>>He [Qutb] worried, instead, that people with liberal ideas were mounting a gigantic campaign against Islam -- ''an effort to confine Islam to the emotional and ritual circles, and to bar it from participating in the activity of life, and to check its complete predominance over every human secular activity, a pre-eminence it earns by virtue of its nature and function.''<<
I agree with Qutb that this is, indeed, the heart of the matter. As a Christian, I am simply not going to submit to Islam, nor is Bush. And neither will Lindy, an atheist, nor Nadine, a Jew, nor any of the rest of us who are not Muslims.
I recognize that bin Laden and Al Qaeda are simply trying to be good Muslims when they try to force me to submit to Islam, so on that ground I hold them no ill will. Live and let live is anathema to their creed. Literally.
Can't we all just get along? Sadly, according to Qutb, the answer no.
To some (Jacob comes to mind) this emphasis on religion is unsettling, even repelling. Surely in the 21st century we have transcended these old spirits, these ancient hysterias? What is really at stake here is power, or class, or privilege, or something else more modern than these dusty anachronisms.
Sadly, according to Qutb, the answer is no. |
