[moki]

I'd imagine he's rather controversial in Islamic circles... but he makes some good points, in my opinion

from: http://www.paktoday.com/mansur20.htm

.....

Dirty Little Secrets

By: Salim Mansur

In the latter half of the 20th century, the struggle for Islam's soul turned most bloody and relentlessly continues that way. The seeds for this were sown in the first half of the last century, when most Arab-Muslim lands were under European rule. It was then that many Muslim enthusiasts for reconciling traditional Islam with the scientific and democratic values of the modern world embraced the doctrines of nationalism in their most reactionary form, as found in post-1914 Germany.

The result reduced Islam into a nationalist identity for Arabs and Muslims. Many Muslim fundamentalists later incorporated this reactionary nationalism for their own purpose of constructing totalitarian states. The pernicious effect of such a fusion of nationalism with religion was to empty Islam of its transcendent message of faith in a supreme God as the common ground of unity among all people.

In India, for instance, Islamic nationalism generated the whirlwind of communal carnage in the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. Wounds of that bloody division remain today. But it was in the Middle East where nationalism fused with Islam into a political ideology - Islamism - whose effects have brought ruin to the region - and beyond.

The dirty secret apologists for this tragedy in North America and elsewhere refuse to address is how Muslims have suffered as a result of Islamism, have been driven from their homes, tortured and killed across the Arab-Muslim world. There has been no systematic collection of this horrible data over the past five decades, but the numbers run into millions.

It matters little within the larger context of the struggle for Islam's soul whether Muslims have been primarily the victims of tyrannical authority in Muslim majority states, or of Islamists waging battles against corrupt power elites. No one in the Arab-Muslim world during this period exceeded the bloody-mindedness of Iraq's fallen despot, Saddam Hussein, who blended a Nazi-type nationalism with his version of Islamism into a sheer hell for Iraqis.

The world also witnessed many Islamists and Muslim apologists rallying to Saddam's defence with contorted arguments of anti-imperialism in all of its variations. The other dirty secret is the continuing victimization of Palestinians by many of their fellow Arabs, and of their being used as pawns in the war of Islamists against Jews and Israel.

Neither Islam, nor Muslims, have any quarrel with Jews and Israel. The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis was, and remains, a nationalist contest over land. This contest could have been avoided, or settled at any time since the full reality of the Holocaust became known, if Arab Muslims in a position to lead had chosen to live by the principles of Islam.

Instead, they opted for the German model of nationalism in opposing Jewish demands for a homeland in historic Palestine. Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, was the leader of the Palestinians during the years between the world wars of the last century. His embrace of the German fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, during World War II was not a whimsical choice.

Islamists deliberately incorporated the racist doctrine of the Nazis into their thinking and politics, and brazenly propagated anti-Semitic literature as a tool in their war against the Jews and Israel. Consequently, the damage Islamists have done to the very legitimate grievances of Palestinians is immense.

Moreover, many Muslims, in supporting Palestinian rights without repudiating the rabid anti-Semitism of the Islamists, have contributed to the undermining of Islam as a religion of peace and coexistence and sabotaged their moral authority to speak of justice in Palestine, or elsewhere.

This internal conflict raging among Muslims during the past 50 years was bound to spill over into the outside world with devastating effects on 9/11.

Now America has become involved in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world as never before. Ironically, or by providential design, the future of Islam and of Muslims if they are to be free of the fanaticism of the Islamists, is bound to America's success in this war on terrorism.

(Salim Mansur is a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario.)

[Krusty]

He makes some good points .. especially regarding the rise of Islamism and despotism in the Middle East. What he says about general Arab views of Palestinians rings true from my personal experience. In my time in Egypt, it seemed more like "Let them go back to Palestine !! ...[quietly] so they'll quit causing a fuss and annoying us here"

The one flaw I see in his article is the last paragraph

Now America has become involved in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world as never before. Ironically, or by providential design, the future of Islam and of Muslims if they are to be free of the fanaticism of the Islamists, is bound to America's success in this war on terrorism.

How does he come to this conclusion ?? This is just a pure op-ed statement about what he thinks will solve the problems in the ME. Maybe the problem would be solved if the US quit sticking its nose in the business of every single country that exports oil. That may not be the answer .. but I provided just about as much support for that opinion as the author did for his (which is to say, none). In fact, if you wanna get picky about it, the US seems to be acting as a major force propping up theocratic, Islamic regimes. Our biggest ally in the region (Saudi Arabia) is an Islamic monarchy for pete's sake. We also spent the better part of an entire decade funding and supporting the group in Afghanistan that went on to become the Taliban when they were fighting to stave off the soviets.

