While on the debating circuit pounding atheists--a pastime I am really getting to enjoy--I have just started reading Dalia Mogahed and Esposito's Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think. It's one of the first books to put some real data behind a much-disputed question. Go ahead and order the book here.
For several years now liberal and conservative pundits have been pontificating about the Muslim world, usually without a shred of data. I was amused last year to cross swords with some of my fellow conservatives like Scott Johnson and Victor Davis Hanson. These ideologues seem of the opinion that the average Muslim is a crazed polygamist who is ready to blow himself up. No surprise: this is supposedly what Muslims all learn in the school where they read nothing but the Koran! Only pundits who have no exposure to Muslim countries, Muslim history and Muslim people can go on like this.
For such gurus, Islam itself is the problem and nothing short of an Islamic Reformation headed by ex-Muslims like Hirsi Ali will show the Muslim world where it has gone wrong over the past five centuries. Forgotten in all this theorizing is the simple fact that Islam has been around for 1300 years and Islamic terrorism has been around for a few decades. The intelligent questions to ask are, what is it about Islam today that has made it an incubator of radicalism and terrorism? And second, what do most Muslims really think about the West?
Fortunately there is an increasing body of reliable data on Muslim beliefs. One source is the World Values Survey, which has the benefit of tracking opinions over a period of decades. Another is the Gallup surveys which are now under the aegis of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a group headed by Mogahed. Esposito is one of the most respected American authorities on Islam. I am only getting into their book, but here I offer my own hypothesis, and then I'm going to find out if their data vindicate it.
The problem for Muslims is not Christianity or Judaism. In fact, Islam sees itself as incorporating both in much the same way that Christianity sees itself as incorporating Judaism. The problem for most Muslims is liberalism. But here we must distinguish betwen two kinds of liberalism. There is the classical liberalism of the American founding. Call this Liberalism 1. This liberalism is reflected in such principles as the right to vote, to assemble freely, to debate issues, to trade with others, religious toleration, and so on.
Then there is the modern liberalism of the 1960s. Call this Liberalism 2. This liberalism is defined by such tenets as the right to blaspheme, the right of teenage boys and girls to receive sex education and contraceptives, the right to abortion, prostitution as a worker's right, pornography as a protected form of expression, gay rights and gay marriage, and so on. It is this second type of liberalism that seems to drive the social agenda of today's Democratic Party. For example, Hillary Clinton chaired a presidential task force during the 1990s that promoted prostitution as an international right for workers.
Now we are in a better position to understand Islamic attitudes regarding the West. The vast majority of Muslims worldwide embrace Liberalism 1 while rejecting Liberalism 2. They are generally comfortable with classical liberalism while abhorring the tenets of modern liberalism. And by equating America with such things as blasphemy, pornography, prostitution and homosexualty, the radical Muslims appeal to ordinary Muslims to join their cause in a battle against the Great Satan. This is what I have argued in my recent work and I'm interested to see how my thesis stands up in light of Mogahed and Esposito's data.
Of course today's liberals will chafe at the idea that their values are producing a powerful "blowback" from the House of Islam. That's why we need good empirical work like this book. Let us find out what Muslims really think, and then let us look at the propaganda of the radical Muslims to see how they rally traditional Muslims to their side. Who cares if liberals don't like to admit what is going on? People are entitled to their own opinions but they are not entitled to their own facts.
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 60)
61. Dinesh,
Muslims aren't the only one's having trouble with "liberalism 2".
