By Ramin Mazaheri for the Saker Blog
The 10-year anniversary of France’s anti-burqa law was just celebrated by France’s most deranged.
The law was always just a means to distract from new, Brussels-imposed austerity measures despite the start of the Great Recession, and also – from the perspective of the journalist-class: a way to give journalists work, which Sarkozy was very good at and which Jupiter Macron will not deign to do. But what a waste of time….
So, this “tin/aluminium anniversary” arriving while being temporarily posted to the US has me rather sentimental for good old European Islamophobia – they really are the gold standard. It has me asking: where are all the good Islamophobic times here?
As the Great Lockdown/Covid hysteria proved: It’s crazy what a fella can get used to….
But there is no Islamophobic joy in Mudville because the United States is seemingly the only Western country which has zero influence from Muslims or Islamic culture: Muslims aren’t really seen, nor discussed, nor in any positions of power. Yes, multiculturalism also means “de facto segregation”, but in France we might be on the bottom of the social ladder but we at least we know occupy a rung, dammit!
France is the Muslim capital of Europe; the UK and Canada have plenty of Pakistanis and curry shops; since 1917 the former Yugoslavia has merely gone from referring to “Turks” to referring to “Muslims” (among the intelligent: “Slavic Muslims” (gasp, what’s that strange term?!)); Cervantes acknowledged in Don Quixote that his book was the product of stealing from the Moors (partly true, partly false, and part proto-multiculturalism); Australia is repeatedly Islamophobically incensed that Islam is the second-largest religion even though they’re less than 3% of the population.
Japan – in my estimation – is a Western country, but we have to exclude them because of their rather incredible demand for a citizenry comprised of total Japanese homogeneity means they are impermeable to all foreign influences within their domestic culture.
Russia – in my estimation – has reverted to being a Western country ever since they gave up socialism, which is dominated by Asian countries (Cuba and Venezuela combined is a population fraction of China, Vietnam, N. Korea and Iran). They just want to be non-aligned, is all.
In the US – it’s like… “Muslims… meh. I don’t know any.” There is less than 4 million out 330 million, after all.
By far the biggest Muslim influence in American history is from the Nation of Islam and Black Muslims, which many Americans would incorrectly say “aren’t Muslim”. However, Black Muslims are so oppressed, isolated and blacklisted that one could say that they don’t have zero cultural influence here, but negative cultural influence. FYI – I don’t know any Muslim who says African-American Muslims “aren’t Muslim”, but I do hear that regularly about Saudi Wahhabis.
That’s what makes last week’s 19th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan so significant: finally, American culture was confronted with the actual, breathing existence of Islam and Muslims (who aren’t hounded by police in US ghettos).
Hitherto these things were totally ignored, and everyone was fine with that ignorance.
Take, for example, one of 20th century America’s most prominent thinkers among the average American, but not the US intelligentsia, Joseph Campbell. He was a very interesting thinker on the power of myths, and I should write a review of his work someday. Basically, Campbell’s huge popularity with the lower classes – not just via his influence on Star Wars but his regular presence on PBS (the lone public TV channel) in the era of <10 TV channels – is explained not only by the fact of his genuine merit, but also by the fact that he did not at all question the absolute correctness and dominance of American-style capitalism and Christianity. For a man who discusses religion so much – and religion is a very big deal to the American lower classes, further explaining Campbell’s popularity, and probably why he is not remembered much today – it was always very amusing to read him repeatedly dismissing Islam as a “pagan” religion.
LOL… not only is Islam not pagan, it is the most anti-pagan religion out there. The primary ideological dispute of Islam is against pagan idolatry (although Muslims are forbidden to mock or fight pagans, lest that would turn them against the One True God).
Campbell – like most educated Americans – is a latently-ardent-yet-unmotivated supporter of Christianity, but like most Americans he doesn’t even seem to know what Abraham is most important for: smashing false idols. (This is a huge thing in Islam – because Islam logically understands you can be either polytheist or monotheist (or atheist) – whereas Christians mostly connote Abraham with his willingness to sacrifice his son). Campbell, like seemingly all Americans, had absolutely no idea regarding the way that Islam is an undeniable continuation of Jesus, Moses, Abraham and Adam which can in no way at all be separated nor questioned.
