We in the West love to philosophize and fantasize about bringing democracy to the Middle East. Like Christian missionaries who venture into remote corners of the world to bring the word of God to uncivilized cultures, Westerners believe that if we can just get Muslims to understand the democratic way of life, then all our problems will vanish.
Muslim writer Salem Ben Ammar completely refutes that idea, and his explanation is crystal clear. In fact, it is so simple that if everybody read it, especially those in authority in Washington, there would be no doubt why a true Islamic democracy is an oxymoron.
“To hell with democracy! Long live Islam!,” writes Ammar. “These two competing political systems are antithetical to each other. You can’t be democratic and be a Muslim or a Muslim and be a democrat. A Jew can’t be a Nazi and a Nazi can’t be a Judeophile.”
When you consider the last sentence of Ben Ammar’s opinion, the complex is simplified in a matter of 13 words.
Ammar continues, “Islam is the brain and the spinal fluid of all Muslims. Outside its path, there’s no salvation for them. Now, it’s rather hard to imagine Muslims abandoning Islam to embark on the democratic path. They’ll be the first to take advantage of benefits in the West, right up till the day when they become masters of the political game and with democratic legitimacy be able to impose the dictatorship of Islam and put to death individual and collective freedoms. It won’t be an Islamic republic that’ll see the light of day…that’s just an optical illusion as in the case of Iran…it’ll be a caliphate to govern the Muslim Reich, the Ummah.”
Here the key to Ammar’s statement is that Muslims do, indeed, enjoy the creature comforts of their Western foes. When they have the financial resources, Muslims thrive on all things Western; nice cars, air conditioning, fast food, high definition television. You name it, wealthy Muslims will purchase the West’s top of the line products in virtually every situation.
Once in control, however, all bets are off, because Islam takes over. It is the “controlling legal authority” for Muslims to paraphrase an old quote by former presidential candidate Al Gore.
Westerners rationalize that the Middle East will one day embrace what we know as “Jeffersonian democracy.” True, some Muslim countries may hold elections but, as Ammar clearly points out, “Democracy is not a simple matter of elections by universal suffrage. It needs to be neutral to all influence by religion, and making laws mustn’t be conducted in the name of Allah.
“In a real democracy, justice is not done in the name of Allah. Muslim countries are condemned to live under the tyranny of Islam. Such experiences of democracy are just mirages that evaporate at the first call to prayer.”
And there you have it, Salem Ben Ammar nails it in two simple paragraphs. Democracy and Islam are incompatible. So long as we believe in the West that we can somehow reorganize the Muslim world adapt to our way of life we have no chance of ever coexisting with them.
That, in a nutshell, explains the futility of the nuclear arms agreement with Iran. When a Muslim society is forced to make a choice between Islam and democracy, Islam will win every time. The only way Western ideas can prevail is for Muslims to completely renounce their beliefs.
Ammar explains further that, “In a democratic system, religion cannot codify the life of its citizens and dictate to them the conduct to be followed in the management of public affairs and their individual liberties. Using the excuse that it’s a Muslim country, the sale of alcohol is prohibited on Friday. Forbidding women to marry a non-Muslim or to force fasters to hide to eat during Ramadan is proof of the pre-eminence of religion above private human business.”
Like it or not, accept it or not, believe it or not, Salem Ben Ammar’s article summarizes the crux of the dynamics between the West and the Islamic world. Sadly, there is nothing we can do to change it until Muslims themselves are willing to alter 14 centuries of revelations by a man named Muhammad.
Read more: Muslim writer explains why Islam and democracy are incompatible | Communities Digital News
