What is wrong with Islam today?

by Philip Husband - MA Honours in Middle Eastern Languages, University of Edinburgh (Graduated 1995)

I will answer this question from a psychological perspective; many, but not all Muslims seem to be collectively suffering from from “Cluster B” personality disorders (Narcissistic, Histrionic, Borderline, and Antisocial) with regards to
their status in the contemporary world. It is characteristic of narcissists to be simultaneously grandiose (Islam is the one true religion; Muslims are the best of people!), and suffer from feelings of inadequacy and resentment (Why are
those Christians and Jews so much more successful than we are; they must be cheating, somehow!). Such feelings lead to a tendency to lash out in anger at even the most mild perceived slight; compare the reaction of Christians and Jews
to Monty Python’s film “The Life of Brian”, which was disapproval in some cases (I know Christians who think it’s hilarious), and the Muslim reaction to Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses”, which was murderous rage, despite the fact
that the vast majority of Muslims had never even read it.

“Always look on the bright side of life? That’s a bit cheeky!”

“Rushdie must be killed!” I was told this by a Muslim woman who was studying English law.

I am not prejudiced towards Islam and Muslims; I have the credentials and life experience to write with some authority on the matter from a place of knowledge,
rather than bigotry; I have absolutely no time for those who talk as if Islam is
monolithic, and tar all Muslims with the same brush. Some of the best critiques of Muslim attitudes come from Muslims; I am an admirer of the Saudi intellectual, Ibrahim al-Buleihi, from his interviews on YouTube; according to Mr. al-Buleihi, too many Muslims have trapped themselves in an ideological cage,
in which they squat complacently, and nurture their delusion of being innately superior to non-Muslims by virtue of their adherence to Islam. According to this
learned gentleman, Muslims need to realize that they have much to learn from Western civilization (which is ironically going through a period of masochistic self-hatred), and even went so far as to say that contemporary Islamic civilization is parasitic on the West with regards to the West’s innovations and
technology.

When Islamic civilization was in the ascendant, Islam could afford to be broad minded and tolerant; brilliant Muslim scholars translated the works of the Greek
philosophers into Arabic, and added their own commentaries, and the collection of often scurrilous stories we know as “A thousand and one nights” were partly derived from Persian and Indian sources. Ironically, the word “alcohol” is from the Arabic al-Kohl, meaning “the essence” derived from the distillation of wine;
“algebra” is another word of Arabic origin, and the word “algorithm” derives from the name of al-Khwarizmi, a Muslim mathematician. The Arab philosopher and poet, al-Ma’arri, was tolerated, despite his open atheism and disregard of religion; in contemporary Saudi Arabia, someone who openly expressed views such as his would be classified as a “terrorist”, and would likely face public execution by beheading. "The world has two classes of men: intelligent men without relgion, and religious men without intelligence".

It is fashionable amongst certain groups of Muslims to blame the West, and especially the the Jews, for all that ails them: if a shark bites someone off the coast of Egypt, it was clearly a Zionist shark, and probably recited “Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohim, Adonai Ehad!” before its Islamophobic attack. Unfortunately, my seemingly hyperbolic depiction of the attitudes of some Muslims is not really much of an exaggeration; the disgusting antisemitic fraud that is ‘’The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” has been turned into an Arabic language TV series, and presented as a factual account of what Jews really believe with regards to the Goyim.

The attitude of Muslims towards the West is not universally negative; as well as
the aforementioned Saudi intellectual, I will never forget a Yemeni I met who kept repeating to me in Arabic “Nasrani tammaam!”, “Christians are great!”; he was using Christians as a proxy for Westerners, who he had seen developing the infrastructure of Saudi Arabia when he worked there. When I was in Iran, it was clear to me that the majority of Iranians would rather not live in an Islamic Republic; the mass demonstrations against the compulsory wearing of the hijab are proof of this prevalent attitude amongst young Iranians.

Groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood have reacted to the relative backwardness of Muslim nations with the attitude of “Islam, huwa al-hall!”: “Islam is the solution”. As the former member of al-Qaeda, Aiman Dean, once remarked in his excellent podcast series, “Conflicted”, “The solution to what?!” We can argue back and forth about the problems that Western influence in the Islamic world has caused, but if there is a problem with Islam, it is up to Muslims to solve it.

Postscript: If anyone reacts with anger towards what I have written, and makes false reports to Quora alleging “hate speech”, just be aware that you will be proving my point.


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