- Islam began as a religious and cultural reform movement
in North Africa and the Middle East. Sir Richard Francis Burton was a
19th century explorer, linguist and ethnographer, also serving as British
Consul in Damascus in the 1870s. In his famous posthumous 1898 work, "The
Jew, The Gypsy And El Islam," he describes the odd and somewhat curious
period of history that saw the fantastic growth of the Muslim religion:
-
- "Thus in Syria and Egypt Christianity became degraded.
It sank into a species of idolatry. . . About the sixth century of its
era the Christian world called loudly for reform. When things were at
their worst, Muhammad first appeared on the scene. . . After a long course
of meditation, fired with anger by the absurd fanaticism of the Jews,
the superstitions of the Syrian and Arab Christians, and the horrid idolatries
of his unbelieving countrymen he determined to reform those abuses, which
rendered revelation contemptible to the learned and prejudicial to the
vulgar [all previous revelations] in the fullness of time had been superseded
by the revelations of El Islam, the Saving Faith.
-
- "All the past was now effete and abrogated. All
the future would be mere imposture; for his was the latest of religions,
he the Soul of the Prophets. He accused the Jews and Christians of entire
corruption, of spiritual death, and preached to them with fervour a new
faith, a doctrine of life. Abolishing all belief in a local or personal
God, he announced to his Arabs the One Supreme. He preached ALLAH, the
God unapprehensible, incomprehensible, omnipotent, all-beneficent, spiritual,
and eternal. He revived the earliest scheme of Mosaicism and pristine
simplicity of Christianity by making every man priest and patriarch of
his own household. he bequeathed to the world a Law and a Faith than
which none has been more firmly or more fervently believed in by mankind.
But, however El Islam prospered amongst the kindred races, it fell flat
elsewhere."
-
- While it somewhat did "fall flat" in the West,
it was certainly not from lack of trying. But nowadays, with the exception
of a few scattered colonies in Eastern Europe (still troubling us today),
in spite of numerous military assaults, it gained little actual ground.
Europe faces Islamicization again, but this time the jihad is bloodless,
conquering the West through immigration and birth rate.
-
- Among others, Turks, North Africans and Pakistanis are
well established in almost all major cities. After the Crusades, Islam
was largely ignored by the West, and the Ottoman Empire maintained
the openness of the Palestinian Holy Lands to all pilgrims, ending that
old bone of contention. Western civilization rocked on in arrogance and
ignorance for hundreds of years, but Islam became resurgent again in the
1930s. This was an era of political turmoil in Europe, but while the Europeans
were largely ignorant of the Islamic political revival, the Islamists
were quite aware of what was going on in Europe. The pan-Arab Ba'ath Party
(Resurrection or Renaissance Party) was partially inspired by European
nationalists in Germany, Italy and Spain.
-
- The history of Islam and the West is quite fascinating,
containing our mutual experiences and mutual resentments. While
much more can be said about all of this, I limit my commentary to certain
topics, which I see as the main focal points of the ill feelings between
these two cultures.
-
- The Crusades may be "ancient history," gone
and forgotten by the West, but not by Islam. To many Muslims, it is truly
just like yesterday, especially with our recent Zionist-inspired misadventures
in the Middle East. Readers surely recall that George W. even had the
audacity to call our military movements a crusade! We saw it as a foolish
slip of an already tongue-tied speaker, but most of the world's 1.25+
billion Muslims saw it as one of the only times an American president
spoke the truth!
-
- Really a series of related events, the Crusades began
in 1095 when Pope Urban II rallied the Christians to war, ostensibly to
liberate and protect the Holy Land, but numerous other motivations present
themselves. Europe was a bit overcrowded, with many segments excluded
from productive enterprise by the rigid class structure. Peasants were
many in number and often idle. The young sons of aristocrats had nowhere
to go and nothing to do. The aristocracy, especially counts and dukes
who wanted to be kings, dreamed of expansion into new and not too distant
lands. Even lesser-born Crusaders (so-called because of the crosses prominently
worn on tunics, shields, helmets, banners, etc.) might gain recognition
and land.
-
- Italian cities and their trade cartels, especially Venice,
saw a great mercantile opportunity in the Near East, once Europeans rather
than "Saracens" controlled the holy lands. The Catholic Pope,
bishops, priests and monks of all sorts, just as do Muslim clerics today,
greatly encouraged the Christian holy warriors, who, just like today's
Muslim Jihadists, were promised holy martyrdom and heaven for their sacrifices
should they be slain. They were automatically granted Papal Indulgences,
forgiving them from even the most venal sins.
