Each year, some two million Muslims from around the world make a pilgrimage to the holy site of Mecca. For some in the West, nothing could be scarier than two million Muslims, all dressed in white, touching their heads to the ground and shouting "Allahu Akbar." Reading the usual pundits, you get the idea that Mecca is a breeding ground of Islamic radicalism.
To figure out if this is true, a group of American researchers surveyed more than 1500 Pakistanis who went on the pilgrimage to Mecca in 2006. They discovered that these men had overcome great obstacles to make the trip. It costs arond $2500 to go to Mecca, and that's three times the annual salary of a typical Pakistani. Still, nearly 140,000 Pakistanis applied to go in 2006. Only 80,000 visas were granted by the Saudi government.
Since the Saudis granted their visas based on lottery, the researchers had the clever idea of comparing the attitudes of those who returned from Mecca to those who didn't get to go. They wanted to see if the pilgrimage to Mecca strengthened or undermined Islamic radicalism. Incredibly, the researchers found that the Pakistanis who went to Mecca returned with attitudes more moderate and less sympathetic to Islamic fanaticism and terrorism.
But isn't Mecca dominated by radical clerics who, when they aren't eating or sleeping, lead chants of "Death to America"? This is the propaganda you hear from groups like memri.org that selectively publish material intended to give an exaggerated picture of the influence of the Muslim radicals. In reality, the overriding theme of the visit to Mecca is the traditional theme of universal Muslim brotherhood.
No surprise: pilgrims returning fro Mecca were 25 percent less likely to hold that different tribes or ethnicities could not live in harmony. Remarkably, pilgrims were also more likely to believe that all religions can co-exist. Moreover, the Pakistanis who went to Mecca were less approving of suicide bombings and other such tactics as the Pakistanis who stayed back.
Call this the Mecca effect. I predicted it in my book The Enemy at Home, in which I argued that America can find common ground with traditional believers and not just anti-Muslim activists like Hirsi Ali. The results of the Mecca effet, and the study cited here, are beautifully outlined in a recent article in the online magazine Slate written by Professor Ray Fisman of Columbia University. You can read the article here.
Yes, I know that the Islamophobes will come back with their regularly-recyled quotations from the Koran about "killing all the infidels" and so on. But equally alarming quotations can also be found in the Old Testament. The important thing is to see how those texts have been interpreted and how people have acted upon them. Muslims have had many empires through the centuries: the Ummayad, the Abassid, the Mughal, the Ottoman, and so on. Tens of millions of Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians have lived under Muslim rule. In any Muslim empire was it either policy or practice to systematically kill all the non-Muslims? No.
So we have to learn to think afresh and to take into account real evidence. Prejudice against practicing Muslims and against religious believers in general is rife in certain segments of Western society. But such prejudices should not be the basis of making public policy.
Reader Comments ( Page 8 of 19)
106. Hi all,
I hope you don't mind a totally off-topic post, but I am, quite simply, flabbergasted. A few days ago, I noticed a pamphlet on my door. I picked it up and took it inside and gave it a quick once over. It looked like a biblical tract with a picture of Earth on the front with the title, "Have Scientists Been Wrong For 400 years? I then noticed further down the words, "The Geocentric Bible 7."
To be honest, I didn't pay a lot of attention to it and didn't really stop to think of what the Geocentric Bible might mean. Later, I actually opened the thing and read it through. I must be clueless. I had no idea that there were people who still believe that the earth is the center of the universe and that the sun revolves around the earth with the rest of the solar system revolving around the sun.
If someone would have asked me before I saw this pamphlet how many people in the US believed in the geocentric model, I would have laughed and said none, of course, and if they insisted that there were people who believed this, I would have thought they were crazy.
I had no idea. This blows my mind. I did a quick look in Wikipedia and it says that 20% of Americans believe this. Is this true? Is this that widespread?
Respond please if you have time over the weekend. I'm anxious to know if this is news to anyone else.
BTW, good to hear from you, Botts. Keep up the good work.
