Tuesday, January 08, 2008

If there's no love, fear will do

Jihad Watch reports on an interview with a Pakistani TV host.

An Indian reporter asks a Pakistani TV host, "As a believer, why are you afraid of shari'ah law?" His answer is illuminating in many ways. For one thing, it indicates how much violent intimidation underlies popular support for Sharia.

"If Pakistan is an Islamic country, what is your objection to imposing shari'ah as is being demanded by the mullahs? As a believer, why are you afraid of shari'ah law?" I asked a former editor of an Urdu daily and currently the host of a TV programme.

His answer: "As an Indian, you obviously would like to see Pakistan go into the Stone Age".

I persisted: "Isn't the ideal concept of state in Islam the city state established by the Prophet in which Islamic law was the basic law?"

He replied: "That would mean going back into the stone age".

I pushed a little further and asked: "Are you willing to say this outside the confines of your office, and stand up in public for what you believe".

He looked horrified and said: "Do you think I am mad? I won't be alive an hour after I say this in public".

Two major points emerge.

First, the "Arab Street" accepts Jihadism because it's just not safe to resist it.  If you speak truth to this power, you will not live very long. Machiaveli said it's better to be feared than loved. Maybe so, and maybe not.  But it seems those who would impose sharia law seem perfectly happy to use fear if they can't have love.

Second, the Jihadist fundamentalists want nothing less than return to the stone age.  Everyone, except a few True Believers, knows it.

No comments: