PETER SMITH
You can’t reform Islam because Islam is ‘perfect’.
Because the prophet said so. And he was the ‘perfect man’ for all time and any place, to be emulated by every Mohammedan.
I was going to leave the tiresome Western apologetics for Islam alone for a time. To use Antonio’s words from The Merchant of Venice, “it wearies me.” But then I saw the estimable Mark Levin on Fox News (last Sunday evening US time) interviewing Dr Zuhdi Jasser. I hadn’t heard from Dr Jasser in a good while. I wrote about his views here in the December 2017 issue of Quadrant magazine (“Reformist Pipedreams, Islamic Reality, and Muslim Accountability”). Alas, he obviously didn’t read my article, remains divorced from reality and, sadly, as ignorant as ever.
I will come to his views further on. First to Levin. He was talking about the events in New Orleans and generally about the threat of Islamic terrorism and said: “We are not talking about all Muslims. Why would we?” This obligatory caveat is inserted into the lines of all conservative commentators when they are on air discussing or debating Islamic terrorism or Islamic hate preaching. I assume they have no choice in the matter. Gotta say it to stay on air. I don’t buy it.
Rabble rousers need a mob. To extend that concept. Hamas could not thrive unless a sizeable proportion of Gazans supported them. Let me turn it around. If you’re club’s constitution allows its members to refer to Jews as pigs and apes, is it still okay to sip your gin sling in the club bar? Continue reading Reform Islam? Tell Him He’s Dreaming










