Peering into the Arab Mind
What a Muslim Learned on Yom Kippur , by Nonie Darwish, FrontPageMagazine.com, October 5, 2004.
Understanding our jihadist enemy requires a good grasp of essentials. First, you need the facts of history as it pertains to them. Second, you need a grasp of the philosophy which shapes their culture and its members. Third, you need to understand how their minds work. On our website, 6th Column Against Jihad, we cite excellent books for the history; we also lay out the basics of Islamic philosophy in plain language; and, recently, we reviewed a masterpiece about Arab-Islamic thinking in Rapheal Patai's, The Arab Mind. Once these basics have been grasped, you start analyzing them well. This article by Nonie Darwish offers some really important information.
I want to focus on just one small aspect of the article, but it is well worth reading. She thinks well and writes well.
She states her background: "I was born a Muslim and raised in the 1950’s in Cairo, Egypt and in the Gaza strip...In 1978, I moved to the United States..."
Then she addresses one of the most serious flaws in Arab-Islamic thinking:
"A new and pleasant life in America soon opened my mind – and allowed me to look objectively at myself and my culture of origin.
"To admit one’s flaws and mistakes, to correct and repent, challenges a person of any nationality. In Muslim culture, however, it is inconceivable. To acknowledge one's shortcomings before first blaming others would bring deep shame and dishonor not only to the individual but to his or her entire family. Those who admit fault, even unintentional guilt, are regarded as foolish. If the mistake is a cultural taboo, one's reputation may be scarred for life and the perpetrator might end up brutally punished."
Islam teaches what is the key to understanding this thinking fallacy: "Evil was always out there, never in here." (Emphases mine).
In her concluding paragraph, she states: "On this tiny planet, we learn from each other every day." To which, I have to point out that Islam closes the minds of its charges early in life, and few ever make the effort to open them from childhood on. Most peoples do learn from each other. For Islamists, they learn from us how to use our industrial products as weapons against us. They want the weapons, but not the knowledge that makes industrial production possible. Thus they rigidly maintain their squalor while trying to use our products against us to reduce us to their squalor, and they hold us responsible for everything.
Expect no enduring progress from the Middle East until they begin rigorous, objective self-examination, and indentifying things for what they are, including their own role in their own misery.
Understanding our jihadist enemy requires a good grasp of essentials. First, you need the facts of history as it pertains to them. Second, you need a grasp of the philosophy which shapes their culture and its members. Third, you need to understand how their minds work. On our website, 6th Column Against Jihad, we cite excellent books for the history; we also lay out the basics of Islamic philosophy in plain language; and, recently, we reviewed a masterpiece about Arab-Islamic thinking in Rapheal Patai's, The Arab Mind. Once these basics have been grasped, you start analyzing them well. This article by Nonie Darwish offers some really important information.
I want to focus on just one small aspect of the article, but it is well worth reading. She thinks well and writes well.
She states her background: "I was born a Muslim and raised in the 1950’s in Cairo, Egypt and in the Gaza strip...In 1978, I moved to the United States..."
Then she addresses one of the most serious flaws in Arab-Islamic thinking:
"A new and pleasant life in America soon opened my mind – and allowed me to look objectively at myself and my culture of origin.
"To admit one’s flaws and mistakes, to correct and repent, challenges a person of any nationality. In Muslim culture, however, it is inconceivable. To acknowledge one's shortcomings before first blaming others would bring deep shame and dishonor not only to the individual but to his or her entire family. Those who admit fault, even unintentional guilt, are regarded as foolish. If the mistake is a cultural taboo, one's reputation may be scarred for life and the perpetrator might end up brutally punished."
Islam teaches what is the key to understanding this thinking fallacy: "Evil was always out there, never in here." (Emphases mine).
In her concluding paragraph, she states: "On this tiny planet, we learn from each other every day." To which, I have to point out that Islam closes the minds of its charges early in life, and few ever make the effort to open them from childhood on. Most peoples do learn from each other. For Islamists, they learn from us how to use our industrial products as weapons against us. They want the weapons, but not the knowledge that makes industrial production possible. Thus they rigidly maintain their squalor while trying to use our products against us to reduce us to their squalor, and they hold us responsible for everything.
Expect no enduring progress from the Middle East until they begin rigorous, objective self-examination, and indentifying things for what they are, including their own role in their own misery.
posted by George Mason @ 10/05/2004 08:33:00 AM
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