Islam Implemented Less As ‘Submit To Allah,’ More As ‘Others Submit To Me In Name Of Allah’

Actual submission to Allah requires humility.

Tehran, April 29 – A faith whose advocates and supporters tout it as “the religion of peace” and a vehicle for subjugating one’s drives and ambitions in the service of God has in fact seen implementation with primary emphasis on subjugating those who do not follow the faith to those who do.

Islam – the name translates most closely as “submission,” though it shares a root with words for “peace” or “completeness” in Semitic languages – offers its adherents a path toward submission to Allah, the one true God and source of creation, a path by which the faithful Muslim secures a place of pleasure in the afterlife and helps bring closer the very purpose of creation. In practice, however, the combination of Islam and political or temporal power has directed its focus more on getting non-Muslims – and often just other groups of Muslims – to submit to those who wield the power, all of course in the name of Allah.

Analysts explained that an actual submission to Allah requires humility and an ability to experience inadequacy, even guilt or shame. “The thing is, Islamic culture, by and large, does not admit inadequacies,” observed cultural anthropologist Noschett Sherlock. “Confronting one’s utter nothingness in the face of the eternal divine can only reach a healthy outcome if the person has a modicum of self-awareness and honesty about his limitations and shortcomings. The honor-shame sensibilities that govern the society do not readily admit, if at all, to accepting such notions.”

“Instead,” he continued, “the typical phenomenon as it plays out time after time involves skipping the part about submitting oneself to Allah, with its implications of, you know, actually submitting, which is embarrassing, and inhabiting the more comfortable psychological realm of acting on behalf of Allah to subjugate others. This has the effect of allowing the adherent to believe he acts righteously on Allah’s behalf, conveniently justifying acting in a dominating way that, also conveniently, feels good.”

The same mentality produces projection, observers note, in an encounter with those who might not share honor-shame sensibilities. This occurs most prominently in conflict with Jews, whose culture emphasizes guilt – which attaches to actions – rather than shame – which attaches to people; the Islamic attitude automatically projects onto the Jew the ambition to dominate, when in fact all the Jew wants is to be left the *&$# alone.

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