Book: The Trouble with Islam

I read bits of “the Trouble with Islam” by Irshad Manji (a gay woman , from a Muslim family, living in Canada) and realise that there are rifts and contradictions and obsessions within Islam. I have met and worked with decent muslims – I do not make a blanket accusation, but as she says:

Rather than own our dysfunction, we reflexively blame America, Israel, Christianity, materialism, MTV, McDonald’s, and the ever-convenient Jews. An equally popular coping mechanism is to remain mute about our self-inflicted shortcomings, for fear of damaging relations with our higher-ups — be they parents, imams, or even secular leaders of our communities.
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Respected Ms. Manji, people like you serve as a source of energy for the ones like me, living in Muslim states, who cannot afford to ’speak out loud’. I tried to, but I was made to realize that I would offend many and win almost none, with harassment being the cherry on the top. May Allah always bless you with the best. And bless me with the courage to stand up, like you have chosen to.” - Muhammad Khurram Yaqub, Lahore, Pakistan.


http://www.irshadmanji.com/

My path since 9-11-2001

Sept 11, 2001

I am in Canada – in a backpacker’s hostel on the West Coast
I have just hitched a ride to this small town, and watch the scenes of sept. 11 being played over on the Hostel TV.

I take a shower, in shock. Then I find myself sobbing in the shower, under the water.
I sob for the victims in the towers, for the terrorists brainwashed by radical texts into their hatred for the infidels, who died committing such a crime.
It strikes me at the time that they were like a child breaking another child’s toy in spite “I envy you your toy, so I’m going to break it, so there”. An infantile rage of primitive Islam against the far more successful and opulent modern western world.

Later I learn that 100 different nationalities including Muslims, artists’ lofts, import-export companies, bankers, philanthropic societies were present in the towers – a Babel of modern enlightenment, artistic and business creativity and diversity.

In Islamic radicalism, a new satanic death-cult of grunting gargoyles has risen, foaming with hatred and rage and vowing to destroy everything that does not convert to it’s zombie culture.

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New York: the metropolis which prefigures the future: a multi-ethnic melting pot, all citizens under a simple constitution, which enforces democracy, the rule of law, accountability of rulers, the right to eject them from rule, using militias in the last recourse – should the ruler become a dictator. And which elevates the freedom to pursue one’s fancy , whether it takes one to riches, or to rags – “the pursuit of happiness” as above the state’s diktats, or comfort, or predictability, or the stifling pursuit of a levelling equality which has sapped the spirit of the French and done so much harm (and has led it to the the-state –owes-me-a-living and stuff everyone else , suicidal chaos which it it presently experiencing).
As one French entrepreneur living in NY at the time said:

No state safety net here, but that very fact is a statement: we believe in you; you can do it, providence and your hard work will see you through.

The freedom to succeed, and the freedom to fail. And try again.

The USA is the melting pot of the world – a new world consciously created by the founding fathers to be the freest country in the world – a misunderstood quantum leap away from old Europe, it’s wars, it’s ideological death machines: Nazism and Communism. And it’s attempt to enter stasis (no change) via nanny-state smothering socialism which ends up making many of it’s citizens feel as alive and self-directed as Zombies.

And now the death-cult of radical Islam, which worships suicide as a weapon.
Which challenges the last man standing to a high noon confrontation. Will Bush follow the Europeans’ advice and not respond ? should he follow their advice and be like the beaten wife who seeks to be nicer to her ogre so that he might beat her less (fat chance) ?
He does not, and the vitality and backbone of the US and some allies will be on display in the years following 9/11. Much to the hatred and bile of those in the west who purport to be sophisticated in their contempt of western civilization (whose branch they are sitting on and cutting off) , and particularly that independent entity which does not bow to their elitist pseudo-thought – that entity which values personal freedom above enforced equality, the USA.

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I spend the next few years reading articles and books, trying to understand the enemy and how we can defeat him.

