Vision And Views

On Islamic Radicalism

It is imperative to note how radicals deviate from Islam proper. Radicalism uses Islam as a force to divide “us” from “them,” to lead “enslaved” nations against “ruling” ones. The Koran, however, presents Islam as a way to lead all humans to the right path. From a purely Koranic point of view, Westerners are potential brothers to whom Islam should be presented “with wisdom and fair admonition…in the kindest way.” From the radical point of view, Westerners are dehumanized enemies to be insulted, attacked, and murdered.

The starting point of Islam is faith in God, whereas the starting point of radicalism is hatred against the West.

From “Bolshevism in a Headdress”, originally published by The American Enterprise Magazine.

 

On Koran & Terrorism

The terrorists’ interpretation of the Koran is defective. They rely on the doctrine of abrogation, which gives them the false permission for neglecting many tolerant and peaceful verses of the Koran. A better interpretation of the Koran would be to reject abrogation and accept all verses as the parts of a single whole. Then we would realize that tolerant and peaceful verses ascribe to the normal state of affairs — such as that we have in the modern world — and war verses describe an abnormal situation in which Muslims were faced with the threat of annihilation by hostile enemies.

From, “An Islamic Renewal?”, originally published by Frontpage Magazine.

 

On the Shari’ah (Islamic Law)

The Qur’an gives very few detailed rules and teaches mostly general ethical principles. The question of how those principles should be applied in daily life was answered by Muslim jurists in the early centuries of Islam, and their rulings were gradually transformed into unquestioned, sacrosanct laws. The legal code known as the shariah is mostly the product of this process. A great many of shariah laws — like those which refer to the killing of apostates, the stoning of adulterers, the seclusion of women, compulsory prayer, required dress code, punishments for drinking or even possessing alcohol — have simply no basis in the Qur’an. The shariah is “a post-Qur’anic construction”. As soon as we start questioning it, we will see that many requirements of traditionalist Islam that put Muslims in conflict with the modern world can simply be abandoned.

From, “European Muslims and the Quest for the Soul of Islam”, originally published by the New Europe Review.

 

On Islam & the Open Society

Times have changed. We Muslims don’t ride camels anymore; we drive cars. Similarly, we can’t apply a medieval political doctrine to the twenty-first century. There is a modern phenomenon called the open society, in which all Muslims are free to practice and evangelize their faith. We should embrace it and question those traditional teachings that would forbid our doing so. We should build a “Muslim conservatism” through which we will stand for our values in a modern democratic society. This will not be a departure from our faith–it will be a great service to it.

From “Bolshevism in a Headdress”, originally published by The American Enterprise Magazine.

 

On the Islamic Renewal

An Islamic renewal is desperately needed to give Islam back its original and ultimate aim: leading human beings to their Creator, God. The medieval traditions or the radical interpretations in current Islam are obstacles to this sacred aim. For the religious, they are distractions of the mind from God, since hearts and minds need freedom, joy and love to praise Him, not bigotry, repression and hatred. For the non-religious, they are an obstacle to God and reason to embrace a totally profane, materialistic life…

To give life its meaning back, at least for the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, whether they be practicing or nominal, we have to give Islam its meaning back, too.

From, “An Islamic Renewal?”, originally published by Frontpage Magazine.

 

On the Western Civilization

We should destroy the myth of a monolithic “materialist West”. The radical Islamist discourse tends to picture the whole Western civilization as a licentious, selfish, hedonistic world— a new Pompeii waiting to be buried under the ashes. This is a great distortion of the truth. Let us remember that the Judeo-Christian values of the Western civilization and the values of Islam share the same Abrahamic sources. Let us present to Muslim societies “the West of faith and morality,” which they would find more appealing than the alleged “aggressive market materialism and intolerant secularism”.

From, “European Muslims and the Quest for the Soul of Islam”, originally published by the New Europe Review.

 

On American Culture

Philosophical materialism puts self-interest before all else, and denies the existence of higher callings from God. This easily leads to pleasure-seeking, selfishness, and hedonism, and the consequences are horrifying to many devout Muslims around the world. Through American popular culture such as Hollywood movies, MTV, or pornography, they encounter a culture in which God and religious principles seem to be disrespected, neglected, even attacked or ridiculed…

Most Muslims… see America only through its materialist pop culture. Distaste for materialism thus translates into a distaste for America.

From, “Show Us More of the Other U.S.” originally published by The American Enterprise Magazine.

 

On Christianity

As a Muslim, I see Christianity as my ally in the effort to redeem this misguided world—misguided by many forms of materialism, hedonism, lust, and arrogance. But I want to see my allies firm in their faith. And, of course, many of them are. But for those who are not, may I point out what the Qur’an says about Christians:

“The people of the Gospel should judge by what God sent down in it. Those who do not judge by what God has sent down, such people are deviators.” (Al-Ma’idah 5:47)

From, “In Defense of Mary the Virgin”, originally published by IslamOnline.

