A comment was made in response to my essay on taking a moral
position on immigration, “What I don't understand is
why they don’t fight to keep their nation? Most of the immigrants are of
military age. Take women and children in temporarily, fine, but the men should
fight for what they believe in, surely? I couldn't imagine just running away
whenever the going gets tough. It's also obvious that the majority are not
willing to compromise on their religious beliefs, either. That doesn't bode
well for secular Western democracy.”
This raises some crucial issues
about Islam in the West which get no publicity in Western main-stream media.
The Nation
In my forthcoming essay on Mandated Heterophily (more written about
than written, I fear) I will cover the concept of nationhood. The nation-state as it exists in the modern
world is based on the 1648 Westphalian model, in that each nation state has
sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs, to the exclusion of
all external powers, on the principle of non-interference in another country's
domestic affairs, and that each state is equal in international law. (More in Wikipedia).
Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan writes
of the social contract, without which we would be in “continual fear and
danger of violent death, and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish,
and short.” Sounds familiar today! The social contract takes the form of
taxation to fund the defence of the realm from threats to peace, and for
Hobbes, rule by an absolute sovereign. (Ibid.)
In the modern era this has evolved into democratic government with
absolute power subject to the sovereign’s veto, and a very successful model it
is, too. Democracy allows for moral
change to be reflected in governance and stops the build-up of moral tension
that would result in revolution. Its
evolutionary structure means it can learn from the mistakes of the past, for
example the nature of 20th century wars, to prevent them recurring.
The success of the Westphalian model permitted European
progress the like of which had never been seen before. It led directly to the Industrial Revolution
and the greatest empire ever seen on earth.
The logical development was to spread its successful model to all
corners, which came as huge shock to the Ottoman Empire, the then-holder of the
role of the Islamic Caliphate which in terms of progress had remained static
for centuries. The nation-state model
was fraying it at the edges and it finally lost power at the end of the Great
War. This required the creation of
states along the European model which formed the Middle East for the rest of
the century.
Meanwhile, Muslims could not understand how Islam, the
perfect system for the governance of man by the rule of God, could be
superseded by the rule of man so successfully. This fostered the creation of ressentiment, the sense of hostility directed
at that which Muslims identify as the cause of their frustration, and a potent motivation
for the actions of Muslims throughout the world.
The Ummah
Essential to understanding Islam is the concept of the ummah, brotherhood, which as the Koran (21:92)
puts it, “Verily, this brotherhood of yours is a
single brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore serve Me.” This ‘brotherhood’ dominates all other forms
of rule, since it alone is ruled by God.
It is made real in the caliphate which has existed in various forms
since Islam’s creation and now exists as the Islamic State. This is why IS is so popular – it is the
reification of the ummah and gives Muslims a sense of belonging and identity
that a nation state cannot, because it is ruled by man.
As an aside, it should be noted
that some Muslims are perfectly happy living in the modern world. Crucial to separating the modernists from the
fundamentalists is the latter’s use of the word ‘ummah’ because it will take
precedence in their world-view.
Fighting For What
They Believe In
The ummah, then, stands in
opposition to the nation-state. This
leads the narrative to what Muslims will do to defend the status quo.
The rules for Islam were laid down
in 609AD and cannot be changed. The
pious Muslim believes this absolutely. Muslims
will regard Islamic State as being closest to God’s truth and will be very
reluctant to attack it. The consequences
are reinforced by the unlimited brutality of its fighters. They would rather run away – to Europe – than
fight to defend a nation that they have a low level of confidence in, against a
brotherhood that they belong to. The
exception is the Kurds who tend to be less pious and more interested in
fighting for their own state.
Islam and Western Democracy
The uncompromising nature of
Islam, and the obligation on Muslims to spread it throughout the world, by
force if necessary, indeed doesn’t bode well for secular Western
democracy.
The question our children’s
children will be asking is, “What possessed governments of the time to let in
millions of Muslims into our countries when they are bent on destroying what
made them so successful?” My
contribution to this is that there are enemies within who are similarly
inclined, that is, the extreme Left and anarchists.
This group will not permit
criticism of Islam and will allow nothing to stand in its way to gain
power. Muslims support this with death
threats, violence, and the appearance of benign moderation. What baffles me is
that ordinary people who have everything to lose back the extremist world-view,
or at least remain mute. To understand
this we have to look to the media, and the control they exert over debate. I write letters to the newspaper, but the
chance of them being printed is in inverse proportion to the truth I tell about
Islam. I write detailed critiques to
current affairs programmes when they present distorted views of Islam, all, apparently,
for nothing.
It is too late to save
Europe. Perhaps its populace is in a
state of resignation, waiting for its inevitable decline, debating on whether
to convert to Islam now or postpone it for now.
New Zealand hasn’t reached that
stage just yet and I will do everything I can to slow its deterioration into
Islam.
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