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Islamic culture has devolved, and it's hard to categorize it

Reader comment on item: Siraj Wahhaj Seeks My Validation

Submitted by Dave (United States), May 12, 2020 at 11:17

Yes, Islamic culture had a heyday in its early phases, but there is a lack of evidence that the religion Islam was ever part of the early Arab conquests. More likely, as Robert Spencer has shown, Islam was invented about a century and a half after the initial conquests as a way to justify and regulate the new Arab empire. It then took a few centuries for the Islamic countries to become thoroughly Islamic, since the conquerors formed a small elite. Masses of people eventually converted, often to avoid onerous dhimmi laws. In the meantime, the people from the underlying non-Islamic cultures, including many Arabs, were able to contribute significantly to science and the humanities.

As the Islamic religion gradually became more and more dominant and permeated society, its anti-intellectualism discouraged speculation and the Islamic countries began to lag the West, until we get to today, where we find ourselves having to deal with a very challenging culture that has become plagued with ignorance, intolerance, backwardness and violence.

As for the distinction between Islamism and Islam etc., I think it's very hard to separate these categories. Certainly there are many wonderful, peaceful Muslims in the world, but it is all too easy to construe Islamic doctrine as sanctioning violence against non-Muslims. I believe that the world would be much better off without any Islam.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (15) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Siraj Wahhaj — runner-up slow talker of America [15 words]Peter RossMay 13, 2020 19:48258929
3Islam and Africans! [261 words]dhimmi no moreMay 13, 2020 14:37258925
6Islam and the invasion of India, Genocide, destruction of the past and imposing the culture of the Arabs where it did not belong [358 words]dhimmi no moreMay 15, 2020 08:21258925
1Wahhaj, the Amazigh and الفتوحات الاسلامية or the Islamic Openings (read it as invasions)! [653 words]dhimmi no moreMay 15, 2020 16:01258925
2Islam invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria! [638 words]dhimmi no moreMay 16, 2020 07:26258925
1Islamic invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria part 2 [549 words]dhimmi no moreMay 19, 2020 09:21258925
2Islamic invasions and the fate of the great cities of late antiquity and in this case the great city of Alexandria part [217 words]dhimmi no moreMay 19, 2020 15:56258925
3The Islamic raids on Italy and in this case Rome and the Vatican in 846 AD [241 words]dhimmi no moreMay 22, 2020 07:11258925
The Zanj Rebellion! And the "opulence" of Arabian imperialism [174 words]dhimmi no moreMay 23, 2020 07:20258925
The tragic death of a young Egyptian doctor from Covid-19 [88 words]dhimmi no moreMay 29, 2020 07:54258925
5#Obamagate [224 words]dhimmi no moreMay 29, 2020 09:52258925
3An "Egyptologist/Archaeologist or a promoter of terrorism? [133 words]dhimmi no moreJun 1, 2020 11:34258925
I have used sources I dislike [32 words]Jack F. SigmanMay 12, 2020 18:38258917
Wahhaj misses the point [53 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Benjamin BairdMay 12, 2020 16:44258916
5Islamic culture has devolved, and it's hard to categorize it [224 words]DaveMay 12, 2020 11:17258909

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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 and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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