Varieties of Islam
Mister_George
The recent serious of profligate atrocities committed by Islamic
Terrorists in Iraq emphasize the dire necessity of understanding
"Islam" and one of the maddening dilemmas for the erudite observer
attempting to understand this mysterious theology is the significant
variations that all share the banner of "Islam". So just what do we
mean when we speak of 'Islam' anyway?
Let's begin by examining the dominant divisions within the Islamic
World:
* Sunni? (The dominant form of Islam)
* Shi'ite? (mostly from Iran with large sections in Iraq)
* Salafi? (Wahhabi - dominant in Saudi Arabia)
* Sufi? (Mystics)
* Deboandi? (a variation of Wahhabi Fundamentalism present in
Afghanistan and Pakistan)
So what sort of Muslim are we discussing and why these divergent
schools?
Though the historical differences came about through arguments over
succession of rule, power and the control of the money generated from
these the answer is that most Muslims really don't understand and the
battle to define this ancient belief system is ongoing. This is
additionally exacerbated since over 2/rds of Muslims world wide cannot
read and write so this dubious dichotomy is normally ignored. For
purposes of our discussion, we'll outline the major factions that exist
under the standard of Islam today:
1.) Secular Islam - this version relegates religion to the private
sphere and adheres to the strict separation of religion and state.
Laws are based on a belief system that includes all citizens,
regardless of religious orientation. Interpretation of religious texts
is left to the individual as opposed to the ulama. Education is viewed
as consisting of separate religious and secular sections. There is a
Marxist variant, which 'views religion in public life as debilitating'
and prescribes a future scenario where "materialism and nationalism"
will replace "idealism and metaphysics". A second variant of secular
Islam delimits the incompatibility to the "peculiarly unhelpful
qualities of Islam itself" and emphasizes the desirability and prudence
of the separation mentioned. Both variants do "not think of Islam as a
civilization or an ideology".
Secular Islam is identified by:
a.) The separation of the religion (Islam) from the political process
or state
b.) Religion delimited and relegated to the private sphere. Individual
practice of the Faith
c.) The acceptance of man-made laws that are not derived from the
Shari'a, due to the importance of ensuring equality for all under the
law
d.) The importance and supremacy of pluralism and democracy with active
opposition to absolutism of absolutist agendas that will not accept the
manifestation of a political 'other' (a direct criticism of the
Fundamental debate)
e.) Islam is not an ideology, and especially it is not a political
ideology
f.) Education as Secular and Modern
There is minimal information in the scholarly literature available on
secular Islam and it is seldom mentioned in the contemporary media.
Fundamental Islam views adherents of Secular Islam as shirk, 1 kufir, 2
and even Jahiliya 3 and this conflict is indeed the great Ma'Ma 4
within Islam itself.
1.) Traditional Islam - this ideological view denotes an adherence to
the Islamic heritage, be it in madhajahib, or the traditional way of
life. Sources of order in society stem from the Kur'an, the Sunna,6
and the Shariá are used to define a total way of life. The
traditionalists do not accept any changes, new or foreign ideas in
their version of Islam. For them, true Islam is the one built up by
historical precedents and any innovation is a departure from the
essence of the religion.
In traditional Islam, the basic worldview was established by about AD
950 and certainly by 1200 AD. According to orthodox Islam (Yes I know
that particular choice of words seems rather amusing) the four
historical legal schools of medieval theologians and annotators
established the limits of legitimate interpretation of the Kur'an. The
Traditionalists decided to freeze time at the era of the middle ages.
If you've seen the film "The Land that Time Forgot" then you understand
Traditional Islam. Society should be totally arranged according to
this worldview and any attempt at additional interpretation is
completely rejected. This ideology was first introduced by ibn
Taymiyya in the late 12th century who was the first Mufti 6 to theorize
that all Ijtihad 8 had been completed and any additional Kur'anic
interpretation was not needed and has heavily influenced the Islamic
thinking of ibn al-Wahhab and later Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini who both
extended this idea to the epitome of absurdity.
