Militant Islam Reaches America

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Militant Islam Reaches America is a book written by historian Daniel Pipes, published in 2002. It focuses on Islamic fundamentalism and Islamism, reflecting Pipes' view that, as he said in 1995, "Unnoticed by most Westerners, war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States."

Contents

[edit] Defining militant Islam

In the book Pipes defines militant Islam as the fundamentalist or Islamist wing of Islam which has three observable characteristics:

  • Fanatical devotion to religious law
  • Absolute rejection of all non-Islamic cultures and societies
  • Turning a personal faith into a ruling system that knows no constraints

According to Pipes , while Militant Islam is not reflective of all Muslims' views they nevertheless are the views of up to 15% of the Muslim world. In fact Pipes argues that most traditional Muslims disagree with the premises of the fundamentalist and this is demonstrated by the fact that traditional Muslims are often the main victims of militant Islamists. Typically more moderate Muslims are killed by Islamic fundamentalists than non-Muslims as is shown in numerous countries in the Muslim world. In Algeria for example, tens of thousands of Algerians were savagely killed by Islamic militants compared to less than a hundred foreigners.

Pipes explains that while traditional Muslims seeks to live in accord with their personal set of beliefs, militant Islamists aspire to use violence and destruction to bring about a totalitarian world order under the rule of Islam and they will seek to eliminate anyone who stands in their way.

[edit] Background and nature of militant Islam

The author points out that historically between the 7th and 12th centuries , the Islamic civilization went through a successful military conquest period and domination of those areas it occupied, but beginning in the 13th century , Islamic civilization went into decline and eventual disintegration as power and wealth slowly ebbed away under the inexorable advances of Non-Muslim civilizations. Thus , Pipes remarks that having once conceived its own civilization as glorious and superior to that of the infidel, Muslims now found their society clustering at the bottom of all measures of social benchmarks such as military prowess; political stability; economic development; corruption; lack of human rights; health; longevity; literacy. The loss of their conceived golden age, and the humiliation of being out performed in nearly all fields by non-Muslims deepened the sense of alienation and frustration and created deep seated resentment and hatred towards Western civilization.

Militant Islam is thus a response from new generations of Muslims seeking to reclaim their supposed golden age, wanting to bring about the demise of Western civilization and the total imposition of Islamic rule over the world.

"Militant Islam distinguishes itself from any other contemporary political movement in the magnitude of its ambitions, seeking not just to influence the adherents of one religion or control one region. Rather, it aspires to unlimited and universal power"

Other elements of Militant Islam are according to Pipes:

According to Pipes, the characteristics above is visible in Iran ,Sudan and Afghanistan during its Taliban rule .

[edit] Conflict with the West and the United States

Pipes argues that it is "in the nature of all totalitarian movements, all radical utopian movements, like the Fascists, the Communists, and now the Islamists, that sooner or later they get the United States in their sights as the most dangerous enemy they have."

In the West , militant Islam seeks to exploit the hospitality and tolerance and security weaknesses of its host countries to spread its influence and objectives through the immigrant Muslim populations with the goal of subversion of the Western powers and their eventual take over.

They may appear law-abiding and reasonable, but they are part of a totalitarian movement and as such must be considered potential killers

Because tolerance and respect are marks of western civilization, argues Pipes, Muslims are often being given preferential treatment, so much so that the US government has become "a discreet missionary for the faith. Without anyone quite realizing it, the resources of the federal government have been deployed to help Muslims spread their message." Pipes documents numerous examples of just how this is in fact happening.

Terrorism, in other words, is just one dimension of a war that has many fronts and takes many forms. Violence is an important symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. Other methods might include acts of violence by loners, smuggling, rioting, lawful street demonstrations, raising money, teaching, proselytizing, intimidating, and even running for elected office. These methods complement each other, constituting the sophistication and reach of militant Islam. The battleground includes Muslim-majority countries as well as countries like Argentina where Islam is a minor presence.

Pipes argues that if Islamists get their way in Western nations, freedom of speech concerning Islam and militant Islam would all but cease. It is becoming increasingly difficult to say anything which might be regarded as critical of Islam, freeing Islamist cell members to plan and execute their terrorist plans against the population of the host country. Islamic organizations in the U. S. are extremely hostile to the prevailing U. S. culture and values such as freedom of speech , of the press and religion and want to replace it with an Islamic order.

[edit] Further reading