If you gain mastery over them in battle, inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them, so that they would learn a lesson and be warned. — Qur’an 8:57
Allah made the Jews leave their homes by terrorizing them so that you killed some and made many captive. And He made you inherit their lands, their homes, and their wealth. He gave you a country you had not traversed before. — Qur’an 33:26
It’s been said that the Cold War was a conflict of civilizations, between opposing ideological views of the world. But it can also be seen as a simple geopolitical struggle between blocs. From the end of WWII until the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was common to find local disputes turned into proxy wars by the opposing powers. There were also conflicts that were primarily instigated by the powers, as they tried to find an advantage in the struggle to protect or extend their spheres of influence. While there were exceptions, I think it is correct to say that there was a degree of centralized control, or at least strong influence, over much of the mischief in the world, and it was located in Moscow (or, if you prefer, Washington — my point is the same).
Today we are in the midst of a real conflict of civilizations, one which has been under way for much longer than the duration of the Cold War. It has gone up and down in intensity, sometimes remaining on simmer for hundreds of years, sometimes erupting into large-scale conflict, taking the form of traditional war, economic struggle, demographic competition, or all of those.
Unlike the cold war, this war is not directed from the capitals of the great powers. And unlike the cold war, in which ideology was wielded as a tool of the combatants, this war is in essence a war between ideologies. And at least on one side, it has become a truly grass-roots struggle.
Of course I am talking about the religion-ideology of Islam, whose endeavor to overpower the West has been going on for hundreds of years.
And not just the West. Most people are familiar with the rapid Muslim conquest of the Middle East and North Africa, and Islam’s advance into Europe until it was stopped at Tours in 732, but not the conquest of India which primarily took place during the 12th century, with Muslim rule dominating until the 1700’s. Indonesia, today the most populous Muslim nation in the world probably obtained its Muslim majority around 1600, with Islam gradually driving out minority Christian, Hindu and animist beliefs since then. In Africa, Islam moved southward and inland from the coasts, more or less continuously until the present day, when bloody fighting continues.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that one of the most important ‘commandments’ of Muslim doctrine is to spread Islam throughout the world, by any means necessary. To do Jihad.
The struggle with the West was on hold for several centuries, as the Christian nations of Europe made comparatively rapid scientific, technological and economic progress, in some cases actually turning history (and Islamic doctrine) on its head by colonizing or at least controlling Muslim lands. Militarily, it was no contest, with traditional Muslim fighters on horseback facing machine guns, tanks and air forces.
But something has changed. Europe has to a great extent abandoned its Christian faith, and even seems to have abandoned its desire to reproduce, with birth rates below the replacement level. It has no stomach for warfare, or even to confront small-scale attrition by terrorism and ‘crime’ by Muslim immigrants (whose birthrate is much higher than that of the natives). The question is not ‘will Europe fall?’ but when it will happen.
Why did I mention Christianity? Because when individuals believe that the world ends with their own death, why should they care about the future of their culture as a whole? This is why religious belief is critical to cultural survival. Worse, what replaced Christianity is a secular humanism which is hostile to nationalism or peoplehood. What does a European have to fight for?
Muslims have learned to use modern weapons, and in places where the terrain and home field advantage is favorable enough, have managed to hold off Western armies, if not defeat them. The crown jewel of Western military technology, the nuclear bomb, is now in Muslim hands, although it is yet to be used. And the degree of commitment to Islam and Islamic ideology is growing and deepening among Muslims everywhere, thanks in part to modern technology.
The United States is today the country with the greatest number of Christians in the world (about 246 million), many of whom are more than nominal believers. Its fertility rate hovers around 2.1 children per woman, which is close to the replacement rate for developed nations (by contrast, fertility in the European Union is a shockingly low 1.59). It has (although this is changing) the greatest ability of any nation in the world to deploy military force. With Europe lost, the US is the greatest obstacle to worldwide Islamic hegemony.
And now we have to come to grips with something remarkable: the reaction by the elites in the US to a vicious blow struck at the economic center of American, indeed, Western civilization — a blow struck in the clearest possible way in the name of Islam — has been to pretend that there is no civilizational conflict, to pretend that Islam is not the problem.
No, the problem is described as ‘terrorism’, or as one particular Islamist group or another. Twelve years after 9/11 and a series of murderous attacks on Americans by Muslims in the name of Islam, it is absolutely forbidden to see this as part of a struggle that has been going on since the Seventh Century, a jihad to establish Islamic rule everywhere.
Because we refuse to face this admittedly uncomfortable fact, we don’t understand events like the Boston bombing. We don’t understand that this is not a struggle between the US and a particular group, but a decentralized jihad by Muslims against the West. The Tsarnayevs, the Ft. Hood shooter, the Times Square bomber, the shoe-bomber, the underwear bomber, the Seattle Jewish Federation shooter, etc. are not crazy people, nor simple criminals, nor fighters belonging to a particular terrorist group. They are jihadists — a word Homeland Security employees are forbidden to use — who are following Mohammed’s injunction to “terrorize” the infidels.
They are volunteers in the decentralized conflict of civilizations.
But anyone who says this is accused of bigotry and hatred on the level of the Ku Klux Klan or the Nazi party, by our government, the academic establishment and liberal Christian and Jewish organizations! They are not allowed to speak, because we are supposedly so worried about feeding a (practically nonexistent) ‘backlash’ against Muslims that we are not allowed to talk about the real danger from Islamic jihad.
I hate and reject conspiracy theories. But I can’t understand what is wrong with us.
I haven’t mentioned Israel yet, because Israel and the Jews are only a tiny part — a remnant of themselves, actually — of the world that Islam wants for itself. But today the line of conflict runs exactly through Israel, through Jerusalem in fact. A great deal of the Qur’an deals with Jews, because Jews gave Mohammed a lot of trouble. Today they are again a bone in the throat of Islam, an actual sovereign state in the heart of the land of which Muslims claim exclusive ownership. Does it make sense that our administration would favor weakening Israel rather than supporting her in her struggle?
This isn’t rocket science — just look at history!