James Carroll on Islam

Here's a link to a quick interview with James Carroll, author of Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews—A History, An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us and House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power. In the former book, he—a former Roman Catholic priest—serves the church a large slice of humble pie, spiced up with a bitter dose of historical memory and topped off with some painful analysis. Indeed, the number of embittered one-star reviews on Amazon.com which the book spawned serve as sufficient proof that, at least in some cases, denial ain't just a river in Egypt. Keep in mind (since most of the one-star reviewers obviously didn't) that this certainly isn't the only reputable book that examines the Christian roots of anti-Semitism and the role the church played in Hitler's so-called Reich ([1][2][3][4][5][6][7]).

Anyway, I thought the brief interview with him was worth a link not only because he's someone who is trying to fight bigotry and educate people about Islam, but also because a few of his statements are real gems. Take, for example, the following:

"We reacted very quickly against the Muslim world after September 11, and we were unable to make distinctions within the Muslim world. We saw an enemy in a very generalized and undistinguished way. George Bush's ignorance was our ignorance—we'd never heard of Al Qaeda. Americans didn't know that the largest Muslim country in the world is Indonesia, and it's not Arab."

"Mark Twain said that God created war so that Americans would learn geography—there's some truth in that. I would add that it's so that Americans would learn about other religions. We didn't know the difference between the Sunni and the Shia, and all of a sudden we're discovering that the war in Iraq is about a conflict within the Muslim faith. The Taliban was a despicable dictatorial regime, but the Taliban did not attack us on 9/11—yet we went ruthlessly to war against them. Looking back, it's an astounding act of ignorance. I believe Osama bin Laden was counting on it. So we've learned a lot about Islam over the past five years, thank goodness, and we won't be that ignorant again, I hope."

That Mark Twain quote almost made me laugh out loud! And by the way, I'm a firm believer that educating people about history is one of the best ways to cure their bigotry. That's because it's a lot harder to have hypocritical double-standards once you become aware of the crimes and injustices committed in the name of, or by members of, your own religion. Although plenty of determined and hard-hearted bigots often show a remarkable ability to turn a blind-eye to the crimes of their own side, from what I've observed, most people out there are usually just passively ignorant about what has gone on in the past. Which is not meant to imply that two wrongs make a right, since I intend this more along the lines of not worrying about the speck in someone else's eye when you've got a plank stuck in your own...wa Allahu 'alim.

Deen on...