The Islamist II

Here are some further thoughts about "The Islamist" by Ed Husain.
People tend to lump all Muslims together as if they were one unified bloc. In fact there are vast differences between for example, the indigenous Islam of the Indian subcontinent, mostly found in Britain, that of Indonesia and Malaysia, and that of Saudi Arabia. Without going into details, while mainstream Islam venerates the Prophet Mohammed, the Wahhabi sect of Saudi Arabia, that has spread around the world due to Saudi largesse, considers this idolatrous and emphasises that only God must be served. It is a very literal interpretation of Islam. On the other hand, Muslims tend to lump all Jews together, without taking account of the vast differences between for example, Haredi (Chassidic) Jews, mainstream Orthodox Jews, Reform, Conservative and secular Jews, for which there are no equivalent movements in Islam.
It is convenient to think of the difference between a genuine Muslim who follows the basic precepts of his religion and a politicized Islamist as the difference between an Orthodox Jew and a non-religious Zionist. Zionism is basically a political program for Jewish emancipation, while Islamism is a political program for Muslim dominance. But, one big difference between them is that Zionism does not include deliberately displacing and making the Palestinian Arabs suffer, while Islamism deliberately targets all infidels and especially Jews for death.
It so happens that Palestinian Arabs have been displaced and have suffered, but that was because they refused to accept the legitimacy of the Jewish claim to Palestine/Israel and were defeated in numerous wars and uprisings. When they finally acknowledge the legitimacy of Israel, which they will have to do eventually, they will begin to enjoy a normal life, instead of being one of the poorest, most welfare-dependent, divided and pathetic groups of people in the world.
In considering Islamism, Husain eventually concludes that it is incredibly arrogant for the Mulsims to believe that they can foist thier interpretation of history and religion on the rest of the world. What he and others fail to recognize is the extent to which the Muslim world has fallen behind the West, they are the poorest least developed group of peoples after Africa. And this is not because of the deliberate fault of the West, it is rather their own fault for wasting their wealth and young people on trying to defeat the West, rather than copy its successful practices, that include the development of science and technology.