Traditional Islam differs from Fundamentalism in that it carefully
separates religious studies and modern schooling which includes
scientific knowledge. Though Traditional Islam theoretically
differentiates between the supremacy of Islamic and Western education,
they are essentially stuck in the 10th century.
Traditional Islam is identified by:
a.) Adherence to the precedence of Islamic history and interpretative
schools
b.) Interpretation (Ijtihad) is delimited in space and time by the four
main historical madhalib (Islamic Jurists) - Innovation or any new
interpretation is not permitted
c.) Islam is a religion and a way of life (din wa dunya)
d.) The process of modernity, modern society and development are
external to the religious traditional worldview
e.) The authority for interpretation lies with the ulama while the Law
is Sharia (God's law)
f.) Traditional Islamic education is a system of religious education
inherited from the Ottoman period but relegated by the advent of modern
schooling to becoming a specialized kind of education strictly
dedicated to the development of the 'establishment' Islamic clergy
3.) Modernist or "Liberal" Islam - Modernism advocates constantly
updating interpretations of Islamic texts and is in direct opposition
to the Traditional school. Interpretation is not the sole right of the
Ulama. Law is seen as inspired and guided by, but not strictly
dictated by the Kur'an. The law, therefore, it not the Islamic Law,
but is a more mundane attempt at interpretation that is provided by
layman, with Islamic principles as their guidelines.
Islamic liberals strongly advocate a modern educational system, which
includes a clearly defined religious curriculum.
The Liberals espouse:
a.) The acceptance of Western values of modernity translated into an
Islamic framework
b.) Islam as politically neutral
c.) Islamic principles acting as a guide for man-made laws
d.) Freedom or Interpretation extended to laymen
e.) The belief that claims for an Islamic reawakening are contrary to
the true meaning of the religion
f.) Education is basically of the modern type
4.) Fundamental Islam is the most written about, due to Islamic
Terrorism. Though it asserts a common identity, the Fundamental
movement includes varieties and trends that reflect different
discourses and ideologies. The presence of a large group of sociopaths
and career criminals such as Al-Qaeda additionally complicates
definitions of this divergent grouping.
Fundamental Islam is defined by:
a.) Islam (as derived from the scriptural foundations of the Koran and
Sunna) is a source for a comprehensive social system and way of life.
(dia wa duuya)
b.) The return to the scriptural foundations of Islam within a process
of reform (islah) and revival (alwa).
c.) Law is God's law and God is Sovereign
d.) Sharia is both a system of law and a source of guiding principles.
Its application is inherent with fundamentalist designs to establish
the ultimate state for believing Muslims.
e.) Opening the door of interpretation (Idjtihidad) which is in direct
contrast with the Traditionalists
f.) Supreme loyalty to the Umma (Community of Believers)
g.) Education combining both modern and religious education. Religious
instruction is given a role as central in enhancing the expression of
the Fundamentalist movement.
Fundamental Islam has undergone a significant resurgence in the last
two decades, especially in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Wahhabi
School of Islam falls within this sphere and its antiquated ideologies
have been rigidly inculcated into students of Saudi Arabias "Islamic"
schools for over a century, providing a solid base of 'believers' that
have been trained in the medieval and internecine concepts that
identify this school of Islam. Since the establishment of madrassas,
or Islamic schools that have required no licensing or regulation and
since any semi-literate bum who wanted to start such a school has been
free to do so, this dangerous Muslim metastasis flourished in the
poorer regions of Central Asia. Since the 'scholars' who 'taught' in
these schools have usually been poorly versed in Islamic literature,
the danger of emphasizing only the murderous "Jihad" that the world has
come to know was presents and has produced the lethal result in
thousands of Islamic Terrorists.
