OF ALLAH


















AND MOOLAH








OR: THE OCCIDENTAL TOURIST IN THE LANDS OF MUSLIMS AND MONEY
AND SOME TTO AFTER READING "WHAT WENT WRONG" AND "BOOMERANG".



Bernard Lewis probably chose this title (or his publishers did) in response to current events at the time of its release, but it could have been called many things including:

"If They Could Stop Abusing Women."
or
" If They Could Only Play Music"
or
" If They Could Only Keep Time."





And Michael Lewis (just realized we got two Lewis' here)
could have titled his more pertinently with something along the lines of:

" Dumber than Dumberer"

" Money Men are from Mars"

or

" Darwin Had it Backwards"

Two fine books. Bernard provides a scholarly historical narrative focused on how the Muslim world went from the height of enlightened wisdom to the depths of dogmatic despair and how our current state of affairs came to be what it is as a result of this tragic decline. And Michael takes you on an informative and surprisingly comical tour of Iceland, Ireland, Greece, and Germany to find out who and what and how the entire continent screwed itself with the biggest fiscal fiasco in history.

But this is not a review of either—but rather a series of impressions arising out of my reading of both. I figure you can either read the books yourselves or go online and read better reviews from more capable critics—so here are some of my “Thoughts that Occurred.”


How can you promote/encourage the separation of church and state in a world where the Church is the State?

Strictly speaking, according to Islamic Law, the purpose of existence is to worship God. The purpose of existence is to worship God. The Purpose of Existence is to Worship God. Go ahead, repeat it over and over, let the thought sink in, consider what that actually means in the course of living ones life from day to day. The purpose of existence is to worship God. The more you think about it, the cheaper their life, your life, or anyone’s life becomes.

In a chapter about cultural and social barriers, Bernard Lewis cites three things I quote:

“The topics of these three excerpts, women, science and music mark three crucial differences in approach, in attitude and in perception between two neighboring civilizations.”

A non-believer is an infidel, and lower than a slave. But women are even lower than non-believers. Non believers can be converted, slaves can be freed, but women are doomed. But so what? The purpose of existence is to worship God! How can you expect any form of representational/democratic rule to take root in a world where half the population is essentially enslaved?

The Muslim virtues are: prayer, repentance, honesty, loyalty, sincerity, frugality, prudence, moderation, self-restraint, discipline, perseverance, patience, hope, dignity, courage, justice, tolerance, wisdom, good speech, respect, purity, courtesy, kindness, gratitude, generosity, contentment. Nice list. But if you’re a woman and you look the fish market man in the eye and give him a smile…all bets are off.

But the West knows how to treat their women…right? Iceland went bust because after a thousand years of fishing, THE MEN decided to switch to banking and in less than 10 years the whole economy went belly up. Not one of those “bankers” was a woman. Funny thing is that now that everyone’s broke, they all want the women to handle the money. Michael Lewis tells a funny story about one woman banker who’s getting a lot of business cause nobody wants a guy as their financial manager.

The one thing the Muslims can't seem to get, however, is "polyphony, by harmony or counterpoint," which is the essence of ensemble music, team sports, parliamentary politics, and all the collaborative arts and sciences.

There was no Mozart or Beethoven in the Islamic world, just like there was no Copernicus, Galileo or Newton.

Henry VIII changed European and world history when he denied the pope the right to decide whom he should marry; —could it be possible for a Muslim leader to throw down a similar gauntlet in the face of further crisis in the Muslim world. Could such a leader challenge the Saudi control of Mecca and Medina. Could such a leader convince all sects to revise their interpretation of “infidel” while retaining the dignity and integrity of their faith?
A consummation devoutly to be wished.

Among the innovations the Islamic world should have adopted sooner, in Lewis's view: clocks, calendars, standard weights and measures, and printing presses. In other words, they should have paid more attention to TIME AND SPACE.

If time doesn’t matter…(because you’re too busy worshipping God?) then you’ll never be on time for work, because the train will never come on schedule, because the guy driving the train got to work late, because he didn’t have an alarm clock to wake him, because alarm clocks are the work of the infidel, and because it really doesn’t matter since in the next life you’ll be sleeping with a harem full of pre-pubescent virgins.

Then again, why can’t these people just co-exist with the rest of us and go their way while we go ours? Well, as my friend says: “because our oil is sitting underneath their sand.”

Greece is going broke because everyone is on the take and no one is paying taxes. And by everyone, I mean everyone. Kinda makes you think about what happens to your culture when the last time you had any real power or influence was when the chariot was the fastest way around town.

The Germans hold the fate of Europe in their hands (or rather their wallets). Boy, time sure flies when you put your past behind you.

During the height of the Irish Real-Estate boom in the 90's , there were more homes being built and bought than there were people to live in them. Confirms the Irish saying: 'Tis better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money!

And you never know what you're gonna find on the web after following a few links while searching for "Woman's place in Muslim Society".

If you've never seen this...now's your chance.