Where
Arab Irrationalism Leads
By Jacob
Thomas
2005/11/03
During the decade of the seventies, I
read several Arabic books written by an Egyptian scholar dealing with the
modernization and renewal of the Arab culture. The author had received part of
his education in his homeland, and then gone to
Britain
to study philosophy. Returning home, his writings advocated the necessity of
change in the Arab mind; however no changes should be at the expense of the
basic truths of Islam.
One of the books he wrote had this
intriguing title: “The Rational and the Irrational in our Cultural
Heritage.” It made interesting reading in the cultural history of the
Arabs since the rise of Islam. His thesis was that a careful analysis of
that history would reveal two main and opposite strains: one rational, and
another, irrational. For the contemporary Arab world, it is necessary to
stress and emulate the rational aspect of the heritage. At the same time, the
Arabs must resolutely discard the irrational element of their heritage. Unless
they endeavor to make serious efforts in that direction, no renewal would take
place in the Arab culture.
I thought of this summary of “The
Rational and the Irrational in our Cultural Heritage” after reading an
article in an online Arab newspaper dated Sunday, 27 Ramadan 1426, and
30 October, 2005
. It was entitled, “
Iran
’s New Task.” The author was rather sarcastic as he referred to the
words of the Iranian President, Mahmoud Najadi about the task that faces the
Muslim world: the erasing of
Israel
from the world’s map.
The article in the Arabic language daily
reminded Najadi that for over fifty years neither the Arabs nor the Muslims have
succeeded in ending the existence the Jewish state, even though thousands of
Arabs had sacrificed their precious blood in that cause. In fact, the
irresponsible words of the Iranian president would give opportunity to
Israel
and the
United States
to take action against
Iran
which would be to the detriment of the Iranian people’s welfare.
Thus far so good. Almost 90% of the
short column intrigued me, as I imagined that those words were very helpful, and
could lay to rest any Arab-Muslim dream of precipitating another Holocaust. But
as the Arab proverb puts it, “my happiness did not reach my head.” In other
words, I was very disappointed in the closing words of the article.
It sent me back to reread it carefully
from the beginning. The result of my analysis was very disturbing. The author
was objecting to the project of terminating the existence of
Israel
solely on pragmatic grounds. His sarcastic style was amusing,
however not one objection based on principle was adduced as to the enormity and
madness of Mahmoud Najadi’s project. In other words, the Iranian president was
laughed at, not because it was horrifically immoral and barbaric to end the
existence of
Israel
, but because it was not realizable!
The article ended with these very
revealing words:
“
Israel
is in fact a criminal and aggressive state, but at the same time, it is lucky.
Her enemies offer her free services on a golden platter. The words of the
Iranian president amounted to a present from heaven for the Israeli propaganda
machine to continue in its campaign of misinformation and disinformation.
Furthermore, the pronouncements of the Iranian president give the justification
for
America
and
Israel
to take action against the Iranian nuclear reactor with the consent of the
international community.”
What a disappointing end to the article!
Having noticed this up-dated version of the searing hatred of Arabs for
Israel
, the words of the Egyptian scholar came back to me regarding the coexistence in
the Arab-Muslim culture of both rational and irrational elements. This is a very
scary fact to contemplate in the early years of the twenty-first century. Let me
explain.
For almost seventy years, our world
suffered from the attempt of dedicated Communists to create an earthly utopia
when the ideal classless society had finally come into existence. Instead of
that, millions died through enforced starvation of the peasants and the sending
of other millions to the Gulags that dotted many parts of the Siberian
landscape. Add to that, the
Soviet Union
obtained the know-how for developing nuclear weapons. That emboldened them to
attack the West by their proxies in
North Korea
and
North Vietnam
. As a result, over 100,000 thousands Americans died in those wars. Terrible as
that period of history was, there was no resort to a nuclear war due to what was
known as the “Balance of Terror.” The Soviets were evil, but
they were rational. Their ideology was based on wrong principles, and eventually
it lead to the implosion of the
USSR
.
I recounted the above history to point
out that in any confrontation with an Islamic country, we must take into account
that irrational element that is part and parcel of their worldview. This is
especially true for
Iran
. In the Shi’ite version of Islam that is practiced in that country martyrdom
remains as a basic motif. So we may expect a raving mad Iranian leader to embark
on projects and tasks that a rational human being would never contemplate. I
have written in the past about that potentially dangerous supernatural element
in Islam which promises fantastic rewards for those who die “fi sabeel
Allah,” (in the path of Allah.) I would not put it past a nuclear
Iran
under the leadership of the terrorist Mahmoud Najadi to embark on unthinkable
acts of terrorism. He can always secure the approval of Allah for his irrational
actions.
Furthermore, I was equally if not more
disturbed by the email responses to the article. Most of then turned out to be
in favor of the “Iranian project.” One “irrational” Saudi commented: “We
should not be surprised at the words of the Iranian president. This has been the
policy of
Iran
since the days of Ayatollah Khomeini. The real question is: When would we
Arabs, develop the courage to speak out as
Iran
does?” In other words, this Muslim who uses the Internet to send
emails to an online daily still exhibits this inherited irrational and dangerous
worldview. Out of utter hatred for
Israel
(and for Jews, and most likely for Christians, Hindus and Buddhists), he would
like to join the demonstrators in
Tehran
in the call for a new Holocaust. This is exactly where Arab-Muslim
irrationalism is leading!
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