Entries in Islamic Supremacism (7)
Why the West is Best
Adil Zeshan
Ibn Warraq had the best quip of the evening:
I don’t want to live in a society where I get stoned for committing adultery. I want to live in a society where I get stoned. And then commit adultery.
The man is a gem.
The Shire
Adil Zeshan
RECENTLY I HAD the honour of being interviewed by the incomparable Tom Paine for the best Anglospheric podcast around: Shire Network News. It was about my intellectual journey back to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - in other words, my induction into the great Zionist Conspiracy.
When I was asked to appear on the show, I was delighted. I have been listening to Shire Network News for many months now and the quality of commentary is always excellent. The combination of scrutiny and occasional mockery is superb, but there is no analytical depth sacrificed in whatever subject matter is being discussed. It is very clear that the hosts know that their listeners are intelligent people; there is no oratory or polemic being hurled around anywhere. And as a listener, I certainly have never heard them address me as "You people".
Each SNN show is something truly rare, and I recommend the podcast highly. It's better than what I hear on radio, given that the podcast is a whole lot more fun and educational. How many shows can boast to have interviewed people like Andrew Roberts, Douglas Murray, Mark Steyn, Raphael Israeli, Robert Spencer, Walid Phares... and so on?
Shire Network News. It rocks.
(Oh, and Tom: about my Cosmic-Zionist-Conspiracy-inductee cheque - just why have I not received it yet, hmm?)
Adil
in Islamic Supremacism, Blogosphere
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Once Upon a Time in the West (Midlands)
Adil Zeshan
ENGLAND . THE YEAR, 2007.
My name is Adil. I have been born and raised among dutiful and obedient Muslims, and I aim to misbehave.
Already I have fallen from grace. I am no longer one of them, a reason sufficient for their delicately-placed wrath to have me consigned, in this world and the next, to the most grievous of penalties; for what else should the reward be for those who behave like me, they would say if they knew, but disgrace in this life? So no matter where I go in the realms of Islam, I am a hidden traitor to my people, a renegade without honour to be executed. And for them to know of my apostasy is to know of their fear.
Still, I will not bow to their etiquette of madness. Now and again I silently walk among the Muslim flock, to observe their incessant bleating and guilty straying, and see how readily they run to the call of their watchful masters, appointees of God who oversee the enjoining of what is good and the forbidding of what is not. And they remind the herd that He is not unmindful of what they do.
Neither am I.
This article has been adapted from a book that Adil is currently writing.
Adil
in Islamic Supremacism
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The St. Petersburg Declaration
We are secular Muslims, and secular persons of Muslim societies. We are believers, doubters, and unbelievers, brought together by a great struggle, not between the West and Islam, but between the free and the unfree.
We affirm the inviolable freedom of the individual conscience. We believe in the equality of all human persons.
We insist upon the separation of religion from state and the observance of universal human rights.
We find traditions of liberty, rationality, and tolerance in the rich histories of pre-Islamic and Islamic societies. These values do not belong to the West or the East; they are the common moral heritage of humankind.
We see no colonialism, racism, or so-called “Islamaphobia” in submitting Islamic practices to criticism or condemnation when they violate human reason or rights.
We call on the governments of the world to
- reject Sharia law, fatwa courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostacy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights;
- eliminate practices, such as female circumcision, honor killing, forced veiling, and forced marriage, that further the oppression of women; protect sexual and gender minorities from persecution and violence;
- reform sectarian education that teaches intolerance and bigotry towards non-Muslims;
- and foster an open public sphere in which all matters may be discussed without coercion or intimidation.
We demand the release of Islam from its captivity to the totalitarian ambitions of power-hungry men and the rigid strictures of orthodoxy.
We enjoin academics and thinkers everywhere to embark on a fearless examination of the origins and sources of Islam, and to promulgate the ideals of free scientific and spiritual inquiry through cross-cultural translation, publishing, and the mass media.
We say to Muslim believers: there is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine;
to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha’is, and all members of non-Muslim faith communities: we stand with you as free and equal citizens;
and to nonbelievers: we defend your unqualified liberty to question and dissent.
Before any of us is a member of the Umma, the Body of Christ, or the Chosen People, we are all members of the community of conscience, the people who must chose for themselves.
They Aim to Misbehave
Adil Zeshan
EX-MUSLIMS HAVE a bad rep. In Muslim circles, those ad hominems fly thick and fast when even mere mention is made of their existence. For instance, numerous "progressive" Muslim blogs, while having achieved much respect across the blogosphere, happily take up this more regressive attitude when discussing former Muslims. Alas, many conspiratorial Muslims generally demonise their "fallen" brothers and sisters both in public and in private, as if they were secret agents constantly scheming and plotting away, with each and every one briefed and sent by the devil himself.
But ex-Muslims are people. And most of them are very good, caring people. Many of them have families and friends who remain Muslims, but, of course, still care just as much about them, if not more. And one big reason for ex-Muslims' even deeper empathy with their Muslim families and friends is their worry about what manner of dark alleys the faith will lead them to. Many things can be said about ex-Muslims but at the end of the day, while they may have enduring disputes with central aspects of Islam itself, they are as pro-Muslim as one can get.
One Muslim critique of the ex-Muslim stance is that the primary identity of the latter is de facto negative i.e. apostates go around parading themselves as being not of Islam. For ex-Muslims, it may or may not be true that it is primary (whatever that means), but it is not the whole. The act of renunciation is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to enter the ranks of the enlightened. Being an ex-Muslim is a starting identity, not an end point in itself; it is the undertaking of a journey, the mere contemplation of which invites outright fear for practising Muslims. Those who have intellectually deconverted from Islam tend to do so on grounds that their former faith restricts their outlook on exploring more humanistic, life-affirming identities. As a result, - and here I hijack a tired-sounding cliche - ex-Muslims constitute a mosaic, not a monolith.
For most religions, while defecting from the ranks of believers does demand some price to be suffered by the disaffected individual, it is usually not a very heavy one. In such cases, a decision to abandon the faith tells you little that is significant about the person defecting since the religion itself is relatively non-strict with regards to exit. With Islam, however, the command to stay within the faith is done under pain of death. Ex-Muslims do not have the luxury of fantasising about their prospects of public deconversion, because they do not suffer deluded notions of Islam being inherently peaceful. As a result, the ex-Muslim label conveys something significant about the intellectual courage of someone who has begun a journey under that starting identity.
Ex-Muslims, of course, are all too aware that mainstream Islam does not celebrate a retreat from political control; their departures from Muhammad's holy realm requires them to hold their tongues, lest they suffer reprisals of the most grievous kind. And so ex-Muslims attach tremendous importance to the advancement and flowering of a free, secular society. Unlike Muslims, ex-Muslims have every incentive to aid right-thinking infidels in combating the Islamic threat. And infidels should make no apologies to anybody, least of all to Muslims themselves, for seeking an alliance with the apostates.
I am one such renegade, an apostate of Islam. Do not feel guilty for such an alliance, infidel, for ex-Muslims certainly do not. I am one who has come to live in the West and am deeply grateful for its freedoms, and I appreciate what it takes for you to sustain them on my behalf. Unlike Muslims, I do not conceive of my relationship with the West as a one-way street: I do not believe in rights without responsibilities. And, unlike Muslims who cry wolf in the face of a tolerant West, I refuse to be a victim of anyone. Those like me who live in the West are empowered individuals who will not abandon you, infidel, in your time of need, and I know that you, infidel, will not abandon those like me. We are on the same side; our efforts are synergistic. For neither you nor I shall ever submit.
Adil
in Islamic Supremacism
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