The Outstater
Islamists, Welcome?
“Islamism is a totalitarian ideology that seeks to impose a rigid, theocratic order, incompatible with the pluralistic values of Western civilization.” — Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-born author and activist for women’s rights.
THE DEGRADING EFFECTS are inarguable in a half dozen U.S. cities, not to mention in the great cultural centers of Great Britain and Europe. So why are there frowns when it is suggested that Islamism may be inherently incompatible with Western civilization?
The social scientist Charles Murray dared ask the question in an X post a few days ago and got thousands of complaints within minutes. Clearly, the question is inflammatory but it persists — just hangs there unanswered as we read the latest news of Sharia, taqiyya, “no-go” zones and anti-American demonstrations.
There’s no shortage of Islamist on social media telling us that they have come here not to assimilate but to conquer — emigration as warfare. That considered, Murray’s question deserves to be asked and to be asked in a forceful way. We need to hear the professed distinction between Islam as a faith and the political ideology of Islamism.
Islamophobic? Prejudicial? Someone will have to explain that to me. If my Lutheran pastor voiced the same thoughts, say, as Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tibia, both of them outspoken members of Congress, he could expect to be questioned by the FBI and face charges of sedition.
That said, my Grok assistant tells me the Muslim population in Indiana is large and growing. It now is estimated at about 41,400, with Indianapolis as its hub. (For perspective, the last Democrat primary for Indy mayor was won with about 45,000 votes.) The Muslim community there includes Arabs, Pakistanis, Somalis, Ethiopians and Sudanese. It is organized in a dozen centers and mosques, all of them insular in function and teaching.
But let us assume the best. Andre Carson, a Democrat U.S. Representative and a convert to Islam, is presumed to represent the interests of 7th District Muslims in Congress. Carson is likely to pooh-pooh Murray’s concern. Islamism, he will tell you, is a political ideology distinct from Islam, the religious faith. Just as all socialists are not Leninists, all Muslims are not Islamists.
That would be welcome news. Representative Carson should have no trouble answering Murray’s question. And it is an opportunity for Carson to assure Muslims that their right to worship in peace is guaranteed here, unlike that of Christians in many Muslim-ruled countries.
Finally, the Constitution, which Carson has sworn to uphold, assumes a desire to share the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence, the formal description of ourselves. Indeed, if the promise of individual liberty doesn’t inspire in itself, ours might not be the country for you.
For America, as all nations, assumes within its borders a certain respect for its values and customs if not its political heritage. Dozens of immigrant groups have met that challenge at one time or another in our history. Forgive me, though, I don’t get the same vibe from the Islamists. There is that insistence on Islam alone having all-commanding authority in politics, law and social behavior. It makes their arrival in mass intrinsically different — threatening even.
If it turns out that they find our Constitution anathema, as we are told some do, then both they and we will face some hard decisions. — tcl
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