-
- They would need it, for soon they would commit some of
the foulest and most heinous war crimes and ethnic cleansings ever seen.
This is ancient and largely ignored history to Westerners, but it is a
different matter with many Muslims. Current events are seen as closely
following the old Crusader model in Iraq and Palestine. Could they be
right?
-
- The First Crusade (1095-99) was successful, securing
Jerusalem. The assorted cast of adventurers wasted no time in claiming
the "holy land". Four "Latin Christian kingdoms" were
soon established, apparently with little regard to the fact that they
presented special difficulties in defending. It was during this time
that the famous Knights Hospitalers, Knights of St. John of Jerusalem
and Knights Templar monk/holy warrior orders, et al, were established.
All was well and prosperous for a while. The Muslim forces did not
back off completely; they merely reorganized and tried to recoup their
losses. By 1144, they had reclaimed Edessa.
-
- In Europe many voices (St. Bernard of Clairvaux was the
loudest) called for a Second Crusade, which lasted 1147-49. This was a
dismal failure, and the great Islamic re-conqueror, Saladin (Salah al-Din,
The Righteousness of the Faith), recaptured Jerusalem with his massive
and overwhelming jihad of 1187.
-
- A Third Crusade (1189-92), led by several of the crowned
heads of Europe, failed to recapture the city, though Christians were
granted access rights after a three year truce. This was the end of the
real crusades to capture/recapture the Holy Land. The so-called Fourth
Crusade (1202-04) was diverted by pressure from the Venetians to attack
and sack (Eastern Orthodox) Christian Constantinople instead!
-
- A "mad monk" preacher created a horror and
monstrosity known as the Children's Crusade in 1212. Most never reached
the holy land, and were sold into slavery (often in child brothels) or
died of hunger and disease. A Fifth Crusade (1217-21) aimed at Egypt,
but failed. Yet another (albeit a short one), the Sixth Crusade (1228-29)
was attempted. The later crusaders were at least consistent. This one
failed miserably. There were several smaller, lesser-known crusades all
along the way. In fact, during the earlier, more successful times, the
smaller versions became almost annual events. But the real crusades came
to an end in 1291 with the fall of Acre, the last remaining Christian
stronghold in the Levant. Christian troops would not enter Palestine and
the surrounding areas again until 1917, with the defeat of the Ottoman
Empire.
-
- It's hard to know when to quit on a fascinating topic
like this, but suffice it to say, there are no sweet memories. For a final
look at this era so crucial to Islamic-Western relations, especially
now that we are fighting medieval-spirited warriors again, let's remind
ourselves of the furor the "Christian" West unleashed against
them on 15 July 1099. The Crusaders thought they were doing God's will,
just as the Muslim Jihadists, then and now. Great atrocities characterized
the Crusades. On that ultra-sanguineous day in 1099, the Crusaders breached
the walls of the Holy City of Jerusalem. Later in the following full week
of slaughter and terror, they herded the Jews into the synagogue and
burned them alive, while circumambulating the building singing "Christ,
We Adore Thee". After performing a real holocaust against the harmless
Sephardic Jews unfortunate enough to have stayed in the city, they directed
their attention to the Muslims.
-
- "[After they breached the walls] then began one
of the bloodiest and cruelest massacres in history. No reliable figures
are available of the total number of Muslims who perished, but according
to Ibn al-Athir, some 70,000 were slaughtered in the Al-Aqsa Mosque alone,
all of them noncombatants and some of them Imams and professors of theology,
who had taken refuge in what, under Islamic rules of war, was held to
be a sanctuary. Christian annalists have confirmed this report, and one
of their number, a Crusader chaplain named Raymond, exulted in print over
the atrocities that were perpetrated. 'Wonderful sights rewarded our
eyes,' he wrote. 'Some of the men, and they the more merciful, cut the
heads of the enemies: others shot them with arrows, so that they fell
from the towers: others tortured them longer by casting them into the
flames. Heaps of heads and hands and feet were to be seen in the streets
of the city.' Small wonder that to the Muslim world, the Crusaders were
'animals, possessing the virtues of courage and fighting, but nothing
else.' For a whole week these 'wonderful sights' continued as women and
children, old men and young, soldiers and civilians, Arabs and Jews, were
butchered in a massacre unsurpassed in savagery until the Mongol invaders."
