FrontPage Magazine
A new Danish statistical study
finds that "Muslims [are] 218 percent more criminal in second
generation than first." While some of these crimes are clearly related
to Islam—such as attacks on Muslim apostates to Christianity—others, such as rampant theft of non-Muslims, would appear banal, until one realizes that even robbery and plunder is justified by Islamic doctrine—as one UK Muslim cleric once clearly said.
The interesting question here is why are second
generation Muslims, who are presumably more Westernized than their
Muslim parents, also more "radical"? Lest one dismiss this phenomenon as
a product of economics or some other "grievance" against European host
nations, the fact is, even in America, where Muslims are much better
assimilated than in Europe, they too are turning to "radicalism."
For example, some time back, Attorney General Eric Holder said
that "the threat [of terrorism] has changed … to worrying about people
in the United States, American citizens—raised here, born here, and who
for whatever reason, have decided that they are going to become
radicalized and take up arms against the nation in which they were
born."
Around the same time, Sue Myrick, then a member of Congress, wrote a particularly candid letter on "radicalization" to President Obama:
For many years we lulled ourselves with the idea that radicalization was not happening inside the United Sates. We believed American Muslims were immune to radicalization because, unlike the European counterparts, they are socially and economically well-integrated into society. There had been warnings that these assumptions were false but we paid them no mind. Today there is no doubt that radicalization is taking place inside America. The strikingly accelerated rate of American Muslims arrested for involvement in terrorist activities since May 2009 makes this fact self-evident.
Myrick named several American Muslims as examples of
those who, while "embodying the American dream, at least
socio-economically," were still "radicalized," astutely adding, "The
truth is that if grievances were the sole cause of terrorism, we would
see daily acts by Americans who have lost their jobs and homes in this
economic downturn."
Quite so. Yet, though Myrick's observations were
limited to the domestic scene, they beg the following, more cosmic,
question: If American Muslims, who enjoy Western benefits—including
democracy, liberty, prosperity, and freedom of expression—are still
being radicalized, why then do we insist that the importation of these
same Western benefits to the Muslim world will eliminate its even more
indigenous or authentic form of "radicalization"?
After all, the mainstream position evoked by most
politicians maintains that all U.S. sacrifices in the Muslim world
(Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) will pay off once Muslims discover how
wonderful Western ways are, and happily slough off their "Islamist"
veneer, which, as the theory goes, is a product of—you guessed it—a lack
of democracy, liberty, prosperity, and freedom of expression.
Yet here are American and European Muslims, immersed in the bounties of the West, and still
do they turn to violent jihad. Why think their counterparts, who are
born and raised in the Muslim world, where Islam permeates every aspect
of life, will respond differently?
In fact, far from eliminating "radicalization,"
Western values can actually exacerbate Islamic tendencies—hence why
second generation, "Westernized" Muslims are also becoming more
"radicalized" than their parents.
Some already known that Western concessions to
Islam—in the guise of multiculturalism, "cultural sensitivity,"
political correctness, and self-censorship—only bring out the worst of
Islam's "schoolyard bully."
Yet even some of the most prized aspects of Western
civilization—personal freedom, rule of law, human dignity—when
articulated through an Islamic framework, have the capacity to
"radicalize" Muslims.
Consider: the West's commitment to the law as supreme
arbitrator, for the Westernized Muslim becomes a commitment to
establish and enforce Islamic law, Sharia; the West's commitment to
democracy, for the Westernized Muslim becomes a commitment to theocracy,
including an anxious impulse to resurrect the caliphate; Western
notions of human dignity and pride, when articulated through an Islamic
paradigm (which sees only fellow Muslims as equals) induces rage
when Muslims—Palestinians, Afghanis, Iraqis, etc.—are seen under
Western, infidel dominion; Western notions of autonomy and personal
freedom have even helped "Westernize" the notion of jihad into an
individual duty, though it has traditionally been held by Sharia as a
communal duty.
In short, a set of noble principles articulated
through a foreign paradigm can lead to abominations. In this case, the
better principles of Western civilization are being devoured, absorbed,
and regurgitated into something equally potent, though from the other
end of the spectrum.
Put differently, just as a stress on human freedom,
human dignity, and universal justice produces good humans,
rearticulating these same concepts through an Islamic framework that
qualifies them with the word "Muslim"—Muslim freedom, Muslim dignity, and Muslim justice—leads to what is being called "radicalization."
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians (Regnery, April, 2013) is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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