by Dr Mark Durie

30 October 2002

Andrew Bolt’s comments are spot on. Millitancy is deeply rooted in a particular brand of Islamic theology that has flourished throughout the twentieth century. The leading intellectual figure of this theological movement wasMaududi, a Pakistani scholar and teacher who is rightly called an evil genuis. Maududi was the prophet of the Islamic state, and issued calls to Muslims around the world to rise up and overthrow democracies and other man-made systems of government, to install the God-given system of shari’a law.

Maududi’s theological vision is strongly embedded in the thinking of some Australian Muslims. This can be seen from certain Islamic publications, from the titles of books sold in bookshops, and from web site materials. Even in the context of ‘moderate’ groups Maududi’s ideas can show up. Local Muslims have great difficulty discerning and critiquing this theological inheritance, and are vulnerable to its influence. This should be a matter for deep concern.

Moderate Australian Muslims are genuinely concerned about a backlash against them from their non-Muslim fellow Australians, in the face of all the violence done by terrorists around the world. For this reason they need to deal firmly and publically with the radical Islamist ideologies that are exerting a real influence in some Australian Islamic communities.

====================

John Pilger is a steadfast concealer of the motivations and intentions of Islamic jihad movements. He is a ‘blame the victim’ theorist in the current climate.

The issue regarding Bali is not whether Western governments have blood on their hands – they have. The question to ask is ‘What motivates the bombers?’ Without a doubt theirs is a radical Islamic theology holding out the hope of an Islamic state. In the end it is a religious vision which inspires young Chechen women to join a ‘martyrs’ brigade’ and willingly go to their death by blowing up Russian civilians in a Russian theatre. Yes, hatred of the West is a contributing factor, but remember that Al Qa’ida is called the Islamic Front against ‘Jews and Crusaders’, i.e. the target is a religious one, not ‘Westerners’ in general. On the other hand, many people have been unjustly treated by Westerners, but it is distinctively Islamic militants who practice world-wide terror against those of another faith.

Pilgers’ arguments conceal the fact that these jihad movements are as determined in killing third world Christians as they are in killing Western Christians. The millions who have died in the Sudan, where Al Qa’ida was formerly based; the tragic fate of the 600,000 displaced Christians in Eastern Indonesia; the recent targetted assassinations of Christians in Pakistan – all these show that these jihad assassins are prepared to kill innocent Christians wherever they are found. This is a sad fruit of their ideological system which demonizes non-Muslims as ‘infidels’, and demands that they submit to Islamic rule.

Finally, the idea that standing up to the Islamic radicals in Indonesia will only cause further problems is an invitation to be terrorized. The radicals’ goal is total political domination. The longer they are left to grow and flourish, unchecked and unchallenged, the stronger they will become. It is especially dangerous to feed the ‘we-are-the-real-victims’ mentality of the radicals. At this time, Indonesia cannot afford be inactive against them. The grim alternative is the end of the Indonesia as a multi-faith nation. The worst-case scenario would be Indonesia as a shari’a state with a commitment to international jihad. When all is said and done, this, and not simply bloodying America’s nose, is what the radicals’ publicity informs us. We must assume they believe their own publicity.

The author of these notes is an Anglican Minister at St Hilary’s Anglican Church Kew. He is also a senior associate of the Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Melbourne, with the honorary title of Associate Professor, and was formerly head of the Department of Linguistics and Language Studies. He has written several books on the language and culture of the Acehnese, an Islamic people of Indonesia, and was elected to the Australian Academy of Humanities in 1992 for this research work. He served as a member of the Council of the Academy for a term during the 1990′s.

Related Articles:

• Greece: can you believe this/them?
• Syria February 2012: Two Perspectives
• EGYPT: THE GROSS INSECURITY OF THE DHIMMI
• Female Circumcision in the Maldives, the Islamic Movement and Islamophobia
• Australia Day message

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia License.