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Despite how bad a few modern Islamist societies may be, it is very wrong to write sentences like "Islam started as an imperialist death cult", like they would b
by adrian_b 2y ago
Despite how bad a few modern Islamist societies may be, it is very wrong to write sentences like "Islam started as an imperialist death cult", like they would be true and universally applicable.
While after conversion to Islam the Arabs had a few centuries of great territorial expansion, when they have conquered not only their neighbors in Asia, but also the North of Africa and a part of the Iberian Peninsula, this was the standard behavior at that time for any population that was strong enough to be able to do this. It does not make the Arabs more "imperialist" than any other of their contemporaneous nations, e.g. when compared with Charlemagne.
Moreover, for many centuries, until relatively recently, most conflicts in Islamic countries, such as the Turkish Empire, were more likely to be settled by judges according to the law and without making discrimination based on religion, nationality or wealth, than in the contemporaneous European countries, where the enforcement of the laws was frequently arbitrary and biased.
The Europeans who have lived in countries occupied by Islamic Turks or Arabs have survived many centuries without losing their religion or traditions, in contrast with what happened with those that have been occupied by European empires, like the Russian Empire (or its Soviet descendant) or by the Austrian Empire (or its Austria-Hungary successor), where complete denationalization has frequently happened, due to intense discrimination.
Anti-scientific interpretations of the Islamic religion rules have prevailed only many centuries after its appearance. Only then claims like "there is no need to read any books but the Holy Book, as it contains all truth that has to be known by humans" began to have supporters and enforcers. Moreover, taking into consideration the recent history, the US citizens are the last who should be mocking this kind of ideas, because many of them appear to think in the same way.
- boxed 2y ago> Despite how bad a few modern Islamist societies may be, it is very wrong to write sentences like "Islam started as an imperialist death cult", like they would be true and universally applicable. I said "started" didn't I? I think the historical record is very clear. I meant during the time of the founder.
- defrost 2y agoThe greatest conquest during the time of the founder ... In December 629, after eight years of intermittent fighting with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts and marched on the city of Mecca. The conquest went largely uncontested, and Muhammad seized the city with minimal casualties. ~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest_of_Mecca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest_of_Mecca hardly sounds like the work of an "an imperialist death cult"
- adrian_b 2y agoThe founder may have had an "imperialist" mindset, where he dreamed to succeed to convert everybody to follow his rules, but in this respect there was no difference between him and any European king or noble, or the Pope, or the Patriarch of Jerusalem, or any Chinese emperor or any successful ruler from any part of the world, at that time. So you cannot single out Islam as a special religion from this point of view. At most it can be said that all monotheistic religions are structured to support imperialism, because they replace the previous multitude of gods, all of which had their specific jobs, at which they could not be supplanted by others, by a single all-powerful God who knows everything and who can do anything, and this structure of the celestial realm is supposed to be mirrored on Earth, where there must also be a single all-powerful ruler, whom everybody must obey without questioning.
- lupusreal 2y agoIslam did start that way, and over the centuries it has been moderated by Muslims who proved themselves much better people than the founder.