Willet at 9:58AM on Apr 23rd 2008
62. botts,
you may know muslims but do you know the radical ones that want to destroy this country and why. what DD said about the research what do you have to say of that? do you think he is lying? have you read any of DD.s books? do you know that his info is false or is your view of the ENTIRE muslim world based on your relationship with a few muslims? and you think your view is broad? just curious. what gives you the right to claim what muslims think? and what do you think of 9/11?
brian at 10:00AM on Apr 23rd 2008
63. A true statememnt Willet, but thank God we aren't planning to bomb Hollywood to let them know how we feel.
fanman
fanmanaf1 at 10:01AM on Apr 23rd 2008
64. Dinesh,
I both agree and disagree. I still hold true to the belief that 9/11 happened BECAUSE Bush was elected. It was an attack on him, and his beliefs. It most certainly was not an attack on freedom. :oD It didn't help that his father did what he did, and that was a huge factor. I think it's a little more than liberalism 2 as you put it, but it is no doubt a factor.
P.S. The Cubans killed Kennedy, and I'm sure the mafia was involved too. Why else would we have a sustaining embargo? They succeded in what we failed to do. We tried to kill Castro and failed, but they did not miss.
MrWiteKES at 10:13AM on Apr 23rd 2008
65. "just curious. what gives you the right to claim what muslims think? and what do you think of 9/11?"
Botts, please don't take the bait. You know that brian won't read your response anyway...ignore the shart sounds...
brandon at 10:04AM on Apr 23rd 2008
66. bottsy,
"14. i speaking from personal experience. When I was 17 years ago I live in algeria. a ban of fellow muslims forced their way into my friends home and killed his whole family they cut my friends head off just because he would not convert from christian to muslim. his life truly inspire me. now I am older now so I left islam. i saw evil everyday. their prophet is false. i have this to say to them.
http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allah_best_deceiver.htm
Ishmael Hophnii at 7:11AM on Apr 23rd 2008
funny, i did not see you respond to this post? why not? because it happened and you could not refute it? or is it because your muslim friends would NEVER do this? funny what you choose to repond to boots.
brian at 10:10AM on Apr 23rd 2008
67. I concur, Botts, please don't take the bait.
Without Liberalism #2 would we have Rock & Roll or GTA or Tarantino movies?
Mokele Mbembe at 10:10AM on Apr 23rd 2008
68. brandon,
"ignore the shart sounds...
brandon at 10:04AM on Apr 23rd 2008
good morning to you. i agree with you botts does not need to respond. good post. i do like your tolerance brandon. its liberalism at its finest
brian at 10:13AM on Apr 23rd 2008
69. I could live without Tarantino movies.
fanmanaf1 at 10:13AM on Apr 23rd 2008
70. liberalism number 2# is what the decadent liberal left is all about. even you atheist should oppose that. but then when you want your "threesomes" its hard to oppose other decrepid practices,right!!
brian at 10:15AM on Apr 23rd 2008
71. What was that? A shart sound! at 10:13 am! Where, oh where, is it coming from?
brandon at 10:15AM on Apr 23rd 2008
72. Clarification - 10:13am shart sound NOT referring to Mr. WiteKES
brandon at 10:17AM on Apr 23rd 2008
73. funny, i did not see you respond to this post? why not? because it happened and you could not refute it? or is it because your muslim friends would NEVER do this? funny what you choose to repond to boots.
brian at 10:10AM on Apr 23rd 2008
-Maybe because it's probably Professor X the spam bot and not a real person or a real event.
Michael at 10:17AM on Apr 23rd 2008
74. DD advances the ridiculous conservative mantra that the sixties is the cause of all evil here at home and around the world. For a refutation of this kind of simple analysis, read Susan Jacobsky's recent book "The Age of Unreason."
What Muslims really fear is the unchecked encroachment of a globalized consumer capitalism that appeals to our most puerile impulses. It is this consumer capitalism that is responsible for undermining the democratic process here at home and eroding traditional cultures abroad (Read Benjamin Barber's recent book "Consumed").
randy at 10:17AM on Apr 23rd 2008
75. brian; I don't think any of us oppose it. Liberalism #2 rocks!
The country is transforming. You guys just don't like the direction it's heading. Good luck stopping it though.
Mokele; don't forget sexually liberated women. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Liberalism part Deux.
Ryan Anderson at 10:18AM on Apr 23rd 2008