I did not buy into the self-flagellating ideas that were bandied around by some, that 9-11 was punishment for… what exactly ? stopping the genocide of the Kurdish Muslims in Kosovo ? Stopping Saddam H. invading Saudi Arabia (one of his ambitions) ?

or helping that tiny country , Israel – if 10 of thousands of arabs jews were fleeing persecution in arab lands and other jews from Russia etc were also fleeing persecution, where exactly were they supposed to go ? onto Mars, maybe. And the arabs have never cared much for the Palestinians – Egypt refused to give them part of the Sinai, which is huge. No, the real problem with Israel is that it is not a tribal Islamic society: it is cosmopolitan, women wear shorts and fight in the army ! imagine that! And it is successful – as Egyptian president Nasser said in the 70s:
how can we tolerate that they make the desert flower when we can’t even get close ?

Envy and tribal hatred, nourished by the radical islam of Hamas and company, which even Palestinians are become tired of. And the national socialist (Nazi) Baath party in Syria. (and in Irak under Saddam)

And say Israel was handed to the lions, what has that conflict got to do with the persecution of Buddhists , Hindus and Christians worldwide by radical muslims ? or blowing up a secondary school in Beslan (Russia is not exactly an ally of Israel) Or the Mumbai attacks ? or some UK preachers saying they are in favor of the death penalty for homosexuality ?
or… the thousands of death threats, bashings, murders worldwide.

It was clear to me we were up against some sort of conquering ideology, but I wasn’t quite sure what they wanted to impose on us.

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Over the years, I link other events together – the destruction of the Buddhist statues by the Taliban, The beating up of gay queens in Amsterdam’s gay pride day by groups of Muslims, the killing of Theo van Gogh in Holland, the Beslan massacre where radicals blew up a secondary school with kids in Russia (which led me into cold fury), the Bali bombings, the civil war against radical Islamists I remember occurred in nearby Algeria in the 90s, the riots in Paris in 2005, where mostly Muslim rioters torched schools and buses with cries of “Allah akbar” – “God is great” , the muslim enclaves in Sweden where no-one dares to go…
I read “Londistan” by Melanie Philips, and see how radical preachers start the conveyor belt which led middle-class cricket-playing British Muslims to hate the modernity and diversity of their country and blow themselves up in the tube in 2005.

And of Sayyid Qutb, who wrote in the 1930s, mixing Islam with Marxism, and was the inspiration for the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, and then of Al-Quaeda, together with Wahab (founder of Wahabism – Saudi-style radical Islam).

Should I travel to America, and become flimsy, and ordinary, ... Is there other than Islam that I should be steadfast to in its character and hold on to its instructions, in this life amidst deviant chaos, and the endless means of satisfying animalistic desires, pleasures, and awful sins? [23]

Finally, Qutb offered his own explanation in Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq, arguing that anything non-Islamic was evil and corrupt, while following Sharia as a complete system extending into all aspects of life, would bring every kind of benefit to humanity, from personal and social peace, to the "treasures" of the universe.[24]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Qutb

On returning from a trip to the USA, Qutb said “the world is one big brothel !”.

I read arab-american writers such as Faoud Ajami, who point out that Irak is far more important to Al-Quadea than Afghanistan. The latter being just out of the stone age, and having few resources, whereas irak has the oil, and is the historic seat of the Muslim kingdom (Baghdad).
(Hence Obama is being simplistic when he says that we should have just focused on Afghanistan. Once the war in Irak became a fight against al-Quaeda, pulling out would have been suicidal – as Bernard Kouchner ex-boss of doctors without borders (MSF) was bold enough to say from France).

I read of Somalian-born Ayan Hirsi Ali, who speaks out against the radicalisation of Muslims in Holland, and against the non-intervention of the law in Muslim enclaves where women are beaten (and form most of the population in Dutch women’s shelters) and are even killed in Honor killings.
The killer of film-director Theo van Gogh pins a note on him, addressed to her. And now she is under permanent death threat.

The gentle and cultured Europe I grew up in has become a civil-war zone.