Muslims understand that last link as easily as 2+2=4, but those in America who are ignorant of it are currently scratching their head and about to get testy and defensive, which is what happens when you point out someone’s “logic” is illogical.
Of course, celebrating this Abrahamic brotherhood is not happening anytime soon in the West or in just the US, but in 2020 Campbell would at least be called out on Twitter with: “What the heck… Islam isn’t pagan at all?” Campbell’s absurd non-assessment wouldn’t stand.
So that’s progress.
Europe had this type of progress earlier, and I have already referenced it: Cervantes. But Europe has a totally different relationship with Islam because Islam is all over southeast and southwest of Europe, and because even the eugenic-loving Protestants know that a bunch of Muslims are not an ocean away.
Therefore the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq brought Islam and Muslim culture – finally – to the US.
Indeed, there are many anti-Muslims now who are thinking, “And what a shame that is!”
These racists (if you want to foolishly call Islam a race, as many Americans foolishly do for Jews) and idiots, who likely don’t even understand their own Christian religion, would surely have sided with the UK and French when the US intervened, incredibly, on the side of Egypt during the Suez crisis of 1956. “What are you doing,” Europe’s anti-Muslims raged, “don’t you understand what a threat these pagans are?”
The US did not see it that way. Not because – influential yet flawed thinkers like Campbell remind us – they understood that Islam is as close to Christianity and Judaism as (to steal Mao’s description of the relationship of China to Vietnam) lips are to teeth, but because the US wanted only – then as now – to impose their imperialist domination of foes and allies alike.
Paradoxically, the influence of Islam on America has been non-existent yet also terribly destructive for American culture: the Patriot Act, the militarisation of US society, the wasting of tax receipts to fund failed wars amid a Great Recession, giving American culture a new foe to evangelise against after the American Indians and communists, etc and etc and etc.
But of course that is all attributable to the influence of capitalist-imperialist thought, not Islamic thought – thus, Islam has not influenced America yet.
There wasn’t ever a post-Cervantes “golden age of reconciliation” between Europe and the neighbouring Islamic world, sadly. There was an age of reconciliation between Europeans and Muslims (but not Islam): the age of worker brotherhood, affirmative action, and anti-imperialism in the socialist Eastern Bloc.
The lack of this “golden age of reconciliation” is entirely due to the total one-way ignorance of Christians and Jews towards Islam – Islam, it is impossible to understate, embraces and understands the revealers of revelations which are entirely shared forever among these three Abrahamic religions. All Muslims know that good Christians and Jews are going to paradise – even if those two don’t think the same of Muslims – but… whatever – Muslims can’t compel faith or insult them any more than they can be bothered about pagans who worship a god/idol made of their own hands.
Muslims in India, for example, can only roll their eyes at such shirk much as they roll they eyes at the Hindu who truly made and prayed to an idol of Donald Trump. That article concludes: “The village headman said his neighbors were discussing how best to maintain their neighbor’s Trump shrine.” Really? Do they have to keep it up even after his death, per Hindu culture? I have no idea. Was I accurate to call this man a “Hindu”, even? Again, I don’t know.
What I should do is ask an American – since the 1960s Hinduism and Buddhism have had a huge, huge influence on not just American culture but all of Western culture. Islam – not at all, and not until the 21st century. Campbell was big on not just Indian polytheism but European paganism as well, which further explains his popularity among the US lower classes, who are descended from lower-class Europeans.
Of course, Christians who worship “three gods” are actually being polytheistic instead of worshiping the One True God – at least in Islamic thinking – so I can see why Americans are so very receptive to Hinduism, Buddhism and even the American Indian religions (now that the American Indians are nearly exterminated, of course). Islam is just too logical for them – we can’t build and pray to a god of money, for example, as in some polytheistic religions. Why anyone at all would build and pray to an idol of Donald Trump… I’m sure there’s a religious logic behind this which a polytheist could explain, and Inshallah one day I’ll be less ignorant about what goes on in this world, but I’ll leave these (entirely respectful and logical) discussions here, lest some American Christian Karen get micro-triggered and “cancel” my existence like I’m some aboriginal….
