PrintFebruary 17, 2008
The Shari'a Archbishop
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is the titular head of some 77 million Anglicans. In a recent lecture and subsequent interview, he stated that he believes an accommodation with Islam can be reached within the greater context of the United Kingdom. He sees an adoption of some aspects of the medieval system of Islamic religious law, Shari'a, as "unavoidable." Calling for a "constructive accommodation" with Muslims over Shari`a, Dr. Williams has ignited a firestorm of criticism, with many calling for his resignation. Yet this behavior is not really so surprising for the man. He has already apologized to Muslims for the crusades, a stunningly dim-witted thing to do and one that ignores history. It bought no lasting goodwill. The possibility of a similar apology for the far larger depredations of Islam from a Muslim spiritual leader is laughable. He also embraced Yasser Arafat, a brutal terrorist and advocate of genocide, a murderer and criminal. In this, he is the perfect postmodern clergyman; his moral judgment is as flexible as his dedication to his faith.
George Orwell said it best, "One has to belong to the intelligentsia to believe things like that: No ordinary man could be such a fool." It is more than a little disturbing that the leader of a Christian denomination would embrace any part of an ideology that is the antithesis of its most fundamental beliefs and its historically most vicious enemy.
Qu'ran 5:51 O you who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for friends. They are friends one to another. He among you who taketh them for friends is one of them. Lo Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk.
His comments are causing no particular alarm to the academic and political elites in England and the rest of Europe. Some have even stepped forward to defend him. Eventually, the press will also, after they have milked the sensation of the story. They reveal how far the malevolent effect of multiculturalism and postmodern nihilism has eaten away at the foundations of Christendom and the West. As the once strong walls crumble, Islam is arriving in force, taking advantage of every weakness with glib propagandists who know how to influence credulous leaders like the Archbishop, pathologically susceptible to disinformation and willing to let visions of utopia blind them to the harsh realities of Islam's impact on the world. With his comments, the Archbishop has effectively swung a hammer to hasten the collapse of the church he should be ardently defending. While he may view his own faith as a pliant philosophy and its holy book as allegorical, Islam suffers no such confusion.
By all accounts, the Archbishop is a devout and intelligent man. How could he entertain the notion of peaceful coexistence when the brutality, bigotry and misogyny of Shari`a are so easily seen in the countries where it holds sway? Any accommodation of Shari`a within the British legal system would expose the soft underbelly of the British spirit, its deficit of cultural self-confidence that Islam will exploit and use against it. The ideologues and fantasists that whisper in the Archbishops ear advocate what simply cannot exist, a separate but equal system where Islam does not demand preeminence. Silly multicultural platitudes aside, Islam is not a team player.
The Archbishop frequently quotes from the writings of Tariq Ramadan, an Islamacist scholar denied entry into the US and France because of numerous terrorist ties. This is a man who refers to the 9-11, Bali and Madrid terror attacks as "interventions." He is a polished spin master and a pure propagandist. Very likely an agent of the Muslim Brotherhood, which his grandfather founded, Ramadan is a rabid anti-Semite and conspiracy theorist. He believes Jews run the worldwide media and Al-Qaeda was not responsible for 9-11. He blames the west for terrorism. He refuses to renounce stoning. He obfuscates the realities of Shari'a. He is a popular charlatan, a pied piper of European and American liberals who wish to believe Islam truly is a religion of peace and all this bother is of our own making. The Archbishop buys it all.
Contempt for Jews and Christians is one of the themes of the Islamic faith, as is the virtue of Jihad; the Jihad that is expressly by the sword. Of course this predisposes many in the Islamic world to violence. The Koran is clear on the issue no matter how much apologists dissemble. Islamic morality is fundamentally different from the Judeo-Christian model in that it centers on the Muslim being the only moral human with all others portrayed as vile, debase and arrayed against them. The benefits of kindness, forgiveness and charity do not translate to the non-believer outside of the required conversion to Islam. A Muslim simply does not pray for unbelievers beyond the hope for conversion, yet a Christian sees no conflict in a prayer for an enemy, even before battle. After an Al Qaeda bombing that killed Muslims in Jordan a few years ago, there were large protests, the demonstrators crying, "We are Muslims! We are not Jews or Crusaders! Why attack us?" Of course, if you are a Jew, a Christian or any other non-Muslim it is perfectly permissible and even admirable to attack you. It is permissible to lie to you, steal from you, rape you, enslave you and even kill you. You are "Kaffir," an unbeliever, an infidel and beneath contempt. It is through this lens that the Islamic faithful view the world. Islam will always attempt to control the society in which it resides; it sees itself as superior in every way, as entitled, by God, to supremacy.
"It has been determined by Islamic law that the blood and property of people of Dar Al-Harb [the Domain of Disbelief where the battle for the domination of Islam should be waged] is not protected. Because they fight against and are hostile towards the Muslims, they annulled the protection of his blood and his property." Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi
It is beyond naive to think Britain can peaceably accommodate Shari'a. We should remember the Archbishop is an academic, a man who has lived and worked in the university environment for most of his life, hardly a solid grounding in the reality in which the rest of the world lives. It certainly did not provide the necessary spiritual clarity to prepare the Archbishop to act as a bulwark against the troubles that vex the modern British soul. The Anglican Church has declined for years, with attendance dropping to levels that would be unsupportable were it not for government revenue. More people turn to the pub in troubled times than to their priest. With leaders like Rowan Williams, it is easy to see why.
Qur'an 8:39 "So, fight them till all opposition ends and the only religion is Islam."
