A World Without Islam

[TashaN]

What would the world be like without Islam? In A World Without Islam, former CIA official and historian Graham Fuller says it wouldn't be much different from the world today.
According to Fuller, the West's fraught relationship with the Middle East isn't really about religion — and actually predates the spread of Islam.


In 'A World Without Islam,' Not Much Would Change : NPR


What do you think?

[LuisDantas]

I tend to agree. Much of what we currently associate with Islam has little to do with the Faith itself.

Specifically about the tensions with the Middle East, they seem to have shaped the Muslim culture there at least as much as vice versa, if the reality of Muslim cultures elsewhere is any indication.

Ultimately, it is simply not reasonable to expect religious beliefs to trump serious political and economic issues.

[Onkara]

This is interesting. The issue is identity, peoples identity with Islam or any religion in general which becomes associated with their political or economic goals.

I don't have the impression that most people, least of all the media, take time to separate the politics from the religion (or if they have cause to do so as those involved did not).

PS: still reading the article.

[Madhuri]

The world might not be much different but I'm assuming the middle east would be!

[Terrywoodenpic]

The world would be different with out Islam
The Middle East would be different with out Islam.
Politics would be different with out Islam
Cultish murder has been a feature of Islam since the days of the assassins.

The likes of bin lardin seem to have taken on that mantle today.

Marco Polo brought the remarkable tale of Hasan-i Sabbah and his cult of Assassins to the West along with many other strange stories from his travels. He actually visited their former stronghold, the fortress of Alamut (“Eagle’s Guidance”), near Tehran, in 1273 C.E., nearly twenty years after the Mongols had first taken it, and a century and a half after the death of Hasan. Criticized by historians, often disbelieved as an Arabian Nights fable, yet his story has an important lesson for our time, and for the “war against terrorism” that is now upon us.
For centuries beginning just before the First Crusade, the Assassins held the Muslim world in the grip of fear. From his mountain keeps, the Master, as he was called by his murderous devotees, the fidai, directed campaigns of holy terror chiefly against his Turkish and Persian neighbors. Rulers, generals, prime ministers, all could be struck down at any moment not just by a hidden assailant, but by a beggar or holy man on the street, even a trusted member of their own households. When captured, the attackers were contemptuous of death, resisting severe torture without betraying their comrades — sometimes even naming innocent people as their supporters, causing their deaths as well.
Sometimes a ruler would awake with a dagger in the pillow next to him, which usually was enough to make him reconsider his opposition. The great Saladin himself survived at least three attacks, and at times supposedly travelled in an armored wooden box for protection. Yet no Muslim force was ever able to eliminate the threat entirely: in the end, it took Hulagu Khan’s hordes of Mongols in a campaign of extermination to wipe them out as a military force in Iran. However even today, the descendents of the sect live on, in the millions of followers of the Agha Khan.

[dmgdnooc]

Originally Posted by TashaN

What would the world be like without Islam? In A World Without Islam, former CIA official and historian Graham Fuller says it wouldn't be much different from the world today.
According to Fuller, the West's fraught relationship with the Middle East isn't really about religion — and actually predates the spread of Islam.


In 'A World Without Islam,' Not Much Would Change : NPR


What do you think?

Yes, I think Mr Fuller makes a valid point.
　
People, regardless of religious affiliation, will take action against foreign interference in their domestic affairs.
Islam has been fingered as the enemy of the West. But only to obscure the fact that the West's real enemy is its greed for resources, which drives its arrogant misuse of others and hypocrisy towards its own.
Unfortunately we seem unable to deal honestly, even with ourselves.
And that's a people thing too, everyone likes to ascribe higher motives for the things that they do, all the more so if there is a chance of being believed.
　
The competition between East and West does, by a considerable timespan, predate Islam.
Its documented roots are found in some of the earliest inscriptions from Sumer and Akkad.
Those ancients were much more honest concerning their motives, they openly stated that they undertook their expeditions and installed client-rulers for the prestige of dominance, the value of the booty and annual tribute, for access to resources and control of trade routes.
However they were careful to always ascribe their primary motivation as being in the service of their God. They were not entirely honest either.

[ppɐʇɹnɯ]

A world without Islam:

For starters:

[Vendetta]

Well the world would be different from the perspective of the fanatics, nobody would be yelling religious epithets while killin people nor would media make illogical associations between religion and terrorism.

[ppɐʇɹnɯ]

What would the world be without Islam?

Massive hordes of ugly, vicious, hawk-nosed, savages from the southern Saudi peninsula invaded the Middle East in the 7th century and completely screwed it up both racially and by forcing their worship of an imaginary moon god upon each conquered region.

The world would be so much better without Islam (and the world would be even better if Christianity never came into being).

[Caladan]

Originally Posted by TashaN

What would the world be like without Islam? In A World Without Islam, former CIA official and historian Graham Fuller says it wouldn't be much different from the world today.
According to Fuller, the West's fraught relationship with the Middle East isn't really about religion — and actually predates the spread of Islam.

He makes very good points, and I agree with them.
The interaction, symbiosis and strife between the major powers and the lands of Islam are rooted in much more basic things. things which are obvious to any person with abilities in political criticism and with enough relevant information about the mid eastern region.
The interaction is based on resources, manpower of military and men who cultivate the resources and of course and perhaps important of all tracking the relevant political men to run and secure these basic resources and men.
however, historically. one cannot ignore the important role religion has played in this political interplay. religion has been a major driving force in this interaction which dates centuries into our past. from the first days of the spread of the first Caliphates which have landed on the shores of Southern Europe, to the occupation of the middle east and specifically the Levant by the European Crusaders.