at 21:12

Dr. Pipes, Dr. Pipes, Dr. Pipes! You're right that our State Department spokespersons are out of their depth telling what is and is not "good" Islam. And I certainly agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Lewis' statement which you qhote. But, as a former minion of the US Department of State, I think I can dig a little deeper into the issue which you raise in your post.

It is the birthright of the American liberal, of which the State Department is generously stocked, to be so knowledgeable that with only the most perfunctory knowledge of Islamic practice, Qur'an, and Hadith, he knows more about Islam than the entire faculties of al-Azhar and Qom put together. After all, the American secular liberal got his B.A. from Podunk Normal in six years and reads the New York Times.

Consider this same tribe that never darkens the door of a church save when touring the great cathedrals of Europe and has the dust so thick on its Bible that you can write "d@mn@tion" in it, has never hesitated to lecture practicing Christians what their religion is supposed to be. I daresay that should the whole slough of ancient rabbis from Ezra and the Great Synagogue down through the compilers of the Talmud Bavli return (with Maimonides, Yehuda Loeb, the Vilna Gaon, etc. thrown in for good measure), an American liberal who doesn't even know what the Five Books of Moses are would declare the lot of them mere nincompoops in the "real" meaning of rabbinic Judaism.

These people, after being applauded by the MSM when they take a high-mindedly unctuous tone to lecture some blunt-spoken down-home Evangelical on what Christianity really is are sincerely bewildered and confused when no-one in the entire Dar-ul-Islam listens to them, or replies with a to-the-point "Shut up, Kufr".

The sort of thing you describe (and over which I actually weep) is not just offensive: it makes the US look ridiculous as well. Maybe next, they'll have our diplomatic spoxx drop their pants in public, too.

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