Lloyd the Lurker at 9:52PM on May 30th 2008
107. I'm truly impressed. For once an article that I not only agree with, but think makes perfect and absolute sense. Bravo to you, Mr. Dinesh
mastersword at 10:04PM on May 30th 2008
108. "Wow, unAmerican you say? There is plenty of evidence that Bush is a lying POS. His lies have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people,"
IMO at 3:00PM on May 30th 2008
George Jr. (We called the dog Indiana), is not responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
oneblood at 10:04PM on May 30th 2008
109. I think this is one of the most sensible things D'Souza has written. I actually agree wholeheartedly with what he says.
I have seen essays by Muslims both for and against unilateral violence against non-Muslims. As with many holy texts, the Koran's position is a matter of interpretation.
Raigon at 10:09PM on May 30th 2008
110. LLoyd, as a creationist I can tell you that there are people who are religious that believe it and people that are not so religious that believe it.
Geocentric creationists are so specialized that even us fundies stay very far away. Not because we don't love them but, unlike spontaneous generation, heliocentricity is able to be proven over and over and over and over and...
Let's give it up for empiricism, YEAHHH!
And you know if everyone were to be frank enough on their thoeries of origins we would realize that everybody pays empiricism lip service.
oneblood at 10:22PM on May 30th 2008
111. LLoyd, as a creationist I can tell you that there are people who are religious that believe it and people that are not so religious that believe it.
Geocentric creationists are so specialized that even us fundies stay very far away. Not because we don't love them but, unlike spontaneous generation, heliocentricity is able to be proven over and over and over and over and...
Let's give it up for empiricism, YEAHHH!
And you know if everyone were to be frank enough on their thoeries of origins we would realize that everybody pays empiricism lip service.
oneblood at 10:24PM on May 30th 2008
112. I knew that was going to post twice.
oneblood at 10:26PM on May 30th 2008
113. Call this the Mecca effect. I predicted it in my book The Enemy at Home, in which I argued that America can find common ground with traditional believers and not just anti-Muslim activists like Hirsi Ali
So we have to learn to think afresh and to take into account real evidence. Prejudice against practicing Muslims and against religious believers in general is rife in certain segments of Western society. But such prejudices should not be the basis of making public policy.
Find common ground? Think a fresh? Tell that to those in Mecca who have been banning women to pray at the Kaaba, or who don't allow unaccompanied women to perform the hajji. Tell that to non Muslims who can never go into Mecca. It is rife when one embarks on a very expensive journey to pray, throw stones shave your head and make a sacrifice. Where is the common ground I wonder?
goddess1prevail at 10:42PM on May 30th 2008
114. GHB,
You are very good
You crack me up!
Hiya Botts,
You got into Mecca and didn't get arrested? How did you manage that?
Rabidmaccain @ post #85
Well said.
goddess1prevail at 11:06PM on May 30th 2008
115. preter if you are reading this blog I had responded to your last post from 2 days ago.
Guess it's a slow night here, see you all later!
goddess1prevail at 11:09PM on May 30th 2008
116. "Hiya Botts,
You got into Mecca and didn't get arrested? How did you manage that? "
Hi Goddess,
There are plenty of White Muslims who attend Mecca. I can pass as a White Muslim any day of the week.
The peopel I was with knew I was a Christian, but they didn't care. They covered for me. Plus I speak Arabic, so I blended in well.
You know the saying.........It's not who you know, it's who you blow.
Botts at 11:46PM on May 30th 2008
117. Hey y'all
Dissappear for a bit and Botts drops in! Hope Nigeria is going gangbusters for you, man. And I hope the family time is going well. Not much to add to the commentary other than it seems odd that DD can offer all this good natured hooey for Muslims and yet can't seem to keep from wetting himself before he gets past A-T-H...spurt....
Had a booksigning and a film shoot in Chicago and Texas respectively.
Gassbag Tommy Ann, get some Prozac, fella. Those Manic/Depressive Rages need some balance!
Tim at 12:09AM on May 31st 2008
118. gad why can't this thing hold my name?
TBrough
T.Brough at 12:11AM on May 31st 2008
119. Welcome back Botts. I hope they were short flights with quick connections.
JefFlyingV at 12:14AM on May 31st 2008
120. DD, honeychild, are you feeling all right? You seem more "peaceful" today.
I like this side of you much better.
web jones at 4:39AM on May 31st 2008