The Arabs, Anthony Nutting, 1964, p. 172.
-
- Various other later crusades/campaigns were organized
from time to time (e.g., 1396, 1464) to block the further extension of
Islam. These were largely successful, and Islamic/Turkish expansion in
Europe was confined to Greece and the Balkans. The expansion slowed to
a halt after the disastrous Turkish naval defeat in 1571 at the Battle
of Lepanto. Islam was further diverted by the Mongol threat in the 13th
century. And in 1492, Muslims who did not convert to Christianity were
completely and inexorably expelled from Iberia. While the Muslim Mogul
empires flourished in India, this had no bearing on Europe. Islam settled
down into a cultural slumber.
-
- To many Muslims today, the Crusades ended in 1291, but
the military and cultural aggression from the West has never really ceased.
Europe has always been a block to the spread of Islam. We cannot recount
the entire history, but more than once, Islamic military forces came quite
close to conquering Europe, and they did hold Iberia for 800 years! Indeed,
they came as far as France and Vienna as late as 1683. They might have
conquered Europe had they fully exploited their advantage, but they did
not. Even more frustratingly, Muslims clearly see that if Christian Europe
had not stopped them, there might already be a world in submission to
Allah instead of the world as it is today, where Muslims are under attack
and suppressed on multiple fronts. They have not forgotten the Crusades
nor have they forgotten the ultimate goal of all Muslims the establishment
of an Islamic World Order under Sharia law. So far, the Crusaders and
their successors have been the primary adversaries.
-
- To conclude our discussion of the Crusades, in all fairness
and honesty, the stated reasons for the Crusades were at best a pretext.
In another parallel with current events, the Western powers lied to provoke
a war in the Middle East. The Muslims never really blocked pilgrims from
Palestine just as Iraq never really had WMDs. Even after the savage Crusader
assaults and atrocities, the Muslims still granted reasonable access rights
to the Holy Land following the Third Crusade. Christians wrongfully seized
these lands again in 1917. And to further add insult to injury, the third
holiest site in Islam was turned over to the Zionists in 1918 through
the Balfour Declaration, and consummated in 1948 with the establishment
of the artificial and eternally troublesome ministate of Israel. When
Israel took over, they seized even more native Palestinian land, abrogating
deeds and land titles that had been valid and legal for centuries. Today's
news stories bring the Crusades and geopolitical issues of a millennium
ago into play on our world stage.
-
- THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF PAN-ARAB NATIONALISM
-
- "As with every successful revolutionary, Muhammad
touched on the raw nerve of the masses in Hejaz who were not privileged
to share in the pleasures of life. For within his spiritual message, there
was a call to social revolution every bit as clear as the writings of
Karl Marx or the speeches of Gamel Abdel Nasser. And just as Nasser did
in the 20th century, so Muhammad was able to uplift the Arabs and give
to the underprivileged citizens who received his call a new dignity in
being a Muslim Arab." [Nutting, p. 37.]
-
- It suffices to say that attempts at Arab unity, no matter
how auspicious and promising in their beginnings, failed not too much
later. Moreover, the promises of a better life for the masses never materialized.
Gamel Abdel Nasser is perhaps the best-known Pan-Arabist. The United Arab
Republic (1958-61) was a short-lived union between Egypt and Syria (with
Yemen in for a short time near the end), but later dissolved. It looked
good for a while, but to make a long story short, Nasser overplayed his
hand, failing to bring Sudan (a non-Arab state, actually) into the pact.
Other Arab nationalists were at work as well, and there was a federal
union for a time between the two Hashemite kingdoms of Jordan
and Iraq. The Arab League seemed promising, but has not been that
productive.
-
- The greater cause of Islamic unity has replaced the Arab
nationalism of the mid 20th century. Islamic "international nationalism,"
global nationhood based on religion, raises much greater fervor, enthusiasm
and determination than the old movements, while avoiding many mistakes.
A new Islamic union of nations could someday arise. But, don't expect
it anytime soon as vested and entrenched interests on all sides (and in
the background) always work against (or to control) such movements. Nevertheless,
they could effectively align on some issues and projects, although their
performance as a bloc in the UN General Assembly has been disappointing.
