The Caravan, Honor, and Islamophobia
Is there such a social phenomenon called Islamophobia, or is it simply a countermeasure to criticism? Current events have produced behaviors that, in past years, were unnoticeable but must have existed covertly. For those who study this phenomenon, the root cause is rather apparent, even though it only shows its ugly head among those who submit to Islamist ideology (political Islam) and not those who are purely spiritual and not political, which is what religion should be.
What is the Islamist ideology? Where does it come from? And is it religious or cultural? The simple answer is that it is both and is based on the teachings of Mohammad.
In the West, face-saving, or honor-saving, has been a phenomenon that died down some hundred years ago. By the early twentieth century, dueling had been made illegal almost everywhere in the Western world but was also widely seen as old-fashioned. However, the phenomenon still exists in the East or Asia (not necessarily as a dual, but as a violent reaction to shame). Thus, dishonoring the family or clan can end in death. Shaming in public is more than faux pas or blunder. It is, for some, the inability to gain respect from members of your clan. For example, the failure to get one’s daughter married or show affection to non-Muslims, in some societies, is a black stain on the family.
The other aspect of the Muslim extremists is the belief that Mohammad was the perfect man and that those who choose to follow in his footsteps should emulate him. If that is the case, let us examine Mohammad’s condensed biography.
Mohammad (meaning praiseworthy) was an intelligent orphan with excellent memory who became a caravan lead (caravaneer) who traveled throughout the Middle East with his caravans of camels, transporting goods from Mecca throughout the Levant. During these trips, at the rest spots where the camels would rest, get water, and get fed, the various caravaneers would gather at sunset around the campfire and socialize with the other caravan leaders. This exposure taught Mohammad about other monotheistic religions (e.g., Christianity and Judaism). At that time, the clans of the Arabian peninsula were polytheists. Mecca was a central “tourist” attraction, and many traveling tourists visited the Kaaba, where many idols were on display.
Mohammad worked for a business lady (Khadijah), a prosperous merchant who coordinated the caravans, the main supply lines at the time, and her primary source of income. Mohammad was bright despite being illiterate and an excellent caravaneer. Mohammad caught her eye, and eventually, she married him even though she was 15 years his senior. During that period, Mohammad realized that religion to one God was appealing and may be an excellent way to unite the many tribes in the Arabian desert. He also discovered that a unifying religion could control the masses, thus collectively giving it the power that clans could only dream about.
Based on the many stories he heard throughout his travels, he started to imagine his leading role as a potential prophet, and this idea began to plague him. When he disclosed to his wife that he had dreams of a monotheistic religion, she encouraged him to continue to pursue it, and she technically became his first disciple.
He isolated himself in a cave nearby and hallucinated the ideas that eventually became the Holy Koran. Initially, he tried to convince the people of Mecca of this monotheistic religion but was unsuccessful in gathering enough followers. The local merchants wanted to keep things as they were since business was good. Converting the Kaaba into a monotheistic “temple” would end their money-making source.
Mohammad got very frustrated and decided to move to Medina, a neighboring city on the western side of the Arabian desert. He tried to proselytize recruits there but encountered the same rejection as in Mecca. Mohammad then changed his tactics. Instead of the peaceful, spiritual, religious philosophy, he switched to the more violent type. Mohammad collected violent thugs as his fresh recruits and started to convert people by way of the sword. The word got around (through the “grapevine”), and everywhere he went, the fear alone allowed him to gather more and more converts. He was on a roll.
Mohammad then tried to convert the Jews who lived in Khaybar, a settlement some distance north of Medina. When the Romans expelled the Jews from Israel, some ended up in north-western Arabia. When Mohammad approached the tribe about converting to his new religion, with him being the prophet, the Jews discounted his claim by referring to him as a fraudster and refused to take him seriously. The insult, of course, was not received well by Mohammad (as an honor wound). He then took his gang of thugs and overtook the tribe (circa 628 AD), beheading all of the men, raping many of the women, and taking the rest of the young females to be sex slaves, one of whom (the prettiest 17-year-old) he took as a wife (one of 12 or so that he accumulated over time) and the rest including underage boys and older women sold into slavery. The so-called Booty was customary at the time as a reward for subduing an enemy or a competitor. Caravan raids were common, and lawlessness was everywhere. This experience was etched in the minds of the Islamists. The Jewish tribe’s rejection of Mohammad (face-saving) is the reason that the Muslims in the twenty-first century hate the Jews. The current Iranian regime still reminds everyone to remember Khaybar and how Mohammad overcame the tribe because they refused to submit to his demands. The early parts of the Koran (Mecca period) say to respect the people of the book; however, later on (Medina period), it claims that all infidels should be killed. The hatred for the Jews is part of this legacy, where terror worked and eventually, around the seventh century, allowed Mohammad and his armies to overtake Mecca and spread North, West, and East. Thus, Mohammad, through violence (the sword) and terror (beheadings and rapes), managed to expand his domain relatively quickly. Rapes were very effective since they destroyed the honor of the affected families and thus placed fear in them.
