A German's View on Islam: It's the Fanatics, Who Rule
12 Nov, 2007
- I used to know a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War Two. They owned a number of large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.
"Very few people were true Nazis," he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, we had lost control and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."
We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor killers. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority", the "silent majority", is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because, like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
This originally under the title, Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant.
Name:
Date: Sunday November 11, 2007
Time: 05:10:52 -0700
Comment
The author makes is very important argument. So called moderate muslims must speak up or they will be counted among the passive supporters of islamism. They cannot continue to be silent. However, their problem is that they know that traditional islam supports what we call islamism but what in reality is real islam. So the reason they don´t talk is both fear of islamists but also the knowledge that the doctrine does not support moderates. Until we have gotten a reformed islam which explicitly interprets islam in a peaceful way according to stated and specified rules and have eliminated the violent and hateful texts in the quoran (half of it ?) we can´t generally believe in moderates. Because they don´t have the doctrine behind them, they can also change opinion anytime. And we will see many of them do jsut that in a country when the percentage of muslims among the population has become enough high. And what the authors says: Even if they don´t become fanatical muslims outright, their silence makes them irrelevant. They will because of their behaviour anyway later be a tool of the islamists.Regards, No Sharia.
Name: Fred
Date: Sunday November 11, 2007
Time: 05:26:28 -0700
Comment
The damage is already done for me. The denialism and lack of interest by the average Muslim in taking decisive action against the militants has meant that I no longer have any dealings with Muslims of any description...I won't shop at their businesses or buy anything imported from an Islamic country...when they start doing something about their violent intolerant haters then I might soften my position but not before....Boycott Islam totally.
Name: DH
Date: Sunday November 11, 2007
Time: 07:03:07 -0700
Comment
Leave the Serbs out of this!
Name: jk
Date: Sunday November 11, 2007
Time: 08:08:40 -0700
Comment
It is very well said in this article. I am in muslim family at the same time enlightened. We are close knit family and have good number of relatives. Whenever I talk about this mad faith, they become wild and they are ready to severe relationship with me.So my observation is that no muslim is moderate. All muslims are fanatics and it is very difficult to convince them that their faith a hoax and Mohamad was wicked. Somehow I could realize the truth and I am seeing such enlightened people only in the internet. I have not yet met another true entightened man or woman in real life. I am 60 now and to my surprise my mom is ready to hear me, but afraid of speaking out. This is the reality.
Name: jack diamond
Date: Sunday November 11, 2007
Time: 09:44:14 -0700
Comment
jk-- I hope you will be careful about who you talk with in your family and what you say. It might be valuable for readers here if you could elaborate on your own experience of Islam. I'd be interested in how knowledgable your family members are about teachings in Qur'an and Hadith regarding the obligation of Jihad, the goal of imposing Shari'a, the despising of the Infidel-kuffar world, whether one's loyalty to the ummah comes before any loyalty to country (if residing in non-Muslim lands), whether lying to Infidels is acknowledged as permitted to hide one's true attitude. Or are they generally ignorant of doctrine, simply believe in the righteousness of the religion, really believe Islam teaches "no compulsion in religion" "to you your religion, to me mine" and Muslims are just defending themselves today from undeserving persecution everywhere. Do your family members regard Islamic terrorists as "hijackers" of the religion, or do they privately speak well of them? Or is there a mix among them. These kinds of question an outsider wishes to ask of an insider.
Name: Allat
Date: Sunday November 11, 2007
Time: 10:20:23 -0700
Comment
I don't think there were very many moderates in Rwanda - just a handful - God! - even the Europeans left - the UN were cowards in not going in. The country was either Tutsi or Hutu. The Peaceful Majority are the ones that were slaughtered.
Name: Godot
Date: Tuesday November 13, 2007
Time: 11:31:37 -0700
Comment
An eye-opener! My only concern is that our German friend put all silent/passive Muslims in one bag. It's another simplistic way of looking at things. Not all those silent/passive Muslims are really innocent and peaceful. Some can be dangerous Fifth Column or can be literally sleeping cells or even sleeping cummunities among us but they keep fooling the naive West with their boring and meaningless mantra: Islam is a religion of peace. My dear German friend: Danke sehr!
Name:
Date: Thursday November 15, 2007
Time: 19:56:58 -0700
Comment
cowards will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. cowardice puts self catering before love of neighbor. As it is, too great a percentage of the nice muslims accept muhammad's wickedness, and accept others having child brides, or coercing non-muslims to betray their own consciences, etc. There are too many nice guys, flatterers of those that deserve death, and not enough good men, fighting the evil to make freedom for the good.