[lil'babykitten]

What Krusty said.

The writer's conclusion is unfounded and he doesn't explain it very well.

[eklipse]

Originally posted by moki:
Dirty Little Secrets

By: Salim Mansur

In the latter half of the 20th century, the struggle for Islam's soul turned most bloody and relentlessly continues that way. The seeds for this were sown in the first half of the last century, when most Arab-Muslim lands were under European rule. It was then that many Muslim enthusiasts for reconciling traditional Islam with the scientific and democratic values of the modern world embraced the doctrines of nationalism in their most reactionary form, as found in post-1914 Germany.

The result reduced Islam into a nationalist identity for Arabs and Muslims. Many Muslim fundamentalists later incorporated this reactionary nationalism for their own purpose of constructing totalitarian states. The pernicious effect of such a fusion of nationalism with religion was to empty Islam of its transcendent message of faith in a supreme God as the common ground of unity among all people.

In India, for instance, Islamic nationalism generated the whirlwind of communal carnage in the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. Wounds of that bloody division remain today. But it was in the Middle East where nationalism fused with Islam into a political ideology - Islamism - whose effects have brought ruin to the region - and beyond.

The dirty secret apologists for this tragedy in North America and elsewhere refuse to address is how Muslims have suffered as a result of Islamism, have been driven from their homes, tortured and killed across the Arab-Muslim world. There has been no systematic collection of this horrible data over the past five decades, but the numbers run into millions.

It matters little within the larger context of the struggle for Islam's soul whether Muslims have been primarily the victims of tyrannical authority in Muslim majority states, or of Islamists waging battles against corrupt power elites. No one in the Arab-Muslim world during this period exceeded the bloody-mindedness of Iraq's fallen despot, Saddam Hussein, who blended a Nazi-type nationalism with his version of Islamism into a sheer hell for Iraqis.

The world also witnessed many Islamists and Muslim apologists rallying to Saddam's defence with contorted arguments of anti-imperialism in all of its variations. The other dirty secret is the continuing victimization of Palestinians by many of their fellow Arabs, and of their being used as pawns in the war of Islamists against Jews and Israel.

Neither Islam, nor Muslims, have any quarrel with Jews and Israel. The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis was, and remains, a nationalist contest over land. This contest could have been avoided, or settled at any time since the full reality of the Holocaust became known, if Arab Muslims in a position to lead had chosen to live by the principles of Islam.

Instead, they opted for the German model of nationalism in opposing Jewish demands for a homeland in historic Palestine. Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, was the leader of the Palestinians during the years between the world wars of the last century. His embrace of the German fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, during World War II was not a whimsical choice.

Islamists deliberately incorporated the racist doctrine of the Nazis into their thinking and politics, and brazenly propagated anti-Semitic literature as a tool in their war against the Jews and Israel. Consequently, the damage Islamists have done to the very legitimate grievances of Palestinians is immense.

Moreover, many Muslims, in supporting Palestinian rights without repudiating the rabid anti-Semitism of the Islamists, have contributed to the undermining of Islam as a religion of peace and coexistence and sabotaged their moral authority to speak of justice in Palestine, or elsewhere.

This internal conflict raging among Muslims during the past 50 years was bound to spill over into the outside world with devastating effects on 9/11.

Now America has become involved in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world as never before. Ironically, or by providential design, the future of Islam and of Muslims if they are to be free of the fanaticism of the Islamists, is bound to America's success in this war on terrorism.

Worthless, meandering babble.

I've read better essays on Arab nationalism from second-year PolSci students.

[dfiler]

The author makes a big assumption even before putting pen to paper. That is, he assumes that there are huge problems in the Muslim world as compared to the rest of the planet.

Here in the US we have an incarceration rate unprecedented by any previous civilization. Our military is spread around the globe, enforcing our will and killing, what works out to, tens of thousands a year on average.

We also wage economic warfare, using our powers to further our wealth with little regard to the welfare of others. AIDs drugs for Africa anyone?

Thus... I completely disagree with assumptions this article is based on. Granted, the middle east has it's share of problems.

Many muslims are pissed off, but only as much as any christian or jew would be if placed in the same situation. I place the blame on poverty in the industrial age.

[Zimphire]

In other words, call it rubbish, but by all means don't disprove it.

[budster101]

I blame the iron age.

[ambush]

Your CIA check is in the mail!