So, in essence, Mohammad and his terror gangs managed to gain an enormous territory and became one of the early colonialists. Furthermore, because his philosophy allows for four wives, and men can marry any woman, whether Muslim or not, the birth rate among them was and still is high. As colonialists, they systematically obliterated the local cultures and tried to erase the indigenous culture and history. Over the many years of occupation, the local population was forced by the sword or coercion to become Muslims. Thus, local native populations mixed with the Arabs to become an extension of Arab society. Hence, for example, Egyptians gradually disappeared, with the Copts being the few true Egyptians who did not mix with the Arabs. Iran, an ancient civilization with a rich history, is another example of the coercive domination that left its mark on the current society and its present theocracy.
With this history and the behavior of the ideal prophet, the current Islamists use the same tactics of terror, deception, and meaningless treaties to which they adhere as long as they are the weaker party. After all, Mohammad captured Mecca by force after having a treaty with them (secession of hostilities), which he broke when he felt he was strong enough to overcome the Meccan society.
Thus, it is understandable that today’s Islamists, like ISIS and Hamas, use the same tactics and dream of the Caliphate, which encompasses the rest of the world. Their goal, which they proudly advertise, is to have the whole world under their rule, with Sharia being its only legal system, a system stuck in the seventh century. In today’s world, this philosophy would be considered a mental virus.
The combination of face savings and emulation of Mohammad explain the mental state of today’s Islamists. The Western world has a great deal to worry about because of the freedom they enjoy as well as their compassion for so-called refugees (or victims) from the Muslim Ummah, some of whom have the hidden agenda of toppling the host countries for the sake of the ultimate Caliphate. Thus, many Muslims have a different set of core values that directly conflict with the Western world.
The challenge of the Western world is to observe and act upon the slow caravan that the Islamists are riding with their plethora of organizations (the spider web) that are aiming to subvert the West and eventually defeat it, forcing their Sharia on their hosts. The desire to dominate, albeit slowly, by way of a covert war, the West, with only a short-term vision(four years in the USA), does not understand. By accommodating the Muslims among them, they will eventually be unable to stop the death blow. For Muslims who immigrated to the West and wished to get away from the violence and the dysfunctional societies from where they came, the challenge of survival is also tricky. The Islamists manage to harass them and, with the aid of the internet, try to bully them and carry out character assassinations. Peaceful Muslims who do not submit to the Islamist worldview get ostracized and humiliated rather than the “live-and-let-live” motto of the West, a Western concept of liberalism. Hate is not new; however, if it is taught and drilled into children’s brains, they grow up with a belief system that prevents them from assimilating and contributing to their host society that wishes to live in harmony.
Many so-called exiled Muslims who still wish to follow their religion from a spiritual point of view and distance themselves from the Political aspect of the religion (i.e., the Islamists and their Dawah) may try to start a reformed Muslim organization, spiritual and devoid of violence; the task is arduous. The orthodox and rigid Muslims see them as a threat and will ostracize them if not outright try to eliminate them by force. Orthodox Muslims are not necessarily pious but adhere to the Caliphate dream, face-saving, and hate for the other.
In short, Islamophobia is a construct of victimhood piggyback onto the current Woke herd mentality to divert the masses from the true intent of the Islamists. Unfortunately, many young people fall for this stealthy maneuver that closes their eyes to the truth. The Islamists should look into the mirror and ask themselves if any of the nation-states that make up the Ummah are doing that well. Are they contributing to this modern world in any significant and positive way? Education devoid of dogmatic brainwashing and the understanding that a peaceful religion is a private and personal spiritual choice may help them solve the puzzle.
GAB