Name: stewart
Date: Friday November 16, 2007
Time: 21:38:13 -0700
Comment
There is wisdom in these words. Each of us must find a way to blunt the growth of radical islam. Boycotting, letter writing, spreading your knowledge with others one person at a time and making your voice heard are the ways to turn us from the silent majority to the vocal majority.
Name: albert
Date: Monday November 26, 2007
Time: 03:51:14 -0700
Comment
Any religion has 2 problems: The Book and the Clergy. Any religious book is typically mad and archaic and somewhat evil. Therefore it should not be accessible to anyone except scholars. The clergy should be carefully chosen among sensible responsible tongue-tied and loyal people thoroughly educated and understanding psychology and psychiatry. Early christianity was sectarism and struggles. Then the roman empire became christian and serious people took charge. The Book was translated re-written and expurged. The catholic church developped a complete organization to keep everything under control and kept order like this for centuries. Then Gutemberg begun his Bible printing and madness was unleashed. It took a few more centuries to settle. Western governments think they can rely upon this historical experience to apprehend Islam. How to control the teachings and schools ? How to keep people at distance from the original and dangerous writings ? How to keep clerics loyal to the government ? Any idea ?
Name: Walter Sieruk
Date: Thursday December 20, 2007
Time: 12:44:34 -0700
Comment
Plato believed that a goverment based on democracy would not last because that form of goverment would give liberty to those who's ambition is to be subversive and destroy that type of goverment. Plato, it seems, did have a point to that thesis. For example, "In November 2004, Germany television broadcast the words and images of a Turkish imam in Germany urging his Bavarian congregation to 'take advantage of democracy to further our cause'" - Source: THE WEST'S LAST CHANCE by Tony Blankley p.53
Name: Mohammed
Date: Tuesday January 08, 2008
Time: 10:00:45 -0700
Comment
I am agreeeeing with most of this paper. Simply, it is true that the majority of Muslims around the world are scared to breathe a word against radical Islamists or their atrocious actions. Fear for their families and their own lives. It is a fact. We are encouraged to keep silent by our own Imans. How saddened are we true believers in the knowledge that 'we' are hated and feared to this same extent. Islam is my faith of birth and of choice, please, that there will be some escape from this terrifying place we are in. How do we stand up and be counted when we are liable to be tortured or killed. I can't do that to my family. What is the answer - pray tell me.
Name: Junker
Date: Saturday January 19, 2008
Time: 23:43:57 -0700
Comment
Just to clarify, the article in question was originally penned by blogger Paul of Celestial Junk here: http://cjunk.blogspot.com/2006/02/why-peaceful-majority-is-irrelevant.html It has subsequently been widely posted online, and often with no credit to the true author, or the credit going to someone else, although that issue has been resolved at many websites. Interestingly enough, it has also been picked up by several mainstream media outlets: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID={8CB42C7C-F9A1-4672-BA06-42DF76A1E2DC http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/6996
Name: Avraham Rosenblum
Date: Tuesday January 22, 2008
Time: 01:08:29 -0700
Comment
I am very impressed with the quality of thought in this essay. I have however been trying to find a positive solution to the problem. I believe I have stumbbled on the original core of good Islam in the Muslim Philosophers of the Middle Ages. Perhaps a new movement could be started --maybe call it Ibn Rushd fanatics.
Name: Lee
Date: Thursday February 07, 2008
Time: 11:50:33 -0700
Comment
Radicalism is defined as a departure from tradition. If that is true, both christian, muslim and all other faiths are the norm and the radicals are the peace loving people of the world. All atrocities have been foisted on the salt of the earth in the name of some imagined creator, nationalistic pride or greed. Has a creator, if it exists, created us to only to enjoy watching us annihilate that creation? Does it feed on our misery? Do we not realize all are one with the universe? I feel only dread for the future. Technology has paved the way to our total destruction at the hands of those who choose hate and death to all that they interpret as different or stand in the way of profit and power. Only realize that every death and suffering lessens us all as a whole. There is no hope. The people of the earth have much to answer for.
Name: TNC2005
Date: Wednesday April 09, 2008
Time: 19:01:01 -0700
Comment
Much said here is worth heeding. Europe is not ground zero in the Muslim line of conquest -- yet. Africa and Asia and the Middle East are now. However, in 10 to 20 years, Europe will be the front-line of Islamist extremism. And what will Europe do to stem its aging and childless population from becoming old, decrepit and incapable of defending its own values and passing them on to a successor generation?