Islam's sterilizing homogeneity.

Increasingly I enjoy reading readers' comments to blog articles. There's a wealth of insight and wit out there if you have the patience to read through the comment storms.

I like this gem from Zenster:

Islam epitomizes a monolithic creed whose internal exceptions only serve to prove the overarching rule of its ultimately sterilizing homogeneity.^[1]

I don't understand Zenster's "exceptions proves the rule" idea but I like the "sterilizing homogeneity" idea a whole lot.

That there is the antidote to ten tons of the horsefeathers you hear in the course of a year about The Golden Age of Islam. Puhleez. More like the Gold Age of Plunder plus living off the doomed remnants of local Persian and Egyptian scholars and artists who had a chance at independent thinking before the Islamic Curtain of Intellectual Darkness descended.

Innovation in matters of Muslim doctrine is bid'ah and can amount to outright heresy and that, friends, spells "Trouble" with a capital "T." Modest inquiry, questioning, or speculation are things that any reasonably sane Muslim avoids as though his life depended on it – which it does.

As we all know by now, outright rejection of Muslim doctrine is apostasy and it and its country cousins are a green light to the murder of the apostate by the do-it-yourselfers perpetually on duty in Muslim lands for housecleaning of this type. A fatwa by some imamical jackass in the Hindu Kush seems to be sufficient authorization for DIY teams (aka mobs) in Morocco to dispatch too-independent thinkers, though I get the impression that a "boys will be boys" approach will be taken in the case of too much local initiative, too much zeal in the service of Allah. There's no shortage of Islamic zeal anywhere in the world and what's one more dead infidel in a crowded world anyway?

Shirk (polytheism) is also a bad idea and seems by my logic to cover the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Note to missionary friends: no shirk while visiting an Islamic country.

Also good for anyone in Muslim lands to avoid is blasphemy, an exceedingly elastic concept, that encompasses, for example, Christians who get into neighborhood, land, water, or business disputes with Muslims. After reading about several cases, I gather that it is a common practice for Christians in disputes with Muslims to try to gain a psychological advantage over their Muslim opponents by insulting to Mohammed or Islam. An example of this might be, "Sir, kindly permit me to say that I think your idea of the boundary line between our two properties is in error. Let us obtain an actual plat of the properties and see where the line lies." Naturally, blasphemy charges (with death penalty) are brought when Christians insist on such reckless and insulting ways of settling disputes.

So far, I'm seeing serious impediments to independent thought in Islamic countries. Islam itself is like the ultimate disk brake stopping system when it comes to inquiry of any sort.

No, wait. Shia Muslims take matters of ritual purity very seriously and acres of cortex are involved in laying out the precise rules for avoiding this perilous state:

130. When a syrup or ghee is in a fluid state, in a manner that if some quantity of it is removed, it does not leave an empty trace, the entire quantity will become najis [impure] immediately when even their slightest part becomes najis. But if it has solidified, and when some part of it is removed, a trace of emptiness is seen, then only that part will be najis which has come in contact with najasat [impure stuff], even if the empty trace gets filled up later. So, if the droppings of a rat fall on it, only that part will become najis on which the droppings have fallen, and the rest will remain Pak [pure].^[2]

This is the Islamic equivalent of the domestic American "three-second" rule whereby food that lands on the floor may properly be consumed provided it is picked up within three seconds and the dog has not licked it too much.

Can you see the priestly brainpower that goes into the examination of these larger issues? So far as I know, no American philosopher, priest, or health professional has provided guidance on how the "three-second" rule applies when one's toast lands butter side down on rat droppings. A Sputnik moment, perhaps.

Is the reason for Islamic homogeneity and its sterility not clear? If you don't see it my way, how then do you account for the fact that the non-oil revenue of the Arab world amounts to less than the GDP of Finland? After the whole 20th century has gone by!

I say there's something about the Islamic world that's like crabs in a bucket. Any that try to escape are pulled back in by their fellows. I don't see the crowds in the Egyptian or Libyan streets in a hopeful light at all.

No, I don't.

Notes
^[1] Zenster comment on "A Lackey for the European State." By Baron Bodissey, Gates of Vienna, 3/6/11.
^[2] "Najis Things" as found in "Islamic Laws" according to the Fatawa of [Iraqi] Ayatullah al Uzama Syed Ali al-Husaini Seestani, Al-Islam.org, date unknown (accessed 3/9/11).