Back to how Muslims and Islam are finally influencing the lone Western holdout, the US: it’s off to a bad start – going from total ignorance to total war – but things have nowhere to go but up, at least. And Americans know this well already: following the French lead can’t possibly be right.
Ramin Mazaheri is currently covering the US elections. He is the chief correspondent in Paris for PressTV and has lived in France since 2009. He has been a daily newspaper reporter in the US, and has reported from Iran, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, South Korea and elsewhere. He is the author of ‘Socialism’s Ignored Success: Iranian Islamic Socialism’as well as ‘I’ll Ruin Everything You Are: Ending Western Propaganda on Red China’, which is also available in simplified and traditional Chinese.
It has no influence by any ethnic group except one for that matter.
If you are interested to know about one interesting influence of ISLAM on North America and the west, here is a link. https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:100564/datastream/PDF/view.
Joseph Campbell’s masks of God is a singular masterpiece, Ramin. It is unparalleled, unrivaled.
He clearly does not take a shine to Islam in vol 3, oriental mythology, I will admit, but I don’t recall him saying anything about Islam being pagan.
The fact is, after reading all his brilliant insightful facts about the history of religious thought and mythology, Islam simply does not stand out as anything special or terribly unique, neither does Christianity.
His chapter on Christianity is as boring as it is needlessly long.
And regarding the Christian Trinity, there is no implication of three gods. As per Jainism and Advaita Vedanta and some other doctrines, it is believed that man can become God, ie. by letting go of your selfness you can become one with all, and as such Christian theology distinguishes between God the Son, which is the man who has surrendered to God’s will and is henceforth animated by God rather than by his own selfish desires, and is no longer a man. God the Father is Allah same as Muslim theology, and the Holy Spirit is the link that connects man to God.
Ponder the words khod and khoda.
Walking towards the Wakhan the summer before the king’s relative was ousted in Afghanistán, I stopped in Fayzabad and talked with a few Muslim clerics. Two of them asked me: “We call our kod Allah, what do You call Yours? I answered them gravely that I happened to be a Kaffir, but that most og my Nazareen-believing countrymen also called their Kod “Cod” (or rather “Gud), just like those Pamiries, Wachan folks and Afghan Tadjiks I had met.
Again, Ramin, a great article that completely ignores Israel. If there’s anything that has influenced the USA since its inception, it’s the”religious chosenness” that saw the conquest of this continent by Europeans as a parallel to the Israelites taking over the Biblical Holy Land. It justified the sustained centuries-long genocide of indigenous people on Turtle Island, in exactly the same way as what Israel is doing in Palestine today.
That’s why Zionists (Christian, Jewish, and otherwise) have come to dominate American politics with Sheldon Adelson passing out thirty pieces of silver to Republicans like candy and Pastor John Hagee claiming that there are, “50 million Bible-reading Christians who all stand with Israel.” They’re hell-bent on turning the USA into some kind of Zionist theocracy. And, I might add, every single one of these folks will vote for Trump. Just like 9/11 was blamed on the Arabs, the next horrible false-flag event, which could happen any day now, will be blamed on Iran. These nut-jobs have a hard-on for Armageddon, that transformational apocalyptic conflict the will bring their warrior messiah back to Earth to smite all unbelievers, which includes you, me and everyone else but them apparently.
But today isn’t September 10, 2001. Americans are now not so naive as to fall for another horrible false-flag event that will drive us into another f-ing war for Israel. We’re onto them, and we know where they live…
“Just like 9/11 was blamed on the Arabs,”
One problem is that many Americans think Arab and Muslim are the same thing.
My own impression on the “influence” of Islam in the USA is that ethnic groups whose members might be Muslim are not recognized as such. They have joined the “melting pot.” And influential members of those groups are not recognized. In particular there are quite a few prominent Lebanese Americans but you would have to dig to establish this, e.g., Ralph Nader, James Zogby, Danny Thomas, Donna Shalala, and many others (check out this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lebanese_Americans; I don’t know that these individuals are all Muslims. They could be Christians).
