Moral Asymmetry – Islam Versus the Rest of the World

Summary

Islam’s exponential growth in the West in the last fifty years has brought with it an alien morality.  Coming to terms with this will force major changes in Western ethics in order to accommodate Islam’s rules which it considers to be Allah’s mandate.  It seems very few people understand Islam enough to recognise the threat it poses to Western systems of thought, behaviour, and above all, its freedoms.

Islam, as its history shows, is a religion of conquest, bringing the rule of Allah to lands formerly under the rule of man.  Islam is bound by the words of Allah as written in the Koran and the more reliable reports on the life and sayings of its prophet Mohammad.  The foundation of Islamic morality is thus that of the 7^th century desert-dwelling tribes of Arabia. The rules set in place then apply today.  Since Allah is reported to have said, “This day I have perfected for you your religion…,” reform of the rules or their basis is not possible.

In contrast, the West has adopted continuous moral change at a legal level through the electoral process.  Subjecting parliamentary representatives to popular will brought about changes to slavery, suffrage, rights and freedoms that are now universally adopted, at least at state level.  However, the extreme religiosity, rule-adherence, and unwillingness of Muslims to compromise or adapt to Western standards has required major adaptations in social, civil, healthcare, educational and employment environments.  These changes will be permanent and represent a moral change for the West as it adapts to Islam’s hegemonic conquest.  The risk of revolt is being managed by a process of alienation, marginalisation and disparagement, but it’s clear that the extremes of conservatism are beginning to rebel.  The Christchurch mosque massacre was one of the first shots in a potential civil war.

Too big a subject of one essay, I will outline moral differences between the Islamic and the non-Islamic world focussing on the following topics:

1. Islam’s foundational narrative and beliefs, theological determinism, essentialism, and its rules-based ethical system.
2. Supersessionism and moral supremacism, and the divine mandate to bring the world to the path of Islam.
3. Methods of conquest of the non-Islamic world –
• Violence and retributive subsidiarity
• Preaching, deception.
• Migration and vicinal arrogation.
• Co-optation of friendly forces.
• Vilification of opposition.
4. Monoculture, ummah, identity, religiosity, spirituality, eternal life, paradise and entry to it.
5. Opposition to secularism and freedom.
6. Public sphere attitudes, the Islamic imaginary.
7. Moral differences - marital arrangements, slavery, ingroup/outgroup separation.

Foreword

An essay on Islam’s incompatible morality without an ethicist’s input is fraught with risk.  A brief inquiry on Google Scholar shows no documentation of moral comparison between the Islamic and non-Islamic worlds, and my fairly compendious awareness of broadcast and written media provides only elliptical references.  This essay, then, depends on my own observations and the collection of commentaries, principally those of public intellectuals and academics, who also recognise the problem. I will not make a judgment on whether the Islam’s moral differences are good or bad, only on how they affect the moral practice of the West.  The term ‘West’ or ‘Western’ used in this essay can be described as the moral praxis that emanates from the Judeo-Christian Greco-Roman secular liberal democracies common in Europe, The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries that share their common background.  Many other non-Islamic countries have moral systems which are compatible with those of the West.  The difference between right and wrong crosses those national boundaries with relative ease and without requiring change within the dominant culture.  In contrast, Islam demands change, compromise and concessions

Introduction

A recent discussion with someone with a doctorate in international law made me realise just how out of touch with the reality of Islam’s hegemonic conquest people can be when they are immersed in a humanitarian cause.  It seems that when the focus is on helping others, the perception of threat is suppressed for the greater good.

I raised the subject of moral incompatibility between Islam and the West.  That there was an issue in those terms was met with incredulity.  Arguments against the idea tended towards denial, with evidence of moral foundations rebutted with simple disbelief and comparison with Christian morality, often in its breach.  This was of no surprise, since it was clear it had not occurred to my interlocutor that asymmetry was even a possibility.  I hope that I will hear a coherent argument supporting the denial, but it’s unlikely since hard evidence favours incompatibility.  However, the hypothesis ‘that Islamic morality is incompatible with the non-Islamic world’ is viable and falsifiable, and simply lacks evidence to the contrary.

Given that my interlocutor belongs to the clerisy – influential, educated, cosmopolitan, articulate – it is clear that Islam is unlikely to meet opposition to its Western growth in the foreseeable future.  I stand by my 2015 opinion that Islam’s hegemonic conquest of west Europe is a fait accompli. 

This issue, the failure to understand the foundational differences between Islamic and non-Islamic morality, is of such great importance that I will continue this and other essays with evidence and examples.

Moral Factors

Morality can be defined as the collection of principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong, or good and bad behaviour.  The collective voice given to those factors shape the acceptable mores of any given society.  The basis for morality is frequently understood to be the society’s dominant religion, especially by its believers.  As such, religion acts as an anchor, resisting changes brought about by the forces of popular influence, and acts as one of societies most conservative agencies.  Sometimes these forces are sufficient to shift religion’s position, as with the acceptance of homosexuality or the role of women in religious practice, and this leads to both moral progress and schisms formed as a reaction.  

 

To be continued...