Since all varieties of "Islam" rigidly enforce separation of the sexes
and a male dominated culture is evident, a very large number of Muslim
men are homosexuals. Since Islamic "schools" strictly segregate
students according to sex and since many "Imams" find a ready supply of
adolescent males in their charge, pedophilia and rape of young men is
quite common in these Muslim religious schools. These adolescent
perverse experiences stay with most Muslim males for life - over 50% of
men in Saudi Arabia identify themselves as homosexuals, though they
have the right to marry as many as four wives and maintain many
concubines under Sharia Law. This does not seem to matter and it seems
that most Arabs men JUST PREFER OTHER MEN! (and wearing dresses may
have something to do with this) Iran's Ayatollah provided religious
sanction for such disgusting sexual practices in the 1970's"
Ayatollah Khomeini:
A man can have sexual pleasure from a child as young as a baby. However
he should not penetrate, sodomising the child is OK. If the man
penetrates and damages the child then he should be responsible for her
subsistence all her life. This girl, however does not count as one of
his four permanent wives.
The man will not be eligible to marry the girls sister.
>From Khomeini's book, "Tahrirolvasyleh", fourth volume, Darol Elm, Gom,
So we not only have divergent sects, but considerable variation within
these sects. Most Muslims are illiterate so they never even realize
the difference. After only 1,300 years of Islamic Education, 2/3rds of
the 1.4 Billion Muslims in the world cannot READ AND WRITE and this
arrangement profits the Islamic Clergy quite handsomely. Since the
Ulama (Islamic Clergy) has been traditionally instrumental in
facilitating the grand theft and drug smuggling trade throughout its
history, they also see to it that much of the Umma stays so stoned on
drugs that they never know the difference and use a system of RELIGIOUS
TERRORISM to tightly control the rest and ensure that their subjects
remain ignorant, poor and correspondingly powerless. Thus, hundreds of
millions live and die in ignorance and poverty while the Islamic Clergy
and The Rulers that they support live in incredible wealth and luxury.
This blackmail money has been stolen from the nations they conquered,
following the instructions given by Mohammed in their HOLY KORAN:
Koran 9:29
Fight those who do not profess the true faith (Islam) till they pay the
jiziya (poll tax) with the hand of humility.
Koran 9:5
"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever
ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them and prepare for
them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the
poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."
Koran 47:4
When you meet the unbelievers in the Jihad strike off their heads and,
when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly. Then grant them
their freedom or take ransom from them, until War shall lay down her
burdens.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has a dozen Rolls Royce limousines in his
garage while indigent Saudis a five minute drive from his opulent
palace in Riyadh are living in mud huts. This incredible system is
facilitated by the Wahhabi Clerics (though the House of Saud insists
they be known as "Salafi" in an further attempt to confuse the entire
world) that keep the largely ignorant Saudi natives in dismal ignorance
and terror of not only hell in the afterlife but ensure a life of
abject misery in the current one. *
The Koran is replete with instructions on how to STEAL MONEY from and
slaughter non-Muslims and also on how to EXTORT Money from all
non-Believers. When Mohammed first began his long series of Islamic
conquests, he relied on a savage tribe of career Bedouin criminals
known as the Ghazi and he soon realized that most of the nomadic groups
that he relied on for his warriors would be quite pleased with a system
of conquest and plunder. The nomadic and savage Bedouin tribes of the
Najd (interior of the Arabian peninsula) already had a long history as
bandits, thugs, murderers and career criminals so the chance to rob,
rape and steal in the NAME OF GOD appealed to them and was a political
stroke of genius by Mohammed. He then devised an intricate system of
GRAND THEFT THAT WAS (is) SANCTIONED BY GOD - employing the growing
Islamic Clergy. The various rulers of Arab lands throughout history
and in all varieties have relied heavily on this system of
theologically justified violence and larceny.
As the Bedouin Raiders that Mohammed commanded spread out from the
Arabian Peninsula, the forces that he commanded brought with them his
nascent religion of Islam and gave those they conquered a simple
choice: CONVERT, SUBMIT OR DIE. Most of the primitive tribal groups
they encountered converted but the slaughter committed by Mohammed's
conquering armies was truly horrendous. The Conquering Muslim armies
soon realized that allowing Christians, Jews and Animists to live could
prove quite profitable, so the "Zakat" was instituted - a special tax
required of all non-Muslims that allowed them to stay alive. Mohammed
invented RELIGIOUSLY SANCTIONED EXTORTION. As the Islamic armies
advanced into Egypt and Northern Africa they also drove northward into
Europe, always seeking more communities to convert and plunder in one
of the bloodiest episodes of homicidal conquest in the History of the
World.
