Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions about the World's Fastest-Growing Faith

by Robert Spencer

  This is a point that few, if any, Western commentators have remarked upon. A jihad such as that declared against the United States by bin Laden is not the sort of war that ends with the victory of one side and the defeat of the other, heralded by the signing of a peace treaty and the other trappings of the conclusion of modern warfare. Instead, it's just an episode in the ongoing Muslim struggle against the unbelieving world.

  Karen Armstrong acknowledges that "Muslim jurists ... taught that, because there was only one God, the whole world should be united in one polity and it was the duty of all Muslims to engage in a continued struggle to make the world accept the divine principles and create a just society." The House of War "should be made to surrender to God's rule. Until this had been achieved, Islam must engage in a perpetual warlike effort." But, she says, "this martial theology was laid aside in practice and became a dead letter once it was clear that the Islamic empire had reached the limits of its expansion about a hundred years after Muhammad's death.""

  The problem is that however much of a dead letter it became in practice during times of weakness in the House of Islam, no one laid it aside in principle. No one seems to have told the warriors of jihad who besieged Europe through the seventeenth century that the Islamic empire had already reached the limits of its expansion centuries before. No one seems to have told the modern-day warriors and apostles of Islam from Bosnia to the Philippines that jihad is a dead letter, and that Islam isn't doing any more expanding. Historian Paul Fregosi observes that from the time of Muhammad, "the purpose of Jihad became, and basically still is, to expand and extend Islam until the whole world is under Muslim rule."17

  Jihad will no more end with Osama bin Laden than it began with him. As the Encyclopedia of Islam put it in 1913, "Islam must be completely made over before the doctrine of jihad can be eliminated."" If anything about the future is certain, it is that whatever the ultimate outcome of the war on terrorism may be, there will be more jihads as long as there are people who take the Qur'an as the word of Allah and the Sunnah as second only to the Qur'an as a reliable guide to behavior.

  Demographic Jihad

  On the other hand, if demographic trends continue, jihad may not be necessary. The Islamicization of the West will happen, but in a slower, less dramatic way.

  The population in the Muslim world is skyrocketing, while in the lands that once were Christendom it is aging and diminishing. According to the CIA, in the twenty-first century "the population of the region that served as the locus for most loth Century history-Europe and Russia-will shrink dramatically in relative terms; almost all population growth will occur in developing nations that until now have occupied places on the fringes of the global economy." Moreover, "of the 1.5 billion people that the world population will gain by 2020"-less than twenty years from now-"most will be added to states in Asia and Africa." Those growing fastest will be Muslim nations, including some of those that are currently the most militant. "Many developing nations will experience substantial youth bulges: the largest proportional youth populations will be located in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iraq."19 In Europe, meanwhile, the population bulge is among the aged.

  In 2000, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians comprised 30 percent of the global population and Muslims z9 percent. But one estimate predicts that if present trends continue, by 2025 Muslims will substantially outnumber Christians, comprising 30 percent of the world's people, with Christians constituting 25 percent.20

  Demographic predictions are always risky. But these predictions aren't pulled out of thin air: populations are already exploding in the Muslim world, just as they are already declining in the West. A recent news item from Saudi Arabia is emblematic of current trends: the 133year-old Hussein Rashid al-Sowaikat al-Baqami died on May 8, 2002, leaving behind "the last of his nine wives, 23 sons and 113 grandchil- dren."21 A story from the Gaza Strip is similar: "The Gaza Strip's oldest resident, Haj Abdullah Kadurah, died last week at the age of 128. For the last 70 years he had served as a muezzin [caller to prayer] of the Tufeh neighborhood mosque, located next to his home. Kadurah is survived by more than 240 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren."22

  Granted, not every Muslim lives twelve decades and leaves behind hundreds of descendants, but these two men are emblematic of larger demographic trends. By contrast, imagine a Westerner, born at the same time as Haj Abdullah Kadurah, who had a now-typical two-child family, as did all of his descendants. In five generations he would have a total of 3o descendants, compared with Kadurah's 240.