The Wiki entry on Arab Americans confirms that most are of Lebanese extraction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Americans
Again, how man;y of these are Muslims?
OTOH, how many non-Arab or non-Middle Eastern Americans have become Muslims? I know one. He joined a Sufi group, and so did his girl friend. Here is an interesting factoid:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/26/the-share-of-americans-who-leave-islam-is-offset-by-those-who-become-muslim/
May I humbly suggest as an excellent, highly readable primer on the West-Islam dynamic Tamim Ansary’s “Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes” (just finished it this morning). Ansary is an excellent synthesizer and has a conversational writing style that is ideal for explaining a lot of basics to Westerners, extracting the big picture and major trends and patterns from a mass of detail, and explaining how things look from the other side. With maps and adequate documentation. If you are pressed for time just read the last, wrap-up, chapters: “The Crisis of Modernity” and “Afterword.”
Tamim Ansary was born in Afghanistan and came to this country when he was 16. He lives in Berkeley and per the blurb on the book heads up the Berkeley Writers Group.
As a matter of fact, he might be a great person for Ramin to try to contact for an interview.
Re the Suez Crisis, Ansary has this to say, after chronicling the rise of Nasser (I add this because per Ansary the outcome had zero to do with who was “pagan”—unless you classify communism as a form of paganism):
“The canal was pulling in about $90 million a year, and Egypt was getting only $6.3 million of it, roughly. Here was the money Egypt needed for its development, and it was mostly draining away to Europe! In 1956, Nasser suddenly poured troops in the Canal Zone and took over the Canal.
“A furor broke out in Europe. British politicians called Nasser another Hitler, a madman with a grandiose scheme of world conquest. The French press said Egyptians were too primitive to run the canal; they would disrupt global trade and wreck the world economy. These two European countries colluded with Israel in a complicated scheme to bomb Cairo, kill Nasser, and recover the Canal.
“Just in time, however, U.S. president Ike Eisenhower heard about the scheme and flew into a rage. Didn’t the Europeans know there was a cold war on? Didn’t they know their little plot could deliver the whole Middle East to the Soviets? Eisenhower ordered the Europeans to give the canal back to Egypt and go home., and U.S. dominance was such that both countries (and Israel) had to obey.
“Arabs saw this as a great victory for Nasser. . . . ” (pp. 325–26).
Ansary is careful to distinguish between Arabs, Iranians, and others who make up Dar al-Islam.
I have always found Islam appealing (since my NYC days when I spent a lot of my youth hanging out in the belly-dancing clubs). In many respects it aligns with Quakerism. But here in the USA we get to pick and choose which aspects we like–which is antithetical to the idea as presented by Ansary that Islam can be compared to a social project. In fact he suggests that the “Judeo-Muslim tradition” is a more realistic notion than the “Judeo=Christian tradition.”
Katherine
Thank you for this, Katherine. I was only saying that 9/11 was blamed on the Arabs because the supposed perps were 19 Arabs with box cutters. This came out in the MSM within hours of the attack with their pictures plastered all over the front pages of our newspapers, way before any actual evidence-based investigation could possibly have determined that. It is now generally known that 9/11 was done by Mossad in conjunction with traitorous US neocons. That didn’t stop it from becoming the pretext for all the wars of this century. Many Americans are now fully aware of who were the real perps of 9/11 and won’t be so easily fooled the next time.
leaving out zionist subversion of christianity via the Schofield bible is a pretty big oopps. endless quotations relating to why it was done. Samuel Untermeyer his connection to the bible , blackmailing the president wilson. his ending the haavaara agreement and then the deception to get the federal reserve reinstated.
There is no doubt that the average USAn is quite unworldly, ignorant, and this is by design. It is an island nation that does not use metric, teach languages, or anything resembling world history. Post 911 false flag the cultural brainwashing storm has been overwhelming for most people in the USA. I am however confused about hwat this article is saying. Does the USA need more muslim influence to be a well rounded nation?
Let’s see what this has gotten the EU. In Sweden it seems as though the mass migration from MENA has not worked out so well. How about France? Let’s take rural mostly white USA: who’s decision was it to import at gret expense hundreds of Somalis in many consecutive waves. Is this supposed to be a culturally enriching experience? Who pays for this? It turns out that these arrivals from Africa are involved in crime and drug trade at rates much higher than their population. How about Minneapolis St Paul? Again, why is this a program and who is supposed to benefit from it? What about the Congolese that get flown to Guatemala and then arrive on the US border with rolls of $100’s? Logic would dictate that if they are dirt poor, they would not be buying transatlantic tickets and rolling up through central America with wads of cash.
So again, what is this article really saying? Look no further than Barbara Lerner Specter and her brief missive on the fate that awairs the EU, I think that pretty much clears it up.
We’re talking about influence in the sense of reasoned political participation. The people to whom you refer in Europe have no influence. They’re as bad off as you would be were the tables turned and you found yourself seeking refuge in Syria after Assad destroyed your country. And you’d probably be a bit annoyed and angry, too.
“The 10-year anniversary of France’s anti-burqa law was just celebrated by France’s most deranged.”
And by the even more deranged introduced a Blue Burqa.
“The Blue Burqa”, by the Cigar Smoker of Kabul:
https://youtu.be/P_iQM5x9wF8
USA?
They do not influence the entire American continent.
Could you name one country on the entire continent that is not influenced or affected by the USA? I can’t think of any. Please help.
Cheers, M
Cuba
But….
Did you read the Title? I was referring to the Title:
The US: the only Western country with zero Muslim influence at all?
Ramin Mazaheri,
I happen to disagree with some of your conclusions. I am a Joseph Campbell fan and Joseph Campbell actually implied that both Judaism and Christianity also had roots in Pagan mythology.
The poet Rumi has also had a significant level of influence in America.
Kevin Barrett claims on his radio show that he converted to Islam because he grew up as going to Unitarian Church and found Islam to be identical to the Unitarian Church, which is perfectly logical to leave one religion and convert to an identical religion named something else. Actually, my personal opinion of Kevin Barrett is that he really does not understand the Islamic faith as well as traditions and the intracacies of various branches, based on many things that he has said on his radio show. I do not claim to be an expert on Islam or religion, but Kevin Barrett has put forth blatant lies as well as massive insults to the Shia faith and claims also that there is no difference between Sunni and Shia and to claim that there are tremendous similarities is certainly true, but to claim that there are no differences is certainly false.
So, apparently I must be in the lower classes for being a fan of Campbell, and less so of Kevin Barrett, who seems to be an expert bullshitter.
Andrea Iravani
Hi Andrea,
That’s very interesting about the superb analyst Kevin Barrett – I have always thought (though I am certainly no Christian theology scholar) that the Unitarians were the most correct in their views. Of course I am biased in favor of pure monotheism, but that’s always been my take on them – they do seem to be very much in line with the Islamic view of monotheism. Mr. Barrett does much excellent work, and he’s an Islamic brother, certainly, and he is right to stress the similarities between Sunni and Shia rather than focus on marginal differences.
Rumi is supposedly ‘the most popular poet in the US’ – and I think that’s great and easily understandable, because the US and Iran actually have so many cultural similarities. Beyond that – Rumi and Hafez are simply the best poets, and it’s not really even close!
Unitarians encompass people of various faiths. There is not an underlying religious ideology among Unitarians. Unitarianism is more of an inclusive community, and that is a great thing. Yes, I also agree that finding common ground is paramamount, and there is a tremendous amount of common ground to be found amongst various religions, however, it is also important to recognize the differences that various religions and branches also hold. Calling individuals crazy in a derrogatory manner for self-flagellation for Ashura, when the individuals are expressing the mourning of the matyred Hossein, is unlikely to further any goals towards common ground or unity and is extremely insulting to Shias. If it is a concern that they are harming themselves, ( and the majority are not from my understanding, but more of a symbolic display that does not physically harm, ) then there are more productive ways to request that they stop harming themselves rather than calling them crazy, and of course, the tone of voice says a great deal, and the tone combined with crazy was really quite offensive.