Grenoble 1999: I watch in rage as on the football pitch below, a young fit muslim 14 yrs old or so, kicks a be-spectacled jewish looking lad in the shins, down to the ground, makes him beg , then kicks him again to make him get up. And repeats, encouraged by a small crowd of other young muslims.

I realise years later this is a age-old religious hatred of jews playing itself out. He has probably heard his father talk of jews as pigs and apes.

A short while later, this alpha male stops kicking his ball for a moment to kick a young Peruvian-looking lad in the shins. The jew was serious fun to hate, but social Darwinism, Nazi-style is always fun.

Elsewhere in France:

And then the Muslim women I see being screamed at and sworn at by their husbands in public, as docile and passive as lambs.

I see teenage girls being intimidated.

In Paris, from my office window, I see a 5 yr old muslim girl walking along with 2 muslim boys her age, and an eastern-european looking mother with a pram. The 5 yr old girl is playful, and wants to play with the boys she does not seem to know well (I assume to be cousins or friends of her family). Then one of the boys wants her to know the score – to know that spontaneous fun is not what is expected of her, rather : fearful submission is what is expected. He punches her in the stomach in an uppercut movement. She bends over, winded, shocked, and shouts. He looks on with satisfaction. Then they move off, the woman wearing a perverse smug look – I assume she has gotten similar treatment.

In France, I see this kind of thing being played out on a street level, everywhere.

I also work and talk with decent and humane Muslims, but I realise there is something in Muslim culture which pushes some to these fascist and misogynistic behaviours.

I being to realize that if the US pulls out of irak, and hands a victory to Al-quaeda’s irak Chapter, the radicals in Europe and all over the world will become much emboldened and things will become much worse.

As a terrorist said after a French oil tanker was hit in the gulf:
We would have preferred a US tanker, but they’re all infidels anyway

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I become disgusted by the democrats in the US and the most of the chattering classes in Europe, who obviously want Irak to fail, and to hell with the millions of Irakis who want democracy, freedom and a decent life, so long as the defeatocrats can score points against Bush.
I want to grab them by their lapels and shake them out of their suicidal narcissism and blindness. If Irak is handed to al-quaeda, we are all in trouble ! this isn’t a game of point-scoring, your attitude can have disastrous consequences. I want to say to them.
As Bernard Kouchner said in 2007 or so:
The future of much of the world depends on what happens in Irak

In 2001-2003, I wanted to be part of it. I would have gladly volunteered to go and kick Saddam’s rotten ass in Irak. But I was in France, and I knew the French army would not go in. Not until Chirac had seen that the Americans and their allies had done the dangerous work, that is. I did briefly consider the UK army, but was concerned I wouldn’t fit in to the British culture, which I knew was fairly unique and not really me, having lived there in 2003.

I was beginning to realise I was not a European, in many ways – my way of thinking fit more into the New World : America, Canada, Australia. Pioneering, quick to adopt new and more efficient ways of doing things, unhampered by much historical baggage or a hankering for a once-was empire. Optimistic and forward looking.

And I was tired of the knee-jerk anti-Americanism I saw in Europe. The US was dammed for toppling a Stalin-like dictator in Irak, but then also dammed for not intervening in Sudan. But the Europeans, for the most part, intervened nowhere at all… not even in their own countries where entire urban sections were becoming violent Muslim enclaves.

They were like kids throwing small stones at builders working hard, risking their lives to build and protect a building which also protected the kids….

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I am encouraged by the small number of courageous Muslim leaders who are speaking out against terrorism:

Thursday, July 03, 2008
Saudi Grand Mufti speaks out on al Qaeda
Arab News:
...
Al-Asheikh called on young Saudis not to be enticed by militants. He further demanded coordinated action from Saudis and residents to uncover members of the group.
In a nine-point statement, the mufti said the criminal acts planned by the militants would not come from the mind of a true believer, adding that these militants were acting as tools in the hands of the enemies of Islam and Saudi Arabia. Al-Asheikh, who is the Kingdom’s highest religious authority, said Islam does not allow the killing of innocent people. He also cautioned Muslim youth against deviant ideologies whose proponents want to undermine the Kingdom’s security.