  Where will all these people go?

  To Europe, where the population decline has made jobs plentiful and immigrants more welcome than ever. They have already gone there in great numbers. In France, Islam is the second-largest religion in the country: there are now about four million Muslims in France, or about 7 percent of the nation's total population. The Muslim population in Germany is approaching 4 percent. There are also about a million Muslims in Italy and half a million in the formerly Muslim land of Spain.

  All these populations are increasing rapidly, as exemplified by the growth of Islam in the Netherlands. According to the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report,

  Only 49 Muslims lived in the country in 1879. After 196o the number of Muslims began to rise due to the arrival of migrant workers, primarily from Morocco and Turkey. Family unification increased their numbers to 234,000 Moroccans and 279,000 Turks by 1998. Additional Muslims came from the former Dutch colony of Suriname. In the past decade, Muslim numbers further increased due to the large numbers of asylum seekers from countries such as Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Bosnia. By 1998 about 700,000 persons, or 4.4 percent of the population, were Muslimthe majority Sunni.23

  As these numbers continue to expand among Europe's aging, secularized populations, Europe will be, in the words of the CIA, "less willing to face up to global hotspots"24-and presumably even less willing when to do so will entail making war against the homelands of large segments of its population.

  Of course, while Muslim enclaves in European cities have already aroused concern, a great many of these immigrants will experience the attraction not only of secularism, but of liberal democracy. The great majority of them, once removed from the heightened emotions and fanaticism of the contemporary House of Islam, will become productive citizens, hardly distinguishable from their neighbors. Human nature is the same the world over. Even so, fanaticism and rage dominate so much of contemporary Islamic discourse that it would be naive to assume that all of the Muslims streaming into Europe are likely to assimilate peacefully into Western culture.

  The ideology of multiculturalism, in fact, dictates that they not assimilate, but rather cling proudly to their Islamic beliefs and traditions. The multiculturalist imperative also coincides neatly with the traditional Muslim view of non-Islamic cultures. Philip Hitti explains that Muslims "call the era before the appearance of Muhammad the Jahiliyah period, a term usually rendered as `time of ignorance' or 'barbarism.' 1121

  V. S. Naipaul encountered this attitude in his travels through the House of Islam. For many Muslims, he observes, "The time before Islam is a time of blackness: that is part of Muslim theology. History has to serve theology." Naipaul explains how at least some Pakistani Muslims, far from valuing the nation's renowned archaeological site at Mohenjo- Daro, see it as a teaching opportunity for Islam:

  A featured letter in Dawn offered its own ideas for the site. Verses from the Koran, the writer said, should be engraved and set up in Mohenjo- Daro in "appropriate places": "Say (unto them, 0 Mohammed): Travel in the land and see the nature of the sequel for the guilty.... Say (0 Mohammed, to the disbelievers): Travel in the land and see the nature of the consequence for those who were before you. Most of them were idol- aters."26

  Likewise in Iran: "In 637 A.D., just five years after the death of the Prophet, the Arabs began to overrun Persia, and all Persia's great past, the past before Isla
m, was declared a time of blackness."27 We have also seen the fruit of this assumption in our own time in Cyprus, where Muslims attempted to use the fourth-century monastery of San Makar as a hotel; in Libya, where Muammar Qaddafi turned Tripoli's Catholic cathedral into a mosque; and in Afghanistan, where the Taliban dynamited the Buddhas of Bamiyan.

  Are All Religions Created Equal?

  It is not true that all religions are basically identical, or that all are essentially peaceful. It would be too pessimistic to say that there are no peaceful strains of Islam, but it would be imprudent to ignore the fact that deeply imbedded in the central documents of the religion is an allencompassing vision of a theocratic state that is fundamentally different from and opposed to the post-Enlightenment Christian values of the West.

  Even in Pakistan, where Christians have suffered so terribly, they are unafraid to tell the whole truth about Islam. The website of the Pakistan Christian Post featured an article entitled "Lesson for Christian Women on Marriage to Any Muslim Man." It cautions Christian girls considering marriage to Muslims that "there is an old saying `Love is blind but marriage is an eye opener.' This could never be truer than with regard to the young western woman marrying into Islam. So take warn- ing!"28 The author then explores Islamic law regarding marriage and the status of women: women are inferior, unclean, subject to corporal punishment and polygamy, and so on.29

  But it seems to be easier to say things like that in Muslim Pakistan, where Christians live under the constant threat of arrest and assault, than in the West. In Western Europe and North America, the fact that Islam at its core contains elements that are not peaceful or benign has become the truth that dares not speak its name.

  Instead, the news media indulges in puerile and outrageously inaccurate comparisons like this one by ABC reporter Jami Floyd: "Since September ii, the word `terrorist' has come to mean someone who is radical, Islamic and foreign. But many believe we have as much to fear from a home-grown group of anti-abortion crusaders."30 On June 7, 2002, the New York Times ran an op-ed piece alleging that Americans are "distracted by our own stereotypes, searching for Muslim terrorists in the Philippine jungle ... and forgetting that there are blond, blue-eyed mad bombers as well." The next day the paper reported that Christian missionary Martin Burnham had been killed in the Philippine jungle as Philippine soldiers attempted to free him from the Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.31

  The Society of Professional journalists, meanwhile warned America's newspeople not to refer to the September ii terrorists without also referring to "white supremacists, radical antiabortionists, and other groups with a history of such activity."32 Similarly, we hear that the Democratic Party plots to "steal the war issue from the Republicans by scapegoating the `religious right,' presenting conservative Christians as the moral equivalent of the Taliban."33

  Such statements and intentions betray an appalling ignorance both of Islam and of our own culture and heritage. Beyond that is outright cultural self-hatred, as manifested by Karen Armstrong in her tendency to blame Christianity for all the misdeeds of Islam, and by Bill Clinton when he blamed the Crusades and American slavery for the September ii terrorist attacks.34 The most disgraceful example of this self-hatred comes from English journalist Robert Fisk, who was beaten by a mob of refugees in Afghanistan soon after the beginning of the war on terrorism. "If I were the Afghan refugees," wrote Fisk, "I would have done just the same to Robert Fisk. Or any other Westerner I could find."35

  The culture of tolerance threatens to render the West incapable of drawing reasonable distinctions. The general reluctance to criticize any non-Christian religion and the almost universal public ignorance about Islam make for a lethal mix.

  These days it's considered in bad taste to point out that the Qur'an and the Bible do not teach identical moral precepts, or that the Muhammad of Islam and the Jesus of Christianity are not interchangeable. Actor Gabriel Byrne expressed a commonplace for many, if not most, modern Westerners when he said that he wanted his children to learn "moral precepts, knowing right from wrong. If they get that from the Koran or the Bible or the Kaballah I don't care."36

  Were Byrne's children really taught the Qur'an, they would likely become quite different people from what they would be as Bible readers. Gabriel Byrne and millions of others in the West either don't know it or won't admit it, but Christianity, the spiritual foundation of secular Western society, and Islam shape different kinds of personalities.

  Human nature is multifaceted. Every individual is subject to an uncountable number of influences during his lifetime. It is usually impossible to isolate with any certainty the real causes that moved anyone to make a particular choice. The terrible imperfection of people who have followed the Jesus of the New Testament is a clear indication that good ideals do not translate smoothly and easily into good actions. Nonetheless, flawed ideals are certainly less likely to do so. That's why it matters what one believes, and why the differences in belief systems are so important.

  Consider the difference we saw in chapter four between how Muslims and Christians have reacted to the case of Sufiyatu Huseini, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death for adultery under the Sharia, although she says she was raped. Bello Sanyinnawal, the presiding judge in the case, was intent on carrying out the letter of the law in his concern for the purity of the Muslim community. But at least one Christian had a different response: if expiation had to be made, Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, the Catholic archbishop of Lagos, was ready to make it, offering his own life in exchange for that of Sufiyatu Huseini.

