Islamic Fantasies?

The fantasies and nonsense of Islam exposed and explained.

The Moