Peter Townsend - Nothing to do with Islam?: Investigating the West’s Most Dangerous Blind Spot

Copyright Peter Townsend 2016

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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PRINT ISBN-13: 978-1-5333360-0-2
PRINT ISBN-10: 1533336008

Contents

Introduction

It is as though they are working from a carefully crafted script.

After every single high-profile Islamic terror attack, Western political leaders rush to find a microphone that they can use to declare that, despite appearances to the contrary, the event had nothing to do with Islam. This statement is also endlessly repeated in discussions of activities linked with groups that quite explicitly base their identity on the Islamic faith of their adherents (e.g., Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, etc.). The nothing to do with Islam claim is often made in such a soothing, not to mention condescending, tone that we are left with the distinct impression that any assertion of a link between Islam and violence is the height of folly.

The scale and scope of this effort to get Islam off the hook for violence committed in its name is quite astounding. In fact, it seems that there is hardly a Western leader who is not getting in on the act. A few examples:

The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. Thats not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists dont represent peace. They represent evil and war. U.S. President George W. Bush in a speech at the Islamic Center of America in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks.

Islam is a peaceful and tolerant identifying element of many countries and many peoples. J.L. Rodriguez Zapatero, Spanish Prime Minister on the anniversary of the Madrid train bombings (11 March 2004) which killed 191 people.

In the end, it is by the power of argument, debate, true religious faith and true legitimate politics that we will defeat this threat. That means not just arguing against their terrorism, but their politics and their perversion of religious faith. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair in a keynote speech delivered in response to the 7/7 Bombings (7 July 2005) in London.

The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism it is an important part of promoting peace. U.S. President Barack Obama in his Cairo Speech to the Muslim World (4 June 2009).

They boast of their brutality. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense. Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslims. They are monsters. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron responding to the killing by ISIS of aid worker David Haines (14 September 2014).

[It is the assumption of] being allowed to act, punish, kill on Gods behalf But for me, this is nothing but blasphemy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (15 January 2015).

Not to be divided means we must not make any confusion concerning these terrorists and fanatics that have nothing to do with the Muslim religion. French President Franois Hollande speaking after a deadly jihadist attack on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Kosher deli (7 January 2015).

I have discussed recent developments with world leaders and all are united in our condemnation of this terrorism. We are united in our steadfast commitment to defeating those who carry out these terrorist acts. The leaders of the Muslim nations with whom I have met in the last weekhave all said loudly that ISILs deeds and ideology defame and blaspheme Islam and are utterly contrary to the precepts of authentic Islam. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in a statement to parliament following the 13 November 2015 Paris terror attacks.

Lets be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. Hillary Clinton in a tweet sent out in the aftermath of the 13 November 2015 Paris terror attacks.

And here you were thinking that we elect our leaders based on their competence in managing the economy. Turns out, their area of expertise is Islamic theology! Jokes aside, have you ever stopped to think about how utterly absurd this state of affairs is?

On the one hand, we have a constant stream of people committing acts of violence while invoking the Quran and their faith in Islam as justification for their deeds. Were doing this for Islam! they declare. Oh no, youre not! comes the swift reply from our politicians and media. So, we are essentially left with a group of non-Muslims, most of whom have probably never read the Quran before, telling some of the most devout Muslims on the planet that they completely misunderstand their own faith.

Absurd it may be, but the confident pronouncements of our politicians and media elites about true Islam has become so deeply embedded in Western consciousness that even the most carefully phrased questioning of the Islam is a religion of peace mantra is liable to get the questioner labelled as a hateful and ignorant caveman.

There are, of course, several problems with this scenario. The first, and most obvious, has already been identified. Those who make such confident pronouncements about the true nature of Islam often operate from a very limited understanding of the teachings of the faith. They may sincerely believe that Islam is a religion of peace, but will almost certainly be unable to defend this position by referencing key Islamic texts to back up their positions. Their arguments are, therefore, essentially arguments from ignorance. This is deeply ironic given the fact that critics of Islam (who in many cases make their arguments based on a careful reading of the Quran and traditions) are regularly labelled as ignorant by those pushing the Islam is peace doctrine.

The second major problem with the constant parroting of the nothing to do with Islam line is that it is deeply condescending and patronizing towards the many devout Muslims who honestly believe that their faith commands them to wage war against unbelievers. We obviously do not have to agree that war for the sake of Allah is a good idea, but we should, at the very least, meet those who hold such views on their own terms by recognizing that they hold their views sincerely and that they see their beliefs as a legitimate expression of their Islamic faith.

The state of affairs described above is quite unique in the history of human conflict. Not only are many in the West in complete denial over the fact that a conflict even exists (we are constantly told that We are not at war with Islam) and that the reason behind this state of war is the fact that most Westerners are non-Muslims. To add insult to injury, our leaders and media then proceed to declare that these enemies cannot simply mean their declarations of war as it is supposedly at odds with a Western understanding of what Islam should truly be.

This kind of denial is not only ridiculous; it is also dangerous. It does not take a genius to work out that a declaration of war should always be taken seriously. This includes coming to terms with the ideological underpinning of such declarations. During the Cold War, some of the brightest minds in the West were co-opted into the struggle to help our leaders understand and defeat Communism. Today we are, once again, engaged in a struggle that poses an existential threat to our civilization. This time, however, the highest priority of most of our leaders seems to be to pretend that it is not happening. The mind boggles.

The worst aspect of the denialism that reaches to the very top echelons of Western political leadership is the fact that the refusal to face reality on the true nature of Islam is not merely confined to the personal opinions of our leaders. It has been translated into very definite policy initiatives. These range from the freezing out (or in extreme cases criminalization). Why, after-all, should law enforcement agencies pay special attention to the followers of a supposedly peaceful religion? In light of the above, it could plausibly be argued that the refusal to critically evaluate widely held beliefs about Islam (and to instinctively tar those who do with slurs like Islamophobe and hater) is more than a bit of forgivable intellectual laziness it is putting lives in danger.