-
- Most Muslims today are not Arabs; Indonesia is the largest
Muslim nation. Mosques are now all over the globe. The old dream of Middle
Eastern nationalism has grown and expanded itself into movements calling
for a global Islamic system, a world under Koranic guidance and Sharia
Law. Don't even for a moment think this is a mere political movement.
It is perhaps the ultimate rolling social tsunami that aims to sweep over
the world in the most powerful spiritually based revolution ever known
to mankind. Again, make no mistake. Islam is not "just another religion."
It is a world-embracing, all encompassing spiritual, legal and governmental
system of the kind that literally works wonders. Early Christianity was
such a faith. Today it is Islam. Does Western culture and its "Judeo-Christian"
churches have the tools to combat it? Only time will tell.
-
- Until very recently, Muslim countries have depended on
Western finances and technology to develop and operate the petroleum
industry and many other fields as well. In a sense, the pan-Islamists
are correct in saying that this is just another example of Western imperialism
and neo-colonialism. But to blame it all on Western infidels is irresponsible,
ignoring the unfair and dictatorial nature of many governments in predominantly
Muslim countries. Even today, when many more Muslims than ever before
are smart, sophisticated and well trained, the vast majority is poor
and live in underdeveloped and misgoverned countries.
-
- Even in big-money states like Saudi Arabia, the most
common major emphasis in universities is not science or business, but
Islamic studies! While they rail against the Western and Jewish financial
interests, some Muslims (Saudi royals and the like) live the good life
of the West and play the system just as do the Jewish and infidel Westerners.
But they only spread a little of the wealth to the people, just enough
to keep the pot from boiling over.
-
- Is this the Islamic way? Fundamentalists don't think
so, and they are right. Since the coming of oil in the 1930s, exacerbated
by an ever-expanding market, billions upon billions of dollars have flowed
into Muslim hands, and continue to flow each and every day, just as regularly
as our trips to the gas pumps. So why are they still poor and underdeveloped
except in rich "playhouse countries" like Kuwait and the little
Emirates? While the West has, indeed, played a destructive role, Muslims
need only look in the mirror (and at their governments) to find the worst
offenders.
-
- "The great nations have always acted like gangsters,
and the small nations like prostitutes." Stanley Kubrick.
-
- As said in previous articles, infidel troops, including
females, are considered inappropriate and unacceptable in many Muslim
lands, but especially in the Islamic holy land of the Arabian Peninsula,
home to both Mecca and Medina. Osama said they would never leave, and
so far, they have not. The profligate Saudi royals recognize the danger
in all of this. In January of 2002, information was released indicating
that the Saudis might ask U.S. troops to leave. But, this did not happen
and is even less likely to happen in the current state of affairs.
-
- ROOTS OF THE RAGE: THE PALESTINIAN PROBLEM
-
- For centuries, various pre-Zionist Judaic movements had
their eyes on Palestine, even if the large majority of them were of Khazarian
non-Semitic descent, whose ancestors never spoke Hebrew or set foot in
the Middle East. However, the modern Zionist movement changed all of this,
setting out clear and concise protocols as to how this land grab could
be done.
- In 1898, what had been carefully planned and discussed
for a long time was declared to the world. Theodore Herzl convened the
World Zionist Congress, declaring that they wanted Palestine as the Jewish
state, but not much happened until after World War One. Turkey chose the
wrong side, and ended up losing much of her empire to the Europeans, including
Palestine, which at that time was regarded as a part of Syria.
-
- As we know, Western military forces entered Jerusalem
in 1917, the first time since 1291, when the Crusaders of old were cast
out. In support of Rothschild and other Judaic banking interests, Britain
issued the Balfour Declaration, which set in process the coming State
of Israel. Then as now, not all the world agreed that this was a wise
plan. For example, even the Vatican expressed disapproval. But sadly,
interests of the Palestinians
- were, then as now, discounted, disrespected and disregarded,
and the Jewish ministate became a controversial reality in 1948. Today,
the so-called and self-styled Israel is a racist apartheid state, just
as former President Carter so eloquently said in his recent book.
-
- Since we began with the words of Sir Richard Francis
Burton, K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S., we close with them. He not only had a fluent
knowledge of Arabic, but also knew and well understood the intense and
ultimately violent nature of the Islamic faith, especially when it feels
challenged or threatened, as it does here at the beginning of the 21st
century. In recent history, the Western powers have done little other
than directly challenge and threaten. Why are we so surprised by the response?
