Islam, terrorism, and morality
There are two great foundational beliefs in Islam that I want to discuss.
1. Allah (The God) created the earth, and since Allah is "perfect in both goodness and power, the material world must likewise be good" (Smith 238). And
2. that fear "is the only appropriate emotion...when human beings face up to the magnitude of the consequences that follow from being on the right or wrong side of an uncompromisingly moral universe" (Smith 237, emphasis added).
When I think of these things put together, I can imagine what they must think. The United States is wasteful, arrogant, careless... and we are contributing to the destruction of the earth much more quickly (and without reservation) than other countries of the world.
There are two outcomes. The first is that the earth is destroyed by humankind, either by nuclear warfare or by such apathy toward global warming that earth eventually destroys us with wild fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, etc.
The alternative outcome is that someone (or some group of people) prevents the first, by getting rid of all nuclear weaponry and/or putting an end to global warming (or, as we have seen, putting an end to the major contributors of global warming).
I imagine that people who believe in an uncompromisingly moral universe believe that on Judgment Day, there will be no excuses made. If the earth has been destroyed at human hands, God/Allah will say to each and every one of us that we have destroyed His creation. If the terrorists fail and we (we = those contributing immensely to global arming) succeed, despite their efforts, the world is still destroyed. Since there are no excuses, we all suffer eternal death (or whatever consequence you think God/Allah is capable of). Or, if you believe (as in Hinduism) in reincarnation, we are reborn as ants, so as to reflect exactly the society we wished to replicate in corporate plantations: extremely efficient and impersonal, this time lacking the capacity to destroy the earth. (Assuming that there IS another time, even in a world where reincarnation does exist. What I mean to say is, this is assuming the case where nuclear obliteration did not occur, AND the earth revitalized herself after destroying us by weather-related catastrophes.)
The point is, the Islamic world believes that they will face their creator as being of the species that destroyed His creation - if they fail to stop the destruction.
This is one aspect of the cultural differences between us. This is not to say how we flaunt our greed (wealth), lust (sex and sexuality), sloth (apathy and inaction), envy (advertising and marketing), pride (War on Terror, etc.), gluttony (obesity), and wrath (globalization, etc.).
When terrorists face Allah, they will not be able to say, "I TRIED to stop them from destroying your earth." THE MORAL UNIVERSE IS UNCOMPROMISING. Allah will say, "You FAILED to stop them from destroying my creation."
[EDIT: The book I'm reading is Huston Smith's The World's Religions (Second Edition).]
1. Allah (The God) created the earth, and since Allah is "perfect in both goodness and power, the material world must likewise be good" (Smith 238). And
2. that fear "is the only appropriate emotion...when human beings face up to the magnitude of the consequences that follow from being on the right or wrong side of an uncompromisingly moral universe" (Smith 237, emphasis added).
When I think of these things put together, I can imagine what they must think. The United States is wasteful, arrogant, careless... and we are contributing to the destruction of the earth much more quickly (and without reservation) than other countries of the world.
There are two outcomes. The first is that the earth is destroyed by humankind, either by nuclear warfare or by such apathy toward global warming that earth eventually destroys us with wild fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, etc.
The alternative outcome is that someone (or some group of people) prevents the first, by getting rid of all nuclear weaponry and/or putting an end to global warming (or, as we have seen, putting an end to the major contributors of global warming).
I imagine that people who believe in an uncompromisingly moral universe believe that on Judgment Day, there will be no excuses made. If the earth has been destroyed at human hands, God/Allah will say to each and every one of us that we have destroyed His creation. If the terrorists fail and we (we = those contributing immensely to global arming) succeed, despite their efforts, the world is still destroyed. Since there are no excuses, we all suffer eternal death (or whatever consequence you think God/Allah is capable of). Or, if you believe (as in Hinduism) in reincarnation, we are reborn as ants, so as to reflect exactly the society we wished to replicate in corporate plantations: extremely efficient and impersonal, this time lacking the capacity to destroy the earth. (Assuming that there IS another time, even in a world where reincarnation does exist. What I mean to say is, this is assuming the case where nuclear obliteration did not occur, AND the earth revitalized herself after destroying us by weather-related catastrophes.)
The point is, the Islamic world believes that they will face their creator as being of the species that destroyed His creation - if they fail to stop the destruction.
This is one aspect of the cultural differences between us. This is not to say how we flaunt our greed (wealth), lust (sex and sexuality), sloth (apathy and inaction), envy (advertising and marketing), pride (War on Terror, etc.), gluttony (obesity), and wrath (globalization, etc.).
When terrorists face Allah, they will not be able to say, "I TRIED to stop them from destroying your earth." THE MORAL UNIVERSE IS UNCOMPROMISING. Allah will say, "You FAILED to stop them from destroying my creation."
[EDIT: The book I'm reading is Huston Smith's The World's Religions (Second Edition).]