Geography 101 Lab Series: #7

Ahh, the migration of modern radical Islam. A topic we all know rather well.

This one was simple.

The Assignment: Islamic Relations

Islamic Fundamentalism sometimes threatens secular governments because it offers a complete set of laws that could replace existing leadership. Which countries have large or vocal Muslim populations and a secular government? Which governments have converted to Islamic law, and what is the result for their countrymen?

Both Islam and Christianity are spreading throughout the world, although for the most part, to different places. These two religions share much in common: not only a common origin, but both are universalizing and attempt to convert others.

In what locations is Islam on the rise, and where is Christianity increasing? In what countries or regions do these two religions confront each other most directly—and what is the result? How is the common ground evident, and what comes into conflict?

The Middle East seems to be in endless turmoil, particularly with animosity between Jews and Muslims. To what extent are the skirmishes based on religious beliefs and to what extent are they ethnic, political, or cultural? Choose a recent news article about a Middle East conflict and analyze it closely.

Lab #7

Modern day Islamic Fundamentalism is a fast growing extremist movement. Belief that today’s world is decadent and in need of moral correction via Islam’s Sharia law could prove to be as dangerous, if not more so, than the Cold War.

Today, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are run in part, if not in majority, by members of the Islamic clergy. In these nations most or all of the laws of Sharia are enforced, with brutal punishments handed down upon those who violate them.

Non-Muslims have to pay a “protection” from the local governments, called “Jizyah” so that they may be “Dhimmi”, or “safe”. Dhimmi are allowed to practice their own religion, but only in the privacy of their own homes and are told that proselytizing is punishable by death, though expulsion from the country is more common. However, Dhimmi do not get full legal rights under Dhimmitude. For instance, their testimony in court can be counted as only carrying half the weight of a Muslim’s.

In countries such as Egypt, Turkey, Chad, Nigeria, Senegal, and Guinea, where followers of Muhammad are a vast majority of the population, but the government is, for the most part, secular, Dhimmitude is rare. But that does not stop the persecution of non-Muslim populations by fundamentalist groups within the country.

To use a recent example in Egypt, violence against the Coptic Christian community has been increasing over the last quarter century. The majority of these clashes involve land disputes or incompatible social customs, but have recently taken a turn towards actual persecution because of the Christian’s beliefs.

In Nigeria, centuries long ethnic clashes have been fanned into modern day murderous rampages using demagoguery in the churches and in the mosques. These are followed by retaliation killings. Hundreds of people are killed during periods of brutal street fighting in towns along an imaginary border between the Islamic northern half of the country and the southern Christian half.

The most well known conflict in the Middle East is that between the nation of Israel and the Muslim population who call themselves Palestinians. This conflict is primarily a political one. With the Palestinians demanding the return of land which they consider “historically” theirs.

But because of the Palestinian’s refusal to recognize even the idea of an Israeli state, negotiations between the two groups have been, to put it lightly, less than ideal. Another factor contributing the most to the conflict, as well as to the poverty of those who live in Palestinian controlled areas, is that while the world community gives the Palestinian leaders hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the population’s living standards, very little of it actually makes it to the people. The vast majority of it goes to foreign governments, such as Iran and Syria, to buy weaponry used to kill civilians in Israel, or ends up in the pockets and bank accounts of the hierarchy of Palestinian government.

The late former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir, once said “It is true, we have won all our wars. But we have paid for them. We don’t want victories any more.”

In contrast, the most popular chants among Palestinians at their rallies is “From the river to the Sea. Palestine will be free.” To clarify, this statement refers to the geography of the region. The Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and is commonly known that it refers to killing the Jews in Israel by forcing them into to sea at gunpoint.

In case one needs more clarification, here is a quote from Nizaar Rian, a high ranking member of the ruling Palestinian political party, Hamas: “All of Palestine, from the river to the sea, will be liberated by the mujhadeen (martyrs) and their rifles, not by pointless diplomatic meetings.”

Once when asked why negotiations with the Palestinian leadership had stalled Meir replied “Until the Arabs learn to love their children more than they hate the Jews, negotiations will go nowhere.” That was over thirty years ago.

Because the blatantly anti-Semitic screed “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” is second in sales behind only the Koran in Palestinian bookshops, don’t go looking for a peace treaty there anytime soon.

Grade: 100%

I took into consideration that the Professor, being an Ethiopian Christian, was very likely to have had first-hand experience with Islamofascists, so I figured that I was pretty safe with where I wanted to go with this one.

He liked what I wrote but wished that I could have included something on the Islamification of Europe. I thanked him for the grade and added that with such a short format, adding an entirely new section on the historical AND modern-day spread of Islam into Europe would have doubled the already over-long essay.

He agreed and that was that.