-
- "And should Christianity, as it has often threatened,
ever meet the Saving Faith in mortal combat, and the Cross assail the
Crescent in the latest of crusades, the Muslim scimitar, rusty as it
is with the rust of ages, will prove the good metal of which it was in
the beginning forged. Supposing, however, El Islam abolished by civilization,
underminded by the slow action of the Christian Powers closing around
it, or become decrepit from old age, what would be the result? Some renewal,
essentially the same, formally different; some revival of its eternal
principle, monotheism, disguised under a fresh garb of those outward accidents
that constitute a religion. Such has ever been the history of the world's
creeds."
-
- The West, like most of humanity, rocks along from day
to day, making false linear assumptions that one day will be more or less
like the next. While there are always wide-eyed prescient ones who see
what is really happening, they are few and far between and most often
scoffed at, ignored, even persecuted. Who could think a small cult of
apostate Judean Palestinians flocking around a discredited prophet called
Jesus could start a world-transforming religion? Who in old Rome or Greece
thought that barbarians would ever defeat the greatest superpower the
world had ever known? Even Eastern Christian Byzantium, who should have
known better, didn't really think that the newly upstart Arabs could do
any actual damage until the Islamic Jihad rolled into town in 1453
and slaughtered the bishops, priests, nuns and Christian families who
took refuge in Hagia Sophia cathedral. The Jihadists extracted revenge
for the earlier atrocities, and the floors were literally
knee deep in blood. And even though Muslim armies almost made it into
Europe, they did not. The West moved on with science and knowledge as
well as warfare, and the Muslims fell back to their homelands, to take
a long cultural siesta in the Middle Eastern sun. But they are asleep
no more.
-
- What should be our response? Can we obtain détente
with Islam? Should we apologize and seek to atone for some of the obvious
wounds we have inflicted? Should they? As in most relationships, I feel
that actions are more important than words, including apologies about
the past. What lies ahead is more important, but I also realize this is
a Euro-centric, occidental view of things. Nonetheless, three specific
steps could make a great deal of difference. The ideas are simple, but
require great willpower and major paradigm shifts to accomplish.
I address three major changes that would definitely make a difference.
-
- 1. Peace and justice in Palestine.
-
- Americans must create a nationalist government that can
align with the forces of peace and justice in the world and pressure the
recalcitrant Israelis for a fair division of lands and rights. Of course,
some Jews have a better idea. The anti-Zionist Neturei Karta movement
proposes dismantling the entire Israeli artificial ministate, but since
that is unlikely, let's just remove our ignorant unthinking support of
Israeli atrocities. Let Israel function on its own, like a genuine nation-state,
without relying on the USA to clean up its messes and mishaps. And, not
to divert too far, but perhaps the Israelis could give up their nukes!
Is that too radical, or what? Enough said. Peace will come when all sides
negotiate rationally and honestly.
-
- 2. Stop being the world police.
-
- A true patriot nationalist government would never have
our military forces spread all over the world, so -- get our troops out
of Muslim lands, especially in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, withdraw our forces
from all foreign lands! Why are they there? A constitutional government
must renounce our unacceptable goals of geopolitical hegemony.
-
- 3. Muslims should share the wealth.
-
- Muslim states with mineral wealth should seek new ways
so that the residents of the petrol-states share more meaningfully in
the profits. Since charitable generosity is incumbent on Muslims, perhaps
some of the wealth can assist other needy Muslims as well?
-
- "Experience and history teach us that people and
governments have learnt nothing from history, nor acted on principles
deduced from it." Hegel.
-
- Can we create a new model for a better world? Or is Hegel
absolutely and always correct? Such a world would be a true spiritual
Nationalist New Age and New Order, a New Reality and New Paradigm, indeed!
Perhaps I am, at best, an addle-headed old philosopher and dreamer. But
ever more importantly what do you think? Who will win the ultimate
culture war/kulturkamph?
-
- Dr. Harrell Rhome, an investigative researcher and writer,
contributes to print and on-line publications, including The Nationalist
Times newspaper. He is also an English-language contributor for Tsunami
Politico, a multilingual online nationalist magazine out of Buenos Aires
as well as a Contributing Editor for The Barnes Review historical magazine.
Comments and questions are welcome: EagleRevisionist@aol.com.
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