Why More People Need to Know Basic Islamic Doctrine

A good friend of mine told me the other day that our efforts to educate our fellow non-Muslims about the doctrines of Islam are counterproductive because it creates animosity against Muslims, which causes apathetic Muslims to side with the more devout, politically-active Muslims, leading to greater conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims.

This has a ring of validity to it. But at its core it is a foolish idea. The problem is, you would only know how foolish it is if you knew something about Islamic doctrine. In our educational efforts, this is the biggest thing we are up against: Assumptions made by non-Muslims who are ignorant of Islamic doctrine — assumptions that prevent you from educating them about Islamic doctrine. It's a catch-22.

Many of them make the following assumptions: That politically-active Muslims are acting out of political motivations rather than Islamic religious motivations; that they cherry-pick verses out of the Quran to justify their actions but Islam is not what motivates them; that the majority of Muslims don't believe any of that jihad stuff; that the majority of Muslims have no political motivations; and that anyone criticizing Islam must be an ignorant bigot. These assumptions all conspire to make it almost impossible to do the only thing that can clear up these misconceptions: Educate them about basic Islamic doctrine.

So I thought I would make a list of specific reasons why an understanding of Islamic doctrine is important. This might add a little extra motivation to help us overcome the catch-22. Here's my list so far:

1. The US allowed Sharia law to be inserted into the constitutions of Iraq and Afghanistan. If any non-Muslims involved in that decision had been familiar with Islamic doctrine enough to know what Sharia law means and what it entails, they would not have allowed it to happen. So billions of dollars have been spent to free those two countries from the domination of their previous repressive governments, and thousands of soldiers from Western democracies have died, only to have set up the conditions for the creation of two more Islamic countries. And anyone who knows anything about Islamic doctrine can tell you this will inevitably lead to countries increasingly dominated by misogyny, religious intolerance, and aggression against the non-Muslim world. It was one of the most awe-inspiring, mind-blowing, remarkably self-defeating actions done by any non-Muslims in recent history.

And the only reason it happened is that the non-Muslims involved were ignorant of the basic doctrines of Islam.

2. In the free world, politically active Muslims are are pushing for concessions of all kinds. In Britain, Muslim women doctors and nurses do not have to follow the same cleanliness standards as non-Muslims, for example. In Hamtramck, Michigan, the City Council waved the noise ordinances in deference to the mosque there to allow them to broadcast an amplified call to prayer throughout the neighborhood. After a Danish newspaper published some cartoons depicting Mohammad — nothing more offensive than politicians suffer every day all over the free world — Muslims rioted all over Europe, killing 187 people. Afterward, many newspapers refused to reprint the cartoons out of fear. They were intimidated into silence by Muslims. And so on (read more concessions).

These concessions would not have been given if the non-Muslims involved had known about basic Islamic doctrine.

You can't see the purpose of the political concessions unless you know Islam. People naturally buy into the specific reasons given for each specific concession and easily miss any larger purpose. Politically-active orthodox Muslims will continue to encroach on Western laws and customs, concession by concession, until they become a political force that cannot be easily resisted. They will have gained a level of political power that cannot be peacefully undone. They will have gained a sufficient foothold in the society, producing new Islamic norms, getting non-Muslims used to these things, until everyone feels "it's just the way things are."

The purpose of each concession is to fulfill Islam's prime directive: To make the whole world subjugated to Islamic law. If you don't know that, or if you don't believe that, you will take it on a case-by-case basis, and they will gain one concession after another.

The orthodox Muslims in the West, working for Islam's political goal, know how to play the game. They know what our buttons are. They know our Achilles' heel: White guilt (as it is known in America) or post-colonial guilt (as it is known in Europe). And they exploit it. They exploit this and many other psychological weaknesses in the Western mind, and gain one concession after another.

We have not had much historical exposure to Islamic ways of doing things, so we have no natural resistance. It's like introducing rabbits into Australia or mongoose into Hawaii. The other forms of life don't have time to adapt, so the new animals easily proliferate and ultimately dominate.

3. They keep having peace talks and peace summits and peace treaties to create "peace in the Middle East," meaning "peace between Israel and the Muslim countries surrounding Israel." Only someone ignorant of the most basic principles of Islamic doctrine would believe that anything approaching peace will ever be possible between Israel and the rest of the Muslim world. With no more than two hours of education about basic Islamic doctrine, any rational person would easily see that the goal is ridiculous.

But only someone who knows about Islamic doctrine could understand this. The non-Muslim world should be working toward security, not peace. Read the Quran and you will find there is no possible way for peace to exist between Israel and in the Muslim world. It is impossible.

There are obviously some Muslims who ignore much of their doctrine and who can live and let live with Israel. But as long as there are believing Muslims in the Middle East, Israel will be attacked. And all these efforts at disarming Israel or forcing Israel to make concessions to Muslims only prolongs the conflict.

This is another example of how it helps us defeat Islam's relentless encroachment to know the basic doctrines of Islam. It illustrates why an ignorance of Islam prolongs problems, weakens the position of non-Muslims, weakens the security of non-Muslims, causes the deaths of non-Muslims, and strengthens Islam's political power in the world.

4. The population of Muslims in Europe has grown large enough already that the politicians in Europe can no longer ignore the voting block represented by the Muslims, and they are working together (the Muslims and the politicians) to slowly dismantle, piece by piece, the hard-won freedoms, the principles of equality, and the economic viability of Europe's democracies.

And yet Europe is continuing to allow Muslims to immigrate to their countries in great numbers.

Why is Europe continuing such self-defeating policies? Because so many Europeans are so ignorant of basic Islamic doctrine.

5. Mosques are being built all over the free world. Non-Muslims allow this. In these mosques, Muslims are being taught that their loyalty to Islam is more important than their loyalty to the country in which they are citizens. They are being taught that the ultimate goal is an Islamic world. The ultimate goal is that all people on earth are subjugated to Islamic law. They are taught strategies to accomplish this goal. They are motivated to accomplish this goal in those mosques. They are given literature — books, magazines, and audio recordings — that teach these notions and motivate them to follow these notions.

This is happening in 75% of the mosques in America, and 80% of the mosques in Canada. It's probably being done similarly in the mosques of Europe.

Non-Muslims are allowing this because they are so ignorant of basic Islam that they unquestioningly accept the deliberate disinformation being given to them by orthodox Muslims. They are being fooled. They are being hoodwinked by orthodox Muslims with a political agenda.

The examples above barely scratch the surface. The list could go on and on. I'd be the first to admit that learning about Islam is not fun or easy. But it clears up a lot of false assumptions and greatly clarifies our situation. It allows you to look into the world and really see the forest for the trees.

We are being invaded. We are being colonized. And we are helping this happen. We are actively helping the invasion and colonization of free countries by politically-motivated Islamic supremacists. And the only reason we are not stopping it is that so many of us are so completely ignorant of basic Islamic doctrine.

Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam and also writes for Inquiry Into Islam, History is Fascinating, and Foundation for Coexistence. Subscribe to Citizen Warrior updates here. You can send an email to CW here.