After the latest murdering spree in France, many politicians argue that “terrorism” is to blame, not Islam. The same has been said about the many thousands of people killed recently by fundamentalist Muslims — in 9/11, embassy bombings, car bombings, civil wars and the latest ISIS atrocities. This is unfortunately not true.
Despite the pretension that most “moderate” Muslims don’t agree with terrorism, many do. Witness the widespread celebrations over the Charlie Hebdo murders in Palestine, Iraq, Yemen and other Islamic states. Many Muslims will accept no alternative but worldwide submission to Islam and Sharia.
Islamic fundamentalists in Europe are supported by hundreds of millions of “moderate” Muslims and by their religious leaders, most Muslim newspapers, radio, television and Internet media worldwide. And they are funded by Qatari and Saudi oil sheiks who also fund Palestinian, ISIS and other maniac Islamic groups. Democracy is rare in the Muslim world.
According to the Koran, to be Muslim requires absolute submission — on pain of death — to the Koran, specifically its numerous exhortations to kill non-Muslims. “And they who believe not in Islam shall have garments of fire fitted unto them: boiling water shall be poured on their heads; and they shall be beaten with maces of iron.” Whereas “ whosoever fighteth for Islam, whether he be slain, or be victorious, we will surely give him a great reward.”
For women, Islam is enslavement. The “Islamic Prison” that jails Muslim women, that genitally mutilates, forcibly marries and restricts women to their homes, in burkhas and hijabs, forbids their education and allows them to be raped as children is not a fiction.
In modern times, no other religion except Islam consistently slaughters people in God’s name. From ISIS and al-Qaida to al Shebaab and Boko Haram in Africa, from Hezbollah to the Palestinians, from the latest Muslim atrocities in Australia, Israel, Canada and across the Middle East, Islam is drenched in blood. And over 95 percent of the major wars in the world today are Muslim vs. Muslim or vs. the West.
Journalists such as those at Charlie Hebdo or those beheaded by al-Qaida, ISIS and Hezbollah, are always the first targets of fascism. Because once a society loses its open media, its ability to speak the truth, it cannot defend itself.
Thousands of Muslims from Europe and the U.S. have joined ISIS and will return to spread violence at home, just as these French Muslims have done. Our freedom to hear and speak the truth, to choose our religion or nonreligion, our science and education, our private lives and how we live together — our entire civilization is at risk.
In Brussels, the capital of Europe, Muslims are expected to be a majority by 2030.
“Sharia will dominate,” says Belgian imam Fouad Belkacem. “Sharia will be implemented worldwide. Democracy is the opposite of Sharia and Islam. Allah decides what is allowed and what is forbidden.”
As several leading French journalists say, we must accept we are at war and start fighting back. This war must include surveillance or imprisonment of Islamic fundamentalists, the shutdown of radical Muslim media worldwide, a lockdown on the financial operations of the Middle Eastern financiers of radical Islam, and increased security at borders, airports and elsewhere. Most importantly, we must abandon the pretense that this worldwide brutality is not Muslim. Because violence is the blood and bones of Islam.
As French novelist Michel Houellebecq has stated, “The Koran is disgusting. … Islam is a dangerous, warlike, intolerant religion that makes people unhappy.”
From a psychological viewpoint, Islamic fundamentalism is not a religion, it is a homicidal obsession, and we must stop pretending it doesn’t threaten our civilized world.
We are in the midst of a new world war. It will be a very different and perhaps more difficult one. It’s going to get far worse very fast. And the outcome at this point is not guaranteed.
Former Paris correspondent for the Financial Times publications, Mike Bond is a war and human rights journalist and bestselling novelist. His most recent book, “Holy War,” is an account of his experiences in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East.