Shocker? Not!

There are couple of caveats I need to add to this piece by Kurdish refugee, now Finnish citizen, Husein Muhammad. He correctly identifies the problem of Saudi petrol dollars influencing local communities in the West (in Finland as well) and elsewhere around the world, with the orthodox Islam, called either Wahhabi or Salafi Islam. The Saudis are flush with cash and are handing it over with some very big strings attached, and it’s influencing Muslim communities into becoming less tolerant.

Husein Muhammad also correctly points out that Muslim communities have received good influences from non-Muslim cultures where they have taken residence, but he also implies that it’s been reciprocal in nature, something that I of course take objection to. Any positive attributes Islam might have, it borrowed/stole from other cultures. Islam had not brought any beneficial new idea, religious or otherwise, that hadn’t already been put into practice.

Any of Islam’s more generous portions were either done away with by abrogation, tolerant verses supplanted by intolerant verses, or were dealing only with inter-Islamic relations. The non-believer is never considered as an equal, let alone on the same playing field. It’s my contention that any positive trait an Islamic community (living within a non-Muslim majority state) may have, it’s due to the positive influences of that society, not from Islam itself.

When the Islamic fundamentalists come to town, flush with Saudi cash, preaching the words and world of Mohamed, they (local imams) have little to offer in response. It’s entirely irrelevant how many wonderful Muslims there  are in the world. as long as the words of Mohamed, all of them, in the koran, hadiths and the sunna are considered as factual and immutable, then the problem persists, in spite of good people like Husein Muhammad.

That’s the problem, that’s the conundrum that bedevils us all.

Finns in the war in Syria

“Mom, do not worry, I will be all right. God willing, we will see each other in paradise.” This is the message the young man from Espoo (Finland) left his mother upon leaving for war against Syria. The 22-year-old man has lived and grown practically all of his life in Finland. Mother has informed the Finnish police about the matter.

Prior to this, his mother had received a lot of positive feedback about the fact that her son has grown into being a quiet, friendly, decent man. But unlike in the past, he had started going to the mosque regularly.

Previously, the media have raised the issue about some of the links of migrants to armed organizations in their home country. The man from Espoo was not known to have a history of anything to do with Syria. He and his parents are not from Syria, not even from neighboring countries of Syria. His motives are apparently purely religious.

And the man from Espoo is not alone. According to a number of different sources, others have left as well. Among them are suspected not only immigrants, but also ethnic Finns who have converted to Islam.

A man and his companions leaving for the war in Syria raises a bundle of questions, as well as the nature of the Syrian war itself, above all, what makes Finnish Muslims – even if only an individual – to go along.

Syria conflict began as part of the Arab uprisings almost two years ago, when the country’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad responded with violence to protesters demands for democratic reforms. The fragmented opposition was not really religious, although the Syrian majority are Sunni Muslims, unlike al-Assad clan, which belongs to the Shia Muslim Alevi minority.

In the dragged out conflict Shi’ite Muslim Iran has strongly supported the Syrian regime, apparently with arms as well. Saudia Arabia and other Sunni Gulf countries have in turn financed and weapons to the Syrian opposition, which consists mainly of Sunni Muslims. Thus the uprising demanding democratic reforms has become increasingly become a  sectarian war between Syrians against the will of the majority.

The Syrian War’s changing nature to a religious one per se, is generally a recognized thing. Instead, what is new, is the knowledge of the fact that Syria seeks to recruit “jihadists” including non-Syrians. Even in countries that are not arming directly either party to the conflict.

Saudi Arabia and other rich countries continue to flow a lot of money for religious activities of Muslim organizations operating in Western countries. There is no known research information on Finland’s case, but there is also likely a lot of Saudi money. Sponsor wants to decide what is to be done with the money.

With money from the Gulf countries, a form of extreme conservatism is being pushed around the world of Islam that is alien to the Muslim majority. It rolls over the diversity of Islam, which in 1400 years has adapted to a wide variety of environments, providing light and good influences to and from local cultures.

After a few Finnish young man started off to war in Syria who may have been gullible or searching for adventure, but it is a symptom of a wider problem. The urgent need for dispassionate research.

Source: Maailman Kuvalehti

H/T: Kumitonttu