Who are the true Muslims – all or none?
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4254526.ece
My reply:
I enjoyed your bravery and honesty.
The real and universal problem is the coherency and interaction of state and religion.
States are weakened and devalued fragmenting everywhere.There are many factors causing this. Religion is but one of the most myriad dispersive factor. But not the only one. Alienation is another. Alienation, disintegration and distrust generate a search for unity and strength.
If the states are inherently weak without a clear division between state and religion there is a marked tendency to disintegrate. But even integrated states contain alienated populations. Often the results of a failed immigration policy. The alienated wish to belong. To be strong. To correct the wrongs as they see them.
The tendency to disintegrate and devolve is not one of Islam. It is world wide, following the globalisation and exploitation we all feel to a greater or lesser degree.
IS and Occupy Wall Street have common antecedents. Their means of action are dissimilar due to their leadership. Or is it chance? The answer is irrelevant.
IS is the amalgam of three trends: A pan devolutionary process of government; the unravelling of artificial states who have no internal cohesion and alienation due to a failed integration of minorities.
One should not attack IS because it is Islam. Islam is irrelevant. IS is wrong because of the means it chose. The means are wrong.
But the causes are there to be seen. Defeating IS will not eradicate the root causes.
And without eradicating the root causes IS will not be beaten.
To suggest that an alliance of Shi’a and capitalist can beat IS is shallow and inept if not repugnant. It is like expecting the breweries to fight alcoholism.
The answer is leadership. The world needs a breed of revolutionary leaders with a vision of peace.
How paradoxical is the thought that this is the way I see Mohammed, Moses and Jesus.
But Gandhi, King and Mandela also fit the bill.
Where are they?