  Indeed, the Palestinian Muslim Eyad Sarraj noted the same contrast:

  Christianity's message of nonviolence is very important, and it is not there in Islam, and I believe it is not there in Judaism. I would honestly say that if I could choose a religion, I would choose Christianity and its ideal of universal acceptance, love, and forgiveness. It is all so beautiful. It is just so unfortunate that the history of Christianity has nothing to do with these ideas .17

  Perhaps Sarraj would enjoy meeting Archbishop Okogie.

  We have seen that elements of Islam fiercely resist secularism, as well as relativism and indifferentism. Some Muslims are suspicious of non-Muslim cultures and will not assimilate into them, just as they begin to overwhelm them numerically. If anything is certain in the future, it is that these elements will cause more conflicts, and that the West should be prepared for them.

  Sheikh cAbd al-Hamid al-Ansari, dean of the Faculty of Sharia at Qatar University, recently called upon the West to reappraise Islam:

  The West must reexamine the foundations of its view towards us and the ideas it has formulated about us since the period of Orientalism [i.e. Orientalist research] which were based on the [perceptions] of the Middle Ages-according to which Islam is a religion of violence spread by the sword, and the Muslims are wreaking vengeance on modern civilization and do not respect human rights, do not guarantee minority rights, do not believe in the values of democracy and tolerance, and do not behave properly towards women. Similarly, the West needs to refrain from generalizing about Islam and Muslims because of the behavior of a small minority among them.38

  It is one thing, however, to ask for a change in the Western perception of Islam, and quite another to provide evidence to make such a change possible. I would love to take Sheikh al-Ansari at his word and see Islam as entirely benign and enlightened, but it isn't really me that he has to convince; it is his fellow Muslims. Yet the children of Osama and his ilk are not likely to be easily swayed.

  Whether or not Islam ever becomes dominant in Western Europe or elsewhere in the former lands of Christendom, the wars will not end. Militant Islam will not go away with the death of bin Laden, or Arafat, or Saddam Hussein, or anyone else. It will clash increasingly with the weary secular powers that it blames for all the ills of the umma. No one can predict the features of the world that will emerge from these conflicts, except that it will be new, and that it will be difficult-unless there is some wondrous interve
ntion from the Merciful One.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  THIS PROJECT WOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN completed or even begun were it not for Jeff Rubin, whose indefatigable courage, breadth of intellect, and keenness of insight are rare and refreshing.

  Thanks also to Paul Weyrich, Lisa Dean, Clay Rossi, and all at the Free Congress Foundation, as well as to H. W. Crocker III, the Rev. Thomas Steinmetz, and the Rev. Eugene Mitchell, BSO, for their kindness and support. I am also grateful for the help of all those who reviewed the manuscript at its various stages of development: Daniel Ali, Dr. Anis Shorrosh, the Rt. Rev. Gerasimos Murphy, BSO, the Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, and others too numerous to name. The conceptual direction of Peter Collier and the editorial assistance of Carol Staswick at Encounter Books have been enormously helpful in trimming excesses, correcting emphases, and bringing clarity to the entire presentation. I am grateful to all these people for what is true and accurate in this book; only I am responsible for its errors.

  I postponed a good many games and trips to finish this book, and thank my children for their mature understanding, as well as for their ever-delightful support and love. Above all, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to my lovely wife. Her acuity, wit, patience, resourcefulness and love leave me in awe, and fill my life with pure joy.

  NOTES

  Introduction: What Does Islam Really Stand For?

  i. Quoted in David Rohde and C. J. Chivers, "Al Qaeda's Grocery Lists and Manuals of Killing," New York Times, 17 March zooz, p. Ai.

  2. "EU Deplores `Dangerous' Islam Jibe," BBC News, 27 September 2001.

  3. Ibid.