 

On The Future of Religion

Secularization is the grand project of the modernist dream, based on the Enlightenment and the subsequent positivist thought. That is a dream, however, that failed. In our de-secularizing world, as social scientist Peter Berger calls it, religion is destined to live and grow even stronger. Some argue that we are indeed moving towards a post-secular era.

Thus the question is not whether religion in general will be eroded and Islam in particular will be marginalized, but rather it is whether they will be defined from a tolerant and peaceful perspective.

From, “Standing for Islam – and against Terrorism”, originally published by Frontpage Magazine.

 

On Turkey, Europe & The U.S.

Turkey is closer to the United States than it is to Europe in many respects–most notably, the role of religion in public life. Many Turkish conservatives, including me, find the spirit of a “nation under God” much more appealing than the bluntly secular European ethos. It is unfortunate that when the Europeans recently decided to exclude any mention of God from the E.U. constitution, Turkey’s liberal intelligentsia, including some public officials, expressed the view that such a secular union would be a better fit for Turkey than one that acknowledged any religious allegiance. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (whose objections to Turkey’s accession had earlier alienated many Turks) was wiser when he commented, “It has been said that the European Constitution could not mention the Judeo-Christian roots so as not to offend Islam, but what offends Islam is contempt for God.”

From “Thanksgiving to Turkey”, orginally published by The Weekly Standard.

 

On Religious Freedom

What Turkey must comprehend is the need for a separation of church and state. This was put forth brilliantly in the New Testament two millennia ago: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s; Render unto God what is God’s.” In Turkey, the Caesar has been very lustful and dominant for many decades. The time has come to limit his powers and render unto God what is God’s…

This stance may come as a shock to those who say, “We have no king but Caesar.” Yet, they must learn to accommodate it. They should examine their own obsessive yearning for a mighty state that rules over the lives and minds of its subjects. Theirs is indeed a secular religion in which the state is seen as omnipotent and omniscient — in short, deified.

From “God & Turkey”, originally published by National Review Online.

 

On Jews

The Koran criticizes Jews not for being Jews, but rather for failing to be so. To be more precise, the Koran condemns only those Jews who disobeyed God and abandoned His law — such as those who worshipped the Golden Calf, refused to enter the Holy Land, disobeyed Jewish prophets, venerated the idol Baal and so on. Moreover, while such deviators are condemned in the Koran, righteous Jews are praised.

From “Put the Fear of God Back Into the Mideast Peace Process”, orginally published by The Forward and later by The Washington Times.

 

On Israel

… All this means that there can well be an Islamic argument for the right of Israel to exist. However, and of course, this should be combined with an insistence on the rights of Palestinians to live in security, dignity and peace. How this will be achieved is a political question, but a proper Islamic theology would demand that the two peoples in the Holy Land, Jews and Arabs, find a way to co-exist in peace and mutual respect.

From “Put the Fear of God Back Into the Mideast Peace Process”, orginally published by The Forward and later by The Washington Times.

 

On Muslims in The West

The colorful life of the West that we call modernity may not be totally bad, but only in some of its aspects. There might be no problem in wearing jeans, eating fast food—health problems notwithstanding—or listening to pop music as long as one knows that God exists and that he has a moral obligation to Him. The core issue, surely, is to have faith in God and see the world out of Godly hearts and minds. Once a believer is standing firmly on that solid ground, he doesn’t need to close the door to foreign cultures.

From “Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design”, originally published IslamOnline.

 

On Materialism

Materialism is the problem Muslims have with the modern world, and it is the worldview we must stand against. Muslims should have no objection to modern science and technology, art and esthetics, the good things of life and open society. Our objection should be against the intellectual “plague” which invades our lives and leads people to believe in a godless world.

From “Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design”, originally published by IslamOnline.

 

On the Clash of Civilizations

If there should be a clash in the 21st century, it should not be between Islam and the West, but between theism and materialism. And since the battlefields in this clash are labs, lecture halls, and Web sites, it will be a much safer place for controversy.

From “Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design”, originally published by IslamOnline.

 

On Intelligent Design

We, the “IDers” as they call us, are not trying to merge faith into science. What we are trying to do is actually rescue science from a monopoly of a secular faith called materialism… The materialist creation story, i.e., Darwinism, could have been true, and if that were the case, we all would have to come to terms with it. Yet whether that story is true or not is a legitimate question to ask. To find a scientific answer, we have to examine the scientific evidence. And when we do so, we find serious flaws in Darwinism, and, moreover, we detect intelligence in the origin of life on Earth.

From, “Intelligent Decline, Revisited”, a reply to Robert McHenry, Former Editor in Chief of the Encyclopædia Britannica, originally published by Tech Central Station.