Tuesday, July 07, 2015

Submission, Obedience ....and Threat.


The picture above shows the Muslim family who recently left the UK for a holiday in Bangladesh and then routed their return journey so as to join the Islamic extremists in Syria and Iraq. News items about the family can be read here:


The statement released on the family's behalf by the Islamic extremists is given in the Daily Mail article as follows (My emphases):

We release this statement to confirm that, indeed we are in the Islamic State, a land that is free from the corruption and oppression of man made law and is governed by the shariah, the perfect and just laws of Allah subhanAllah wa Ta'la.
All 12 of us and why should this number be shocking, when there are thousands and thousands of Muslims from all corners of the world that are crossing over land and sea everyday to come to the Islamic State?
That are willingly leaving the so called freedom and democracy that was forced down our throat in the attempt to brainwash Muslims to forget about their powerful and glorious past and now present.
Or is it shocking that those attempts have clearly failed? That regardless of being born and bred in the west, the epitome of democracy, our Islam was not washed away? And despite the totalitarian rules that are in place, Muslims are still awaking to their obligations?
Don't be shocked when we say that none of us were forced against our will. In fact it is outrageous to think that an entire family could be kidnapped and made to migrate like this. It wasn't by the command of a single person in the family but by the command of the Khalifah of the Muslims who has called all Muslims, whether young or old, single or in families, to make hijrah to the state of Islam. A land that has established the Shariah, in which a Muslim doesn't feel oppression when practising their religion.
In which a parent doesn't feel the worry of losing their child to the immorality of society. In which the sick and elderly do not wait in agony, tolerating the partiality of race or social class.
Alhamdulillah for the establishment of the Khilafah.
We say to those that are concerned for our safety to put your hearts at rest for we feel safer than we have ever felt before.
We call all Muslims, to rush to the command of your khalif. Race to your state. Race to what will give you honour in this life and the hereafter. Hasten to the obedience of Allah.
Do not fear losing the life you built for yourselves by making hijrah but fear losing your Imaan and Islam whilst residing in darul kufr and not making hijrah.
We pray Allah saves from such a fate and guides us all to be obedient to His commands. Ameen.
The Mannan Family in the Islamic State

Seldom mentioned is the barbaric brutality and cruelty these people, if given a chance, are prepared to inflict on those who disagree with their religious views. They coolly justify this behavior as doing the will of the Almighty: "Almighty", in fact, sums up their conception of God. The sections I have emboldened above are notable......

We read above of a group of people who are thoroughly alienated from Western democracy, to the extent of despising it. Western democracies don't give authoritative guidance on the meaning of life and one's moral duties before God - that's for the individual to work out for himself. In a sense that is a strength of Western Civilization. But for some that's far too open ended and a more intimate authoritarian society requiring unconditional obedience and identification is the security they crave. The reference to the totalitarian rules of the West forced down their throat is, of course, the distorted thinking of  a pathologically disaffected mind.

The above statement gave me a chill of disquiet: The language and sentiment behind it is very similar to some of the things I've come across in Christian sectarian circles:  A yearning for a robust "theocracy" rather than a wishy-washy democracy leads Christian sectarians into authoritarian structures where decisions are made for them, and where light touch mainstream Christian communities are considered to be "man made systems of error".... and there I quote a Christian sectarian who I will in due course feature in my "Jeepers Creepers" series.  Of course, in practice the so called "theocracy" means unquestioning obedience to some flawed human figurehead or some very human government with whom there is no arguing and have set themselves up as God's mouth piece. Very grievous to these submission driven believers is the loss of children to the freedoms of Western choices. The nostalgia for past lost glories is also a common theme among sectarian restorationist Christians.

What these religionists who yearn for a perfect law to follow do not credit is that a relationship with God is not primarily through obedience but through repentance, forgiveness, renewal of the heart and ultimately the offered hand of friendship from God.

I don't see any easy answers to the above: Western societies must remain pluralist societies where the individual makes his choices before God....or without God if that is what (s)he believes. This unfortunately will not solve the crisis of identification that faces some members of our Western communities who crave authoritative and secure guidance as to life's meaning and life's exact shape; they inevitably put themselves on a collision course with democratic values.

Relevant link: