By David Solway
In insisting upon democratic elections in Islamic countries and demanding that we abide by the results, we suffer a profound disconnect from reality; in effect, we let the genie out of the bottle. And this is a genie with its own wishes to satisfy. Jihadist author Said Hawwa put the question concisely when he asked in his influential book Min Ajl Khutwa (English: For the Sake of a Step): “How can Allah’s will triumph if Muslims do not control decision-making in Islamic lands?”
For many Islamic parties and organizations, whether at war with their own governments or with the Western jahiliyya powers, the best way to control decision-making is under the auspices of Western-style elections, which are easily manipulated and may then be set aside when they no longer serve their purpose. As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, “Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off” (Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2006). And it was not so long ago that a Hamas spokesman, Farhad Assad, thanked America for the “weapon of democracy” (New York Times, February 15, 2006). Read more ...
In insisting upon democratic elections in Islamic countries and demanding that we abide by the results, we suffer a profound disconnect from reality; in effect, we let the genie out of the bottle. And this is a genie with its own wishes to satisfy. Jihadist author Said Hawwa put the question concisely when he asked in his influential book Min Ajl Khutwa (English: For the Sake of a Step): “How can Allah’s will triumph if Muslims do not control decision-making in Islamic lands?”
For many Islamic parties and organizations, whether at war with their own governments or with the Western jahiliyya powers, the best way to control decision-making is under the auspices of Western-style elections, which are easily manipulated and may then be set aside when they no longer serve their purpose. As Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, “Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off” (Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2006). And it was not so long ago that a Hamas spokesman, Farhad Assad, thanked America for the “weapon of democracy” (New York Times, February 15, 2006). Read more ...
Source: FrontPage Magazine
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