“You should be aware that these militants, who claim to work for the cause of Islam and defend Muslims, actually hide their vested interests and vicious objectives,” he said.
Al-Asheikh warned Saudis and residents against providing protection and refuge to militants.

Sea Kayak Bribie Isl. Qld

what a sunset !

Rented a Kayak for 2 days,

Then did a 2 day trip with Caz, sea kayaking along the inside passage of bribie island, just north of Brisbane. Great views of the glasshouse mnts (see above). And it reminded me how relaxing sea kayaking is. You carry all the weight in hatches , not on yr back , (eg 15 litres of water) and as a result you hardly notice it. We had a great sunset at the National park campsite. I could have continued for another 5 days or so more... up the coast, past Noosa.

Then drove up to Noosa – paradise on the sunshine coast (apart from the occasional hoon on drugs). Aus’s California. To get my gear ready , and put the van in storage at a storage place at Eumundi. Staying with my mother, who as luck has it, is house-sitting a big house next to a mangrove lake.

now got a wireless internet modem (virgin) - so I can update my blog from almost anywhere. yay !

Jules since the Warrumbungles

0: Caz in front of Tropical Brisbane
1. Sunset in the Warrumbungles, NSW
2. Mt Mitchell path, scenic rim, Qld
3. The best of both worlds.. lake Moogerah, scenic rim, Qld
4. meeting Rosemary at campground, scenic rim, Qld
5. Sunset, lake Moogerah, scenic rim, Qld
6. Mt Barney lodge campsite, morning... life's tough in the van - Not.

Since Coonarbarbaran:

Drove up on the flat Newell Highway, past Silos, up to Goonwindi – first Qld town. Typical Queensland – with palms, big brash signs.
Then across to good old Mt Barney, did a recce day then a week later, did a 5 day camp with 15 yr olds. Great kids , great teacher, for a change. 2.5 days expedition walking up steep slopes, often in drizzle. Some leaches, good views, bush camping.
The 2 days getting 60 kids abseiling and climbing on small cliffs.

I really like the scenic rim area (border with NSW) rainforest slopes and eucalyptus areas, big steep mountains and lakes.

Spent a few days in Brisbane catching up with a friend.
When I looked over Brisbane city, after almost 4 months of travel in my van, it felt like home – the cosmopolitan city in the mangroves. There are still mangroves down on the river.

Let's roll back the 20th century, Not.

Graph Source: UN Panel on Climate Change, 1995

more from Jules on his crusade against the pseudo-science of global warming.

I would rather see poor countries get out of their poverty – have cars and air-con, CAT scans and cheap nrj. Also, it’s fairly evident that poor countries are the ones which take the least care of their environment – eg Indonesia fishing out it’s stocks, and deforesting it’s great forests.
The way out of poverty for 3rd world countries is trade with rich countries, cheap electricity, and industrialization (or and/or services if you are Switzerland). The sooner it becomes evident that man-made Co2 has nothing to do with climate change, the better.

When humanity is colonizing Mars and has Fusion-powered power stations etc, they will look back at the present hair-shirt back to the Hamish-farm movement with amazement.


some cut and paste:


Professor Richard Lindzen from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said:

“future generations will wonder in bemused amazement that the early 21st century’s developed world went into hysterical panic over a globally averaged temperature increase of a few tenths of a degree, and, on the basis of gross exaggerations of highly uncertain computer projections combined into implausible chains of inference, proceeded to contemplate a roll-back of the industrial age”.

Dr Martin Hertzberg, a physical chemist and retired Navy meteorologist, sums up the climate - both intellectual and physical:
As a scientist and lifelong liberal Democrat, I find the constant regurgitation of the anecdotal, fear-mongering clap-trap about human-caused global warming to be a disservice to science...From the El Nino year of 1998 until Jan., 2007, the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere near its surface decreased some 0.25 C. From Jan. 2007 until the spring of 2008, it dropped a whopping 0.75 C.

Warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in history …When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” - UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, environmental physical chemist.


http://wattsupwiththat.com/


Lord Monckton recently observed that the exponential forecasts of the UN simply don't match reality [PDF]:

"The IPCC's estimates of growth in atmospheric CO2 concentration are excessive. They assume CO2 concentration will rise exponentially from today's 385 parts per million to reach 730 to 1020 ppm, central estimate 836 ppm, by 2100. However, for seven years, CO2 concentration has been rising in a straight line towards just 575 ppmv by 2100. This alone halves the IPCC's temperature projections."


Roy Spencer argues that the reason there seems to be a consensus among scientists regarding "global warming theory" is that 1) most scientists don't actually conduct research on the forecasting models the theory is based on, and so, though they are scientists, are not any more knowledgeable than laypersons regarding this particular theory and 2) scientists are human too, and as humans, fall victim to group think. Spencer points out that the mathematical models used to predict future climate are NOT akin to the forecasting methods meteorologists use to forecast next week's weather. Some important points: Sure, we are good at predicting whether it will rain tomorrow or in two days, but the validity of even short-term weather forecasts shrinks to nearly zero when trying to predict 10 days ahead or more. Climatologists using mathematical models to predict future climate, say, 100 years from now are playing a whole other ball game.


Czech politician Vaklav Klaus :
Freedom, not climate, is at risk:

http://www.klaus.cz/klaus2/asp/clanek.asp?id=fmhiyKwAStnZ

A visit to an Backyard Astronomy dome

above: one of the backyard telescope domes near the town. (not the one I visited).

Monday 16 march, I drive along small country road which leads to the Warrumbungles, and stop at a guy’s property. He’s the ex-director of the Anglo-Australian observatory, and has several telescopes in his garden, including one big one in a dome. He is now an entrepreneur – giving talks in the evening (to myself and 3 others, tonight), to school groups etc. Pretty fascinating to be in the presence of such encyclopaedic knowledge of Physics and Astronomy, made fun by the ability to look at huge nebulae (gaseous clouds), galaxies, planets, stars thru his equipment. $15 for nearly 2 hours of lecture and viewing.

He has a small dome, which he has set up for remote viewing by a fellow in Scotland. The Scottish fella operates it via the internet when he wants to (!)

He projects a film about scale using his laptop, and then shows us the night sky,
He gives us lots of facts, pointing out constellations, the Magellan clouds (nearby galaxies), facts about the size and distance away of stars. And we observe some thru his 3 telescopes. I take notes for my own interest, and so I can share some of the wonder of starscapes with the students in 2 weeks.
Near Orion’s belt (3 stars in a row), there is a reddish star called Betelgeuse, which is a ”red giant”, you can see with the naked eye. Meaning it is a dying star, and could explode and become a Supernova at any time. What we see with our eyes actually occurred many thousands of years into the past, however, as it has taken many light years for its light to reach us. When it does become a Supernova, it will be brighter than anything else in the sky for a month or so, lighting up our nights…. Spectacular.

Just having a little knowledge of astronomy is mind-boggling, and is awe-inspiring when you consider the scale of the universe, of which our galaxy – the milky way – is just one of trillions of galaxies… Also the fact that light travels at a finite speed is hard to imagine, as are other facts of Physics.

Oh that Science could be taught this way – by going to factories, observatories, power stations, talking with bike designers , and going “backwards” as it were to the theory, rather than teaching disconnected theory in the classroom to mostly bored students. In fact the whole secondary/tertiary school system could be outsourced to a multitude of small inspiring operators like this guy, combined with self-study using the Internet. The head of Noosa Sunshine coast uni suggested as much, mentioning the Internet as a new means of learning.

This guy really inspired me, with the facts about the night sky, his interest, as well as his entrepreneurial small-scale business, which he runs out of his front garden.

Town of Coonabarbaran and the Warrumbungles

1: Museum at Narandera. First and only Aboriginal pilot and his plane "Black Magic"

should have been told he was a victim, given welfare for life and rotted on a community in the middle of nowhere... Not.

