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The illusion of a gap in the ancient struggle lasted three generations and had certain consequences. One was that when the smouldering fire of Islam's jihad erupted again in 1979, it caught many, if not most, Westerners by surprise. The 14-century-old conflagration was burning brightly, with American hostages being paraded in Tehran, but many people took another 22 years to notice the flames. Millions did, finally, on a picture-perfect September morning in 2001, though others denied seeing the fire even then. Some still deny it.
Having grown up in the land of the bloodied stork, I saw 9/11 from a different perspective. A "Turkish lad" slashing a bird's foot was not totally unfamiliar to me. Though I had no sympathy for wanton rage, coming from the East I could understand how it might arise more easily than Westerners. Irrationality was as irritating to me as to any other creature of a Cartesian culture, but as a native of the Danube basin, I found it less puzzling. I could also entertain the politically incorrect notion that we might be at war, not just with "terrorism" in general, but with the specific terrorism of Islam.
Perhaps Muslim resentment and rage should not have come as a surprise to anyone. Western ascendancy had been rubbing salt into the wounds of Islamic decline for centuries. As the Princeton scholar Bernard Lewis observed in 1990:
"For a long time now there has been a rising tide of rebellion against this
Western paramountcy, and a desire to reassert Muslim values and restore Muslim
greatness. The Muslim has suffered successive stages of defeat. The first was
his loss of domination in the world, to the advancing power of Russia and the
West. The second was the undermining of his authority in his own country,
through an invasion of foreign ideas and laws and ways of life and sometimes
even foreign rulers or settlers, and the enfranchisement of native non-Muslim
elements. The third -- the last straw -- was the challenge to his mastery in his
own house, from emancipated women and rebellious children. It was too much to
endure, and the outbreak of rage against these alien, infidel and
incomprehensible forces that had subverted his dominance, disrupted his society
and finally violated the sanctuary of his home was inevitable. It was also
natural that this rage should be directed primarily against the millennial enemy
and should draw its strength from ancient beliefs and loyalties."
For radical Islam, this millennial enemy was not only America or Israel, but the entire "House of War," the world of non-Islamic beliefs and values in general, and Western beliefs and values in particular. The countries of Europe could not exempt themselves from this jihadist view by conciliatory gestures. Neither could Canada.
Stork, stork, ciconia, What makes your foot bleed?
The answer had slammed into the Twin Towers on the morning of Sept 11, 2001.
- Excerpted with permission from Reflections on Islam: Ideas, Opinions, Arguments, by George Jonas, published by Key Porter Books Ltd. ? 2007 George Jonas.
REMEMBER OR LEARN/RE-LEARN YOUR HISTORY INFIDELS, IT WILL SHOW YOU WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS ! ! !
EXCEPT THIS TIME AROUND IT WILL NOT BE HORSES & SWORDS, IT WILL BE AIRPLANES, HUMAN EXPLOSIVE DEVICES AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS...
Pertinent Links:
1) The 1,400-year war: On Wednesday, Key Porter books released reflections on Islam
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