As the Islamic forces pressed ever forward they encountered the great
libraries at Alexandria and Antioch as well as hundreds of Catholic
monasteries and were able to steal all of the knowledge of Greece and
Rome that had been accumulated therein for over 2,000 years. Since no
original, or even worthwhile intellectual developments had ever taken
place in the primitive lands of Arabia they were stunned and
overwhelmed by this remarkable chance to finally learn to read, write
and accumulate a respectable body of knowledge. The nascent
intellectuals of this group of largely illiterate savages proceeded to
translate nearly all of the knowledge they had acquired into Arabic and
laid claim to the work of the Ancients as their own - hence the GOLDEN
AGE OF ISLAM was the GOLDEN AGE OF THEFT - INTELLECTUAL and MONETARY.
In all fairness, the Islamic intellectuals of this period did make some
contributions to mathematics and geography but this was tragically
short lived as the Islamic Caliphate began to crumble after only 200
years and was slowly devoured by internal tribal squabbles and attacks
from the barbarians that engulfed it. Therefore it is imperative to
understand that:
ISLAM IS NOT LIKE OTHER RELIGIONS - study Islamic history and learn for
yourself -
* Judaism was spread through a familial sense of God's Love and
Protection
* Christianity was spread by peaceful and poor men preaching God's Love
* Islam was SPREAD AT THE POINT OF THE SWORD and CONVERSION WAS (and
is) ACHIEVED ON PAIN OF DEATH
The murky tomes of history reveal these sad realities clearly to any
diligent enough to read but the 'politically correct' liberal
intellegentsia has buried these ugly truths in a cornucopia of
confusing rhetoric.
All American would benefit greatly from a study of ISLAM and the MUSLIM
ULAMA 9 - the theft and incredible greed demonstrated all through its
1,300 year history is difficult to fathom and is absolutely
unbelievable!
There are many sects and many varieties within Islam, but the Muslim
Ulama has ONE THING IN COMMON (reflecting their primitive heritage in
the nefarious tribes of Al-Alam that established Islam and a global
following of 'believers' that remains largely backward and illiterate
well into the 21st century)
THEY ARE ALL CRIMINALS!
Praise the Lord and God Bless America, Professor George M Weinert V
"Righteousness exalteth a nation, but Sin is a reproach to any People"
(Proverbs 16:34)
Georg...@hotmail.com
George...@hotmail.com
http://groups.msn.com/ConservativeNow
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/neocons/
1 Polytheist
2 Infidel
3 Backward and pre-Islamic
4 The Confrontation
5 legal schools of thought
6 The process of studying the life of the Prophet (SWT) as an example
and using the Hadith (Sayings of Mohammed) as an example
7 Head of an Islamic Court
8 Interpretation of the Holy Qur'ran
9 Clergy
* For additional and incredible details see:
* Hatred's Kingdom
* How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism
* By Dore Gold
* Regnery Publishins, 2001
(The real story behind the Wahhabi "Deal with the Devil" in which ibn
Saud's murderous Ikwan and State Terror was (and is) "legitimized" by
the ulama and murder is sanction by GOD. The Ideological underpinning
of ISLAMIST Terror are well covered and the REALITY OF SAUDI EDUCATION
Is explored thoroughly.
For a good source on Traditional and Fundamental Islam see:
* The Age of Sacred Terror (Chapters III & IV)
* By Daniel Benjamin & Steven Simon
* Random House, 2002
The authors are both former members of the NSC and have spent over a
decade in US Government (in the White House) service dealing with
Terrorism. Their account of the rise of "Fundamental Islam" and
al-Qaeda are beyond equal in today's literature.