Islam and neo-Islam: An important difference

Iranian author and Middle East expert Amir Taheri points out an important difference between Islam and what she calls “neo-Islam.” One is a religion; the other’s a fascist political movement. All of us, especially in the West, need to recognize that difference

Taheri begins her latest New York Post column:

'GOD? What about him?" the sheik asked with a frown.

We were in a London mosque, discussing the ser mons the sheik delivers at Friday congregations.

I had asked why God almost never featured in (or, at best, got a cameo role) in sermons that focused almost exclusively on political issues.

For the sheik, what mattered was "the sufferings of our brethren under occupation."

In other words: In our Islam, we don't do God — we do Palestine, Kashmir and Iraq!

Here we have a religion without a theology, a secular wolf disguised as a religious lamb.

How did this neo-Islam — a political movement masquerading as religion — come into being, and how can those who know little about Islam distinguish it from the mainstream of the faith?

In the rest of her column, Taheri provides an answer to her question. She gives us information and clear thinking of a kind we rarely find in MSM.

Taheri ends with:

Neo-Islam is a form of fascism, hence the term Islamofascism. Its primary victims are Muslims, both in Muslim majority countries and in the West.

In many Muslim countries, neo-Islam has been exposed as a political movement and can no longer deceive the masses. In the West, however, it is has managed to dupe parts of the media, government and academia into treating it not as the political movement it is, but as the expression of Islam as a religion.

It is time to end that deception and recognize neo-Islam in its many manifestations as a political phenomenon.

Neo-Islam has as much right to operate in the political field as any other party in a democracy. But it does not have the right to pretend to be a religion — it is not.

I think Taheri nails it.

About Taheri’s observation: “(Neo-Islam) has managed to dupe parts of the media, government and academia into treating it not as the political movement it is, but as the expression of Islam as a religion.”

It’s certainly true, but do you think it’s possibly less true since neo-Islam launched its recent “cartoons” attack on Western civilization?