THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VI, Issue # 211, September 28, 2004
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ISLAM, SEX, & THE TERROR WAR
By Alan Caruba
FULL STORY:
All religions devote a lot of time telling the faithful how to conduct their sex lives. The debate over sex led to large bodies of
recommendations, rules, and traditions. Judaism celebrates women as wives and mothers. Christianity does so as well, and
Catholicism goes a step further beatifying some women as saints. Islam, as actually practiced in Middle Eastern nations, has
diverged from its purported theological grant of equality of the sexes.
A quick look at the Judeo-Christian tradition shows how its creators felt conflicted about women. Eve, of course, gets the blame
for the expulsion from Eden. If one reads the Ten Commandments, it is noteworthy they include injunctions against adultery and
against coveting the wife of your neighbor. So, sex and the problems that can arise from it were on the minds of the writers of the
laws set forth for Jews. In both the Old and New Testaments, a great deal of thought is devoted to the relationship of men and
women. There is even debate today over the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The early Church fathers
converted her from a beloved apostle of Jesus to a prostitute. When it comes to religion, women do not fare well.
Muhammad, an Arab merchant with what appears to be a powerful sex drive, promulgated some significant changes, as he put
together Islam in order to bring the various Arabian tribes under his control. The most obvious change he instituted was the right
of a man to have four wives. When Muhammad took a fancy to the wife of an adopted son, Ziad, a quick divorce ensued and a
marriage followed (Koran 33:37). Muhammad was given special dispensation (Koran 33:50) to have a score of wives and
concubines. His second wife after the death of his first was literally a child who was married off to him at the age of six and had her
marriage consummated at age nine. He was 53 at the time.
The notion of four wives is clearly out of step with the Judeo-Christian tradition of one man and one woman forming an exclusive
union. Multiple marriages (for men only) were, however, an effective way for Muhammad to induce early converts to Islam.
Moreover, under Islam, a man could also keep any number of concubines. There’s even a mechanism to sanction what we in the
West would call “one night stands” and what Muslims have called a “m’uta marriage.” It is banned by Sunnis, but reportedly still
permitted by Shiites. In short, men were given license to satisfy their lust and, at the same time, produce more children to increase
the population of Muslims.
Muslim apologists maintain that women have equal rights, but Muslims recommend, above all other considerations, that a woman
be a virgin when she marries and that she marry early. Islam appears to limit sex exclusively to marriage, but historically Muslim men
were given access to as many women as they could afford, as wives, as concubines, or as “right hand possessions”, i.e., women
captured in war. Conversely, sex between two unmarried people is regarded as “filthy.” Indeed, sex and hygiene is the subject of
detailed attention.
Islamic laws and traditions regarding sex are extensive and detailed. The most intimate details of sex are discussed and the actions
to be taken before and after are described. Where Islam is the state religion, there is a pathological obsession with “modesty” that
Westerners would call “puritanical,” in terms of their own society.
The extent to which the reaction of much of Middle Eastern Islam to Western attitudes and behavior about sex fuels the widespread
terror war cannot be known. If Muslim men were to lose the actual control their societies and cultures exercise over women, it would
undermine much of the reason to be a Muslim.
Lust, however, has no religion. A religion that loses its control over this aspect of its adherents’ lives, is in trouble. Even in America,
the power of religion to influence behavior is reflected in the battle over the issue of abortion and, now, same-sex marriages. Religious
beliefs concerning the existence of God, modesty of dress and behavior, and marital fidelity remain strong in America, even if popular
culture appears to flaunt them. As regards the current tenor of popular culture, Hollywood rarely has reflected widely held beliefs
based in Judeo-Christian traditions.
This is not to say that religion anywhere is having much success curbing lust. The sex trade worldwide is rampant. Pornography has
become a multi-billion dollar business, especially via the Internet. The Catholic Church is trying to deal with revelations of widespread
pederasty among its priests. Episcopalians are facing a major church schism over the ordination of a homosexual bishop. Worldwide,
films and television in many nations encourage a casual attitude toward sex. The spread of AIDS is testimony to the failure of both
religions and governments to make much impact on this lethal disease.
It would be a mistake to underestimate the reaction of fundamentalist Muslims regarding issues involving sex. This is not to suggest
that Islam’s holy warriors are more or less lustful than any other people, but that their religion prohibits any open expression of sexual
attraction, holding hands, kissing in public, or dressing provocatively. So, while Islam can be extraordinarily candid about sex, it still is
something it wants restricted to the marriage chamber. Adultery can rate a death sentence in some Muslim nations.
We now live in a time when fundamentalist elements of the Islamic population are waging a worldwide terror war to preserve the seventh
century sexual traditions of a fringe culture and laws set down by a man whose own sex life must surely astonish and even appall any
Muslim who examines it. When it comes to sex, the Islamic holy war is being fought in the name of a man who did not feel restrained by
the rules of his own era.
Many Muslims look upon the West with an arrogant sense of moral superiority. It’s not that Western behavior is anything to brag about,
but it surely isn’t a good reason for which to be killed either.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Middle East & the Arabs
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, Communications Director of the American Policy Center,
and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly
column, "Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center
(www.anxietycenter.com). A compilation of his past columns, entitled Warning Signs, is published by Merril Press. In addition
to Warning Signs, Caruba is the author of A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam and The United Nations vs. the United States,
both of which are available from the National Anxiety Center, 28 West Third Street, Apartment 1321, South Orange, New Jersey, 07079.
Copyright 2004 Alan Caruba
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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