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What is Behind the Middle East Turmoil - Islamist Rivival
| | | | By: Dr. D
Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Libya and more. What is behind the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa? The Western press continues to tell us that they are all seeking greater freedom but that is a very deceptive and naive view. In reality all of these nations have been in transition for some time with Muslim radical Islamists gaining ground and changing the entire picture of the Middle East.
Last week I viewed some pictures on the internet of University graduation classes in Cairo of 1960, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010. The transition was quite evident. In 1960 the women students were primarily in Western dress so also in 1980. By 1990 1/3 of the women were in traditional Muslim dress, in 2000 over half wore head coverings and by 2010 all of the women were fully covered in Muslim dress. The pictures demonstrate a transition in the Middle East towards Islamist fundamentalism like nothing else can. A gradual change that has been substantially ignored in the West.
A couple of weeks ago I also viewed some pictures of downtown Istanbul, Turkey from 20
years ago compared to today which also demonstrated this trend away from Western dress in a supposed ‘European’ capitol none-theless towards traditional Muslim wear. In that
time Turkey has transitioned from a modernist secular European leaning country which was a friend of Israel and a major American ally towards one which is now looking towards the east, linking up with Iran and Syria and talking about the rise of a new Islamist Caliphate.
Western intellectuals continue to talk about Islam as a ‘religion of peace’ that needs to be encouraged to go through some kind of moderate revival or ‘Reformation’ like Christianity went through. So many naively talk about this possibility and totally ignore the fact that Islam is in the midst of a revival all right -A fundamentalist radical revival that is affecting (actually infecting) nearly all Muslims around the world, even those in Western countries including America.
Just to get an idea how far removed from Western thinking many in the Middle East actually are, including those supposedly seeking freedom in Egypt, here is a quote from an earlier article I did demonstrating what our Western media is not telling us about the real goals and attitudes of the Egyptians:
“In Egypt, 82 percent want stoning for those who commit adultery; 77 percent would like to see whippings and hands cut off for robbery; and 84 percent favor the death penalty for any Muslim who changes his religion.
Asked if they supported “modernizers” or “Islamists” only 27 percent said modernizers while 59 percent said Islamists…”
Doesn’t sound like a push toward Western-style democracy to me but does seem to lend credence to my view that an Islamist revival is at the bottom of nearly all of the current changes, chaos, and turmoil in the Middle East.
By the way, I am not the only one saying this. Iranian President Ahmadinejad recently told European leaders that Islam was in the midst of a revival that would culminate in world-wide Muslim domination. He also said that the chaos in the Middle East was just the beginning and that the mythical ‘12th Imam’ was behind the scenes controlling it all.
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