What exactly is stopping you from practicing "more Islam" in your own mosques instead of letting it be controlled by Muslim preachers indulging in political language? It is not like US or any other country mandates that only political preachers be in control of your mosques.
You’re basically jumping on the same narrative bandwagon I’ve criticized and in the process ignore historical facts. I don’t blame you as an Indian, for the Geopolitical trajectory over the past decade has facilitated your National Interest, just as it has done so for Afghanistan, in light of a shared enemy. However, keep in mind that I and my countrymen remain predominantly Muslim, just as you’ve a huge Muslim population of your own to contend with. It helps neither of us to submit ourselves to reckless narratives that Americans with their small Muslim population or the innately exclusivist Europeans on their part can afford to throw around and leave us to deal with. So try and understand me, rather than submit yourself to a dismissive tone in alignment to the National Interest of others.
Unlike Christianity, the Mosque had never enjoyed religious institutional privileges and control by way of the Church to the Vatican, where those Reformation leaders had the one target to take their complaints to, resulting in the Protestant movements and the myriad of discourse within Christianity, leading the way for the Enlightenment. Until recent years, the Mosques were largely independent from any centre or authority inasmuch as they were from each other. It’s only with the latest rise of political Islam (Islamism/IslamoFascism) over the last couple of centuries and their organized penetration into Mosques, that a more homogenous narrative around shared grievances and perceived enemies have been formed. Some of these are ideologically driven, whereas others are extensions of state or intelligence agencies, as you well know. Added to this are widely accepted religious norms that in actual fact run contrary to the teachings of the Quran, but deeply entrenched through centuries of habituation. Whoever assumes that mankind consistently acts logically and reasonably at all times is a fool to be dismissed.
Given this, it would be silly to assume that a movement can be launched from within a Mosque or Islamic institution, when facing off such a well-funded and determined enemy, aided by historically institutionalised and entrenched schools of thought. Moreover, this also requires Liberal minded Muslims like me to do away with our tendency to leave religion to the realm of the private, opting instead for a politically religious confrontation of our own. What I propose is nothing less that a massive revolution against traditional Islam (Salafi, Sunni and Shia alike) that is arguably already under way, albeit in bits and drabs and with no sense of cohesion. It’ll remain that way unless united under a political platform that crosses all borders. The solution to a multi-national political enemy is by way of a multi-national political confrontation. This requires the development of a clear Manifesto, aided by funding, planning and execution, at least initially independent of all Muslim Governments that have their heads buried in the sand.
Why should a non-Muslim American be willing to listen to you when till date you have not found any Muslim American or a Muslim anyone interested in your ideas.
All I’m asking is that they place meaningful action where their mouth is, given an entrenched American belief in the spread of liberties the world over.
You’re obviously not in tune with the developments of Muslim counter-narratives already under way. My own anonymous discourse on the internet alone launched an Afghan American Muslim on his way to enjoy his own thousands of followers, after he asked me if he could take some of my ideas to the public. The problem I have with him is that he’s now reduced the narrative to petty Afghan politics, hence the problem with disjointed and spontaneous movements. For this reason, I’ve become hesitant to anonymously present my case in full, when idiots and enemies alike can run it to the ground for ulterior motives. I’m looking for allies right now.
Also what is this "more Islam" going to be given as per your own words "lack of any formal schools of thought among Muslims that understand and embrace the Enlightenment." Do you mean to say that you finally managed to decipher the correct Islam as opposed to the billions of "practicing" Muslims and Muslim scholars over the last 1400 years?
Are we to hold the American Civil war responsible for the prevalence of institutionalised racism across the United States until the Civil Rights Movements? Are we to hold the Declaration of Independence responsible for the prevalence of institutionalised slavery until the Civil war? Are we to hold Christianity responsible for intra-Christian wars, Church tyrannies and failures to deny Colonialism, State sponsored racism, two world wars, and the rise of Communism from within Christendom? Are we going to hold Hinduism to account for centuries of servitude, facilitated by the prevalence of internal racism that held men of lighter shades of skin to higher esteem?
Off course not.
Because mankind on the whole are fallible, illogical, and devoid of consistency in the employment of sound reasoning. It would be stupid to claim otherwise, when the United States itself is not a Democracy, but a Constitutional Republic. Had this not been the case and Democratic polls and the tyranny of Majority rule were the order of the day, then there wouldn’t be anything in place to control the favourite idiot of the day being voted into office, as had happened in Ancient Greece, Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany.
Any reasonable student of history would inform you that nations, ideas, and religious beliefs are never the same from one generation to another, as they’re all subject to evolutionary reviews and reinterpretation, mostly necessitated by collective NEEDS. Right now, the state of national failures across the Muslim world has fostered the realization for the NEED to review our dilemmas and reflect upon our scriptures to understand where we’ve went wrong. Your disingenuous mockery of Muslims for our inability to “decipher the correct Islam…over the last 1400 years”, is an anti-intellectual rebuttal that neglects any honest intent at arriving to a solution. We know that “power corrupts and absolute power, absolutely corrupts”, so given that the fall of Muslim power from any international relevance has only been two centuries in the making, the NEED for a review and change has simply not availed itself as it has in recent years. It’s a sad reflection of humanity – rather than Islam - that when the going’s good and others have to suffer our own sins, then the motivation isn’t really there to cleanse ourselves from those sins. This is why most Pakistanis herein are far less inclined to criticise their state policies towards Afghanistan, while most of them still remain sheltered from the same savagery that inflicted my nation. Afghans on the other hand are far more exposed to ideas towards our salvation, for we’ve been to hell and back.
Any logical student of the Quran would tell you that our predicament has been earned and that calling oneself a “Muslim” does not protect us from the wrath of God’s natural order. I recall reading a devout Hindu once lamenting years ago that we Afghans have earned what’s coming to us, correctly predicting that our state of affairs would get much worse. The “Karma” he was alluding to however, is very much a shared scriptural warning inherent in both our religions. All mankind who spread wars and mischief across the world will earn what’s coming to them. Given this, we’re all best advised to help rather than to hinder other people’s intentions to fight the good fight. It’s up to you and the American I’ve addressed here to make the right choice. I’ve already made up my mind and know in my heart that come tomorrow or a hundred years from now, what I propose will absolutely succeed. When it does so, we’ll liberate ourselves completely from anyone else’s perceived interests. When we do, our children will look back and remember those who helped and those who hindered….guaranteed. Islam will not go away, but it will transform, either with you or without you.
I was with you until the gratuitous ad hominem in the last paragraph. Putting that aside, then you agree that Japan cannot show the West how to live peacefully with Islam?
That "gratuitous ad hominem" might have misfired, but it was a deliberate intent to give you a friendly nudge. I can get much uglier if I wanted to, but that kind of motivation just isn't there. And no, "the west" as a whole does not qualify....there are "westerners", and then there are the stated exceptions.
Why?
