Ibrahim On Western Inertia Towards The Plight Of The Sunday People

In a timely and illuminating interview, Raymond Ibrahim, the young American Middle East scholar and chronicler of the contemporary plight of his co-religionists under Islamic rule or influence, has been discussing the findings of his book Crucified Again:

'.... Western academia and the media—they who are largely responsible for the Western epistemology—have maintained that the colonial era is the root of all Muslim anger and grievance (and hence violence and intolerance).

In fact, it’s the exact opposite.

During the colonial and post-colonial era—roughly from 1850 to 1950—most Muslims were very Westward looking and “Muslim” in name only.  The reason for this is simple: Islam is the quintessential religion of “might makes right,” and its mission was always proved to Muslims as they defeated infidels on the battlefield.

However, with the dominance of the West, Muslims began to respect and emulate the West.  As Osama bin Laden said, people by nature favor the strong horse.  But with the Western culture of the 1960s and afterwards—when the West became self-loathing, morally and sexually licentious, materialistic, etc.—Muslims, disillusioned, turned back to Islam and its “way” (Sharia simply means way, i.e., Islam’s way of doing things).  It’s no coincidence that the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran followed on the heels on the liberalization of the West in the ‘70s.  

From respecting and trying to emulate a confident West, Muslims developed contempt for the West and went back to reclaiming their Islamic heritage—all to “multicultural” applause and approval.  And, naturally, as Muslims become more pious and uphold the teachings of Islamic Sharia, hostility and persecution for Christians has returned, for these are integral parts of the “Islamic way” ....

The [Muslim] Brotherhood has a long history of publicly saying one thing in front of infidels and another to fellow Islamists, which of course is permissible in Islam, via doctrines like taqiyya, tawriya, and taysir....'

Ibrahim deplores the West's willful blindness towards the endangered Christians, and calls for action on their behalf before it is too late:

'The U.S. and its allies can start by ceasing to support avowed Islamists, such as the Muslim Brotherhood—which Obama’s intelligence chief absurdly called “largely secular.”  They can stop empowering jihadis under the guise of the “Arab Spring.”  Wherever Obama has supported the “Arab Spring”—whether in Egypt, Libya, and now in Syria—things have gotten dramatically worse for Christians.... 

They can acknowledge the sufferings of Christians and other minorities and make all foreign aid conditional on their better treatment.  Sadly, this administration, far from doing any such thing, is still operating under the idea that Islam and its Sharia are intrinsically compatible with 21st century standards of human rights, and, in short, pretending there is no such thing as Christian persecution—just as it pretended that a second-rate movie was the source of pre-planned terrorist attacks on the anniversary of 9/11 in Benghazi....

The question is—does the West have the backbone to do what’s necessary, or has political correctness and multiculturalism so paralyzed its ability to see and deal with reality?'

 Read the entire interview here