Personally, I choose for myself to stay away from organized religion, because there are just too many wolves and control freaks within organized religion, from my personal experience. There are definitely many in organized religion who are not wolves, but it is a dangerous world, and I have to protect myself from the wolves.
Andrea Iravani
Unitarianism is not really a religion, IMO. At least it does not feel like a religion.
It is more like Religion Lite.
It is more a social action group.
I have been to a number of Unitarian services and they leave me quite cold, despite all of the social activism, etc.
Quakers have a stronger spiritual foundation.
I get more from a Catholic service or a Quaker Meeting or a Bible-thumping fundamentalist type service in the South than I get from a Unitarian service. At a bible thumping service in a rural church in North Carolina I was getting nervous—I thought I might just suddenly get up and start to testify . . . I didn’t *want* to, but there was such a strong force to do exactly that—abandon self-control, just for the heck of it . . . Come to Jesus . . .
Phew!
Another interesting little quote from Ansary, Destiny Disrupted:
“Christian fundamentalist[s’] . . . discourse revolves around accepting Jesus Christ as one’s savior (whereas no Muslim would ever say “Mohammed is our savior”). So the argument between Christian and Muslim “fundamentalists” comes down to: Is there only one God or is Jesus Christ our savior? Again, that’s not a point-counterpoint; that’s two people talking to themselves in separate rooms” (p. 351).
Katherine
Katherine,
I have never atteneded either a Quaker meeting or Southern Christian fundamentalist meeting, so I hhave no experience in either of those, but do agree with what you said about Unitarian Universalists, and I still really do not relate to organized religion, which includes Catholic Mass, but that is my personal choice, and what works for me.
Society is just too corrupt, insane, and evil right now for me to participate in. The risks exceed the rewards, tragically. I never imagined that It would even be possible that I would have that opinion, but I do now. Unfortunately, most people are evil. I really do not want to be a part of this world anymore, but that is hardly new. Time on earth is a life sentence. Some are unbothered by the evil and corruption. If I said that I envied them, I would be lying, because I detest them and would sooner die than be like them.
Andrea Iravani
“Time on earth is a life sentence.”
It does feel as though we are living in “end times.”
So many before us have had to endure terrible, terrible times, lives that were like a torture, and horrible deaths.
Perhaps they only knew the terrors of their times and lives, without having the terrible gift of understanding what actually was going on around them.
Which we have through our modern communications technologies and via our own brains’ ability to access them–for better or for worse.
Without our parents’ gift of life we wouldn’t be here at all, to apprehend the world.
I am starting to get on (in age) and I do try to remember every day this precious gift of life that came from my extremely imperfect parents. Look up at the sky if all else fails.
Katherine
Stick around Andrea. The world needs hearts as big as yours. Best wishes.
What? Nothing like the “Call to Prayer” in Unitarianism? Maybe that’s what Kevin appreciates about Islam after the theology: the passion!
Hi Ramin
Do you perhaps mean that Rumi and Hafez were the best Persian poets (smiles)? Kabir, Vyasa, William Blake to name a few were more than close.
“To see a world in a grain of sand
And Heaven in a wild flower
Hold Eternity in the palm of your hand
And Infinity in an hour”
Blake
“Both read the Bible day and night
But you read’st black where I read white”
Blake
Best wishes
Americans still have the 9-11 and the 19 Islamic terrorists myth rattling around in their poor propagandized heads, so I would think most Muslims living here are wise enough to keep their heads down and maintain a low profile. In this case, no influence at all is probably their best outcome. The truth, were it ever heard, would certainly set them free, but of course the US remains and will remain firmly a
no truthzone for the foreseeable future.Yes, but many Americans now know who the real perps of 9/11 were, and how that horrible event was used as the pretext for all the wars of this century. We are much more aware and connected in 2020, thanks to the internet, and won’t be so easily fooled this time around.
News flash: Iran sinks the carrier USS Sitting Duck in the Persian Gulf. Attack Iran! NOT!
You have much more faith in Americans than I, Tommy. Even bringing up 9-11 in the polite company I know; never mind getting into the details, motivations, and perps, will get you permanently ostracized lickety-split. Myths are powerful things, having far deeper meaning than mere “facts.” Remember the Maine(!)? Pearl Harbor? Gulf of Tonkin? OKC? False-flags all.
So, true. I’ve been banned from commenting on at least 3 limited-hangout alternative news sites by pointing out how the “official narrative” of that awful event couldn’t possibly be true. As for Americans, fully one quarter of them think the Sun goes around the Earth. Google it if you don’t believe me. My faith is not in them to make intelligent decisions as they’ve, as you pointed out, been run off the cliff like a bunch of lemmings by phony pretexts for war too many times to count. But eventually many come to realize that they’ve been bamboozled and that the same folks who’ve been lying to them are also the ones with the most to gain from all these f-ing wars.
Good article, with a couple points that stood out in particular:
Mao’s sentiment that the relationship of China to Vietnam as akin to that of teeth to lips reminded me of Ho Chi Minh’s statement, “I’d rather smell French sh*t for 50 years than eat Chinese sh*t for 500 years.”
The statement, “…pagans (this term always seems to be used as a pejorative) who worship a god/idol made by their own hands” got me thinking that all humanity, including those of the “big 3” Abrahamic religions, have been “making gods/idols with their own hands” since the first campfire tales about the stars were told thousands upon thousands of years ago.
In fine, those who wish to exert power over others, whether through politics or religion/”culture,” have no “brothers” or “sisters;” they only have their own selfish desire (to steal Ramin’s expression) to “impose their imperialist domination [on] friends and foes alike.”
Again, great article; thanks for posting.
p.s. Joseph Campbell got nothin’ on Carl Sagan ^_^
I’m sure there’s a religious logic behind this which a polytheist could explain,…
God is everywhere. He’s in the pillars, he’s in the crumbs. One can call upto him from anywhere anytime. That’s what the greatest polytheistic religion is all about. Democracy of belief.
As a Lutheran, it was put to me that the Trinity is like how I am a father, a son, and a brother all at the same time, not three different people.
It was just an analogy that tried to explain a limited human conception the living God, who is actually beyond all human understanding.
Choosing a bad analogy doesn’t get anyone close to understanding God. To understand God, only unadulterated truth will do.
So, true… and the truth shall make you free.
“Christians mostly connote Abraham with his willingness to sacrifice his son”
Maybe philosophically inclined cultural Christians, but in churches the connotation is hearing God’s voice, leaving his ancestral gods and land, and heading to an unknown promised land: Abraham is the quintessential man of faith, holding on to the promise of God no matter the cost.
Jesus the Christ; who was he?
The Holy Quran is a written record of oral instruction given to Muhammad (PBOH) the prophet by Gabriel the archangel who is an emissary of God the Father. Gabriel told the prophet a number of facts about Jesus. Christ was born of a virgin birth; he worked miracles and was the messiah of the lost sheep, that being the Jews. The prophet was an illiterate man who only knew the experiences of everyday mortal life and was fearful of the encounter with the heavenly voice of an angel. Gabriel calmed him and began to fill the chosen one with virtue and love for the Father and the Father alone. Although Christ is revered in the Quran as a great prophet unto himself, he is not God the Father.
As a Christian, I agree with that interpretation and therefore do not accept the concept of the “God Trinity” as taught by the mainstream clergy. I do believe in the trinity of the Logos of God the Father is consubstantial in Christ and the great comforter that Christ left mankind with, that being the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not God the Father simply because he never intimated in any way that he was the incarnate of God the Father here on Earth.
“I and my Father are one.” This is the verse from John 10:30 (KJV 1611) that is crux of the belief that Jesus is God, meaning God the Father. However if the entire chapter is read carefully, we see a different meaning since this chapter is a record of the parable of the shepherd and his sheep. Christ is teaching that he is the shepherd of the Jews and the way for them to eternal life with God the Father is through him. But what about the Gentiles; what was to become of them going forward?
Christ did not abandon Christians and Muslims; he clearly spoke about us here:
” And other sheep I have,which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” John 10:16 (KJV 1611).
Christ is the corporeal embodiment of God’s word, the good Shephard of us all and my Lord and Savior.
Who was Christ? He was the begotten Son of God as we learned during his baptism:
” And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Mathew 3:16-17, KJV 1611).
The Holy Quran reminds us Christians that God the Father is the supreme and only deity that must not be overshadowed by an overemphasis of Christ’s ministry, which was solely about spreading the Logos of God the Father for he was one in substance (the word) with him.
Having no islamic influence is something very positive..
Europe is suffering tremendously for accepting them.
Crimes is very high in muslim dominated areas.
Terrorism is something common in Europe (just today, a french teacher was decapitated).
I just hope USA keeps being a muslim-free zone.
As a teenager I lived on a commune in the south. We had Pirvalyat Khan to teach us to dance ourselves into ecstasy. It was incredible. He brought maybe a hundred devotees with him. There were a few hundred of us dancing with the dervishes. It is one of the top ten experiences of my life.
OTOH, I went to a church once. I will never go again. Total rubbish. As recently as 3 weeks ago, just having evacuated from a fire so jerkwater evangelist came around and asked if I wanted eternal life. I said no. I really f cking don’t. I told him I would rather go to hell and help suffering people. He couldn’t understand that at all.
I heard somewhere, when I was quite young, that the word Islam loosely translates to the word Peace. Is that true? I don’t doubt it, makes sense (as far as differentiation between the faithful and the ‘self identifiers’ is concerned). Honestly, that makes sense to me, though I’m not ‘classically educated’.
I console you on your assignment to America (quite the eye opener, surely), however it could prove to be ‘not without merit, or value’. I do hope you are well, and wish you well also.
‘Muhammad Ali was an American professional boxer, activist, and philanthropist. Nicknamed “The Greatest”, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time. Wikipedia’
All faiths that place anything into the unverifiable box of the metaphysical, are pagan. Islam has its 99 names of God, so there we go!
The only faiths that are not pagan are the Dhamma of a Buddha and the scientific method of observation/measurement. (the faith of atheism says ‘God does not exist’, which is, an unverifiable description of the metaphysical’!)
That being said, pagans fight too much between themselves. And over unverifiables!
First, many thanks for all your articles through the years Ramin. You have a good heart.
“…,.Islam is an undeniable continuation of Jesus, Moses, Abraham and Adam which can in no way be separated not questioned”
Using the same logic how can Baha’i not be considered a continuation of the same? I understand that Baha’i practitioners are not well treated in Iran. For myself I believe the main problem of all religions is they idolise the messenger but forget the message.
If everyone read the Koran there would be little misunderstanding.
It isn’t very long- easily read over a weekend.
Start today.
Excellent article. It’s true. I lived in the US for 23 years. The only time the Muslims in the US had any influence in politics is when they were conned (by their own Muslim leaders, upon promises from Repulsicans) into voting as a block for Bush Jr. And we know how kind he was to our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan and Iraq…yeah, they were treated with bouquttes of flowers. Now the Americans are looking to get out of those quagmires but looking for a face-saving way.
Dear Ramin, your articles at our site (Turkish):
http://medyasafak.net/haber/2841/rehber-uzerinde-yaptirimlar-milyoner-molla-mitinin-sonu-1
http://medyasafak.net/haber/2844/rehber-uzerinde-yaptirimlar-milyoner-molla-mitinin-sonu-2
http://medyasafak.net/haber/2847/rehber-uzerinde-yaptirimlar-milyoner-molla-mitinin-sonu-3-
Sadly, this presumably Muslim author does does not see ISLAM fundamentally influenced America before even that country came into being. He should have known or traced a unique historical chain which consisted of 1. The high status and existential threat of the Ottoman Turks on Western Europe 2. The fed-up German hostility to the backward and corrupt CATHOLIC CHURCH (IROME) and 3. the German attempt to reform Christianity to suit German tastes and German perception of things to reach somehow a status to the religion of the Turks. (Best way to explain Luther’s glowing words for ISLAM and his motivation.) This historical European event is known as the Reformation and ends with the emergence of a new religion called ‘Protestantism’ and it is this religion that is, or was, the main religion of the North Americans.