Islamophobia or Islamoaccuracy? Part 2

The Geek thinks it's fair to consider Islam in its early days as a political movement since Muslims today quote from the Koran and the haddith to show that there is no line between religion and politics. If that's the way they want it, OK.

The basic doctrine of Islam is riddled with inconsistencies, paradoxes and flat out contradictions because the Koran evolved as an integral part of a political movement. So, let's get a grip on the following.

The early verses, those revealed before Islam emerged victorious in its wars with other, older indigenous beliefs, were written during the movement growth and enhancement phase of a political entity operating with the color of religion. The purpose of the early verses was simple: To present the new belief system in the most appealing way possible so as to mobilize support and minimize opposition.

The early "revelations" constitute the portion of the Koran most liked by apologists for Islam. That's as it should be for these are warm, soft and fuzzy emphasizing kindness to widows and orphans, celebrating the unity of believers and calling upon the more appealing virtues of the human nature.

The other portion of the Koran, the parts which are cold as steel and as pointed as a sword's tip, were "revealed" following the political victory of Mohammad and his religopolitical entity. Now the emphasis was upon regime consolidation, maintenance and expansion. Now the focus was upon domination, well, to err on the side of accuracy, domination and submission. That meant (and means) domination by socially dominant authoritarian personalities and submission by everyone else. The cold, sharp verses called as well for submission by all non-Muslims to the God, Prophet and believers of Islam.

The later "revelations" are those most often cited by Islamists today to justify jihad, recast suicide as martyrdom and demand the submission by the non-Muslim billions to the dictates of a particular, and to most human beings, foreign system of perception, belief and behavior. The paradox, the contradiction between the cold, sharp portion of the Koran and the earlier, gentler and kinder part is either not commented upon by the Islamists or derided.

Admittedly the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament contain nonsequiturs aplenty and to a major extent can be reconciled as one, seamless body only by world class mental gymnastics. Having said that, the Geek contends that the internal inconsistencies of the Koran are greater and are explicable only by the Koran having been written under two, vastly different sets of political imperatives.

Another contradiction overlays the first. Islam demands submission, utter and absolute, and total submission by the individual. The word "Islam" denotes complete submission. Submission to whom is the inevitable question.

Answering the "to whom" question brings the second part of this paradox into play. Islam, or at least most segments of it, allows for individual judgement regarding the demands of Allah and Islam beyond the Five Pillars of the religion. In this seemingly innocuous area, the placing of some measure of responsibility upon the individual believer for the determination of duty under the Koran and Allah, there is room for much division--and much evil.

In short, the paradox between submission and the requirement for individual judgement or interpretation gives the socially dominant authoritarian all the latitude needed to speak with authority, to write with authority, to issue fatwas with authority. The gap between submission and responsibility provides all the room necessary for the fearful, authoritarian follower to obey the voice and words of command, to feel absolved of responsibility, of guilt.

Far from being a single intellectual edifice, Islam is a construction at odds with itself. The different parts of the mental mosque pull against each other. The greatest jihad is the jihad the Islamists will not, cannot admit--the jihad within the mosque. This is the war that has raged for centuries. It is the war for the very soul of Islam.

On the up side, the Geek notices that the paradoxes and inconsistencies give a wedge to those Muslims as well as those outside the Muslim communities who have had it up to their dandruff with the Islamists and their love affair with death. The non-monolithic nature of Islam gives many avenues of approach, a lot of ways to enlist the aid and effort of non-Islamist Muslims to finally claim the soul of their faith from the children of violence and turn it over to the sons and daughters of the early words, the words of peace and harmony and the unity of humanity.