Spengler - Cat and mouse with Muslim paranoia

Regardless of what each of us thinks or feels about God and religion, in this case, the beliefs of Muslims and of Iranians are of great importance in respect to our future.

From Cat and Mouse with Muslim paranoia by Spengler at AsiaTimes

Although not alone in the world of victimology and conspiracy, Islam is an ideology that began with paranoia, intrigue and conspiracies which, according to Spengler of AsiaTimes, became full-blown with the 11th century sage Abu Hamid al-Ghazali.

Today's Iran is the paranoia's poster boy. But they want to turn that around by besting the West, especially the United States through their clients the Shi'ite militias of Iraq.

Why is there a change of heart? According to Spengler, the character of Allah is to blame. In contrast to the Judeo-Chrisitian God that actually cares about human beings, Mohammed offers no succor, only success to the faithful:

Something more profound is at work in the psyche of radical Islam than the ordinary paranoia of the oppressed. It has deep roots in mainstream Islamic theology, starting with the definitive work of the 11th-century Islamic sage Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. Absolute omnipotence characterizes Allah, who may place any obligation he wishes upon humans and suffers no grief if they are not fulfilled. The Judeo-Christian god is not quite omnipotent, for he only can do what is good and best for humans, and suffers along with his creatures when they err. The Mu'tazilite school of Muslim held a similar view.

Allah has absolute freedom, and therefore no obligation to men, Ghazali countered. Because good and evil only can be defined with respect to a purpose, he said, nothing Allah might do might be considered good or evil, for he has no purpose. Allah simply is. That has been the unchallenged doctrine of mainstream Islam since the 13th century, when the last remnants of opposition to Ghazali died out...Allah and the self-revealed god of Judeo-Christian scripture are different entities, contrary to the pulp theology of Karen Armstrong. The Judeo-Christian god is a loving parent who grieves with the weakest of his creatures; Allah is an absolute sovereign who rewards those who execute his orders. YHWH and Jesus offer consolation. Allah can offer nothing but success. That is why many Muslims become secular, but few become Christian. For Muslims, Christianity is not a different expression of the same desires that motivate Islam, but an incompatible set of motivations. Before they can consider an entirely different religion, first they must leave their own.

Only two things can explain the absence of success in Islamic terms. One is unfaithfulness, and the other is the action of a supernatural entity opposed to Allah, namely Satan. Just how Satan got into a universe whose every molecular jiggle comes under Allah's purview is another question, but we will leave that aside. Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), the founder of modern radical Islam, proceeded from the accusation that "Islamic society today is not Islamic in any sense of the word".

"To [Iranian leader] Ahmadinejad and his contemporaries, the entire world appears as a vast conspiracy to prevent them from having what is rightfully theirs: dominance of the Middle East...and, eventually much more. " [As muslims] "they know with absolute certainty that they cannot fail, that the United States will withdraw from the region in confusion, and that they shall triumph."

Which brings us to Tom and Jerry. In order to communicate reality to Ahmadinejad et al, they must fail "in the most obvious way possible. Tom, in other words, finally has to eat Jerry" to prevent Iran "from realizing its imperial ambitions in the region." Of course, Iran is making contingency plans in case of such a demonstration.