Monday, August 02, 2010

the god who hates

i first heard of wafa sultan on youtube while she was a guest speaker on al jazeera. it was highly irregular for anyone let alone a woman to be debating with an imam on islamic terrorism, islam itself, and as what she describes as the clash of civilisations so that it was not difficult to recognize her face printed on a book on a shelf months later while i was passing by the bookstore. i just had to have trhe book for i was already curious about her. i watched satisfied by the way when the imam resorted instead to strawman arguments for lack of anything better to say.

in the book however, i am not a fan of her writing style. it seemed repeatitious, disconnected, personal, and she seemed to make hasty generalizations about people but who is better and has the authority to talk about islam and its ills, than her -- a moslem woman who had lived in it and had actually experienced its horrors firsthand.

i also did not much appreciate her orgre metaphor. although she spoke the truth about the nature of fear and how it relates to islam, i felt that there has to be a better way to present the idea other than a parable about an ogre.

apart from her personal experiences giving insight on the origin and nature of islam, its followers and how they relate with other people, its fruits, she also talks about the obvious disconnect with what "moderate" moslems claim islam to be and what is happening in reality. it mirrors the state of christian theocracies all over the world. christian zealots behave much like islamic terrorists. people would always argue that these particular type of moslems have misinterpreted the real meaning of islam. that the true moslem never engages in violence and that they respect women. the evidence in fact showing the contrary is overwelming.

the koran is written solely in arabic, how likely is it that moslems outside of the arab world would have a filtered understanding of its teachings. meaning islam as a political doctrine and religion needs to present itself as something benevolent and beneficial in order to be accepted but the truth in detail is quite the opposite. just like the judeo christian bible, the koran is filled with archaic ethics giving justification to these brutalities all the way up to today the 21st century. and now it is encroaching in on secular societies like a disease as some put it.

wafa provides us with specific verses from the koran. too few in my opinion. but there is no escaping from that. muhammad had been very explicit and his ideas about women, jews, christians, and islamic morality questionable by today's standards. i am inclined to think that whoever subscribes to it is either ignorant, brainwashed, or have nitpicked specific teachings that suit their tastes just as moderate christians are doing with the bible.

my favorite in particular about her book is her observation about moslems living in the west. those who are reaping its benefits but at the same time claiming it to be morally inferior to their countries of origin. hypocrites. id say.

if living in islamic states is such a paradise then why leave at all. why the influx of immigrants from islamic states towards the west unless there be a sinister plot behind it all, that is to convert these secular societies into islamic states. as is happening all over europe and now even in the united states. how likely is it that people are oppressed in islamic societies and that most of them immigrate because they want to be free of it.

wafa paints a vivid picture of islam and what kind of societies it has produced. societies which lack in civil liberties, societies which slow or sometimes halt progress, where its inhabitants are automatons programmed to obey never to think nor question authority. a striking resemblance to christian theocracies. don't you think?

if immigration out of islamic societies not evidence enough that it is failed at making lives better for people, i dont know what else is.

rating 4 out of 5
****