2: The Warrumbungles nat park - "breadknife" in the background.

3: nat park.

4: View from a small peak where I met the Eagle.

5: Rainbow in the evening.

6: Lake Eildon sunset

7: around lake Eildon

(click on a photo to enlarge)

-a close encounter with an Eagle

-why bother going to National Parks and sweating ?

Town of Coonabarbaran : Astronomy capital of Australia , private telescope domes on green country road that leads to Warrumbungles Nat park. Lots of swank properties – names like “Xanadu”… great place to raise kids. Also a hill at 1100 m with 11 telescopes, including the Main Anglo-Australian telescope. Was chosen by the ANU as having good location – no city glare, night skies clear 70 % of the time.
I saw some good starscapes looking up with the naked eye – shooting stars, the milky way pretty clear.

The Town has the usual practical amenities – a supermarket, information centre, library with internet, some swank cafes, It’s a small country town, but actually quite artsy, with an art gallery, pottery centre, Jazz festival, Astronomy week… (with local Astronomers giving lectures in the pub).
NSW so green after drought-stricken Victoria. .. green starting not that far north of the border with Vic.
I Get a fresh bag of ice for my eski, fill up with water and buy a bit of food at the supermarket. Also get some info and a free map of the National park at the info center.

I Drive to the Warrumbungles Nat park and spend two nights there. Sunday, I do a 14 km walk – the “Grand high tops tour”, which goes up and around some famous landmarks – the “breadknife” and such.
There are some other walkers in the park, but I met no-one. It’s kind of great being all alone in this stunning nat. park. I sit on the top of a lava block and just look at the scenery. I spot several wedge-tailed Eagles gliding around an adjacent volcanic plug. Then one comes right overhead – about 30 m above my head. I look up and we look at each other for a while as he glides past. I can see every detail of his plumage. Then he goes past. Quite an experience. This is why I get out to these places.., nothing I can experience in the city can beat this.

-Why bother get off the couch at all ?

On the way up to the viewpoint, there was a visitor’s book which I looked at. One the entries was written in big print, by kids of about 11, I guess:

WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY WE HAD TO KILL OURSELVES TO GET UP HERE WHEN WE COULD HAVE GOT THIS VIEW ON THE INTERNET.

mmm… yes, why bother get off the couch at all, in fact ? I could think of a dozen answers to that question. But at least they were being honest… the virtual age is here, as predicted by sci-fi writers many decades ago, and the fun has only just begun. Soon we will be able to experience views in 360 deg, virtual reality with sound.

I wrote in response: “stay at home and get fat and bored”. Which kind of sums it up. But the proper response involves explaining why tactile reality cannot be replaced by technology, why using your muscles to achieve an outcome – a view, getting from A to B, earning money, building something… can bring satisfaction not found on the couch.
And interacting with a real live Eagle, or scaling mountain rock and feeling it’s texture, or being surprised by an Emu, or watching an awesome sunset on a cold mountain top is not the same as simulated reality, however life-like.
(on my walk I saw grey Kangaroos and Emus).

Apart from the above psychological benefits of walking in a Nat. Park, there are also other benefits: It keep you fit, which helps at work, in social life, avoids medical problems and produces endorphins which makes you feel more chirpy.
If the walk is a bit challenging, or involves scrambling rocks, it increases your confidence in being able to tackle obstacles in daily life.

On a deep level, interacting with nature can be akin to a mystical experience – eg watching the stars at night from a campsite. Which can allow a person to see the bigger picture and feel part of a grand cosmos of inter-related beings and phenomenae. And maybe touch his own connection with the transcendent and the oneness of the uni-verse.

Or alternatively, you can feel depressed by convincing yourself we are all "just a bag of greasy water" as a Marxist lecturer in Paris once said to his students. And as Post-Modern lecturers are saying to their students in Universities around Australia. Apart from uni Lecturers of course... uni lecturers are Gods who have a divine right to tell us what to think, say and do with our lives. Somehow, I'm sure they don't include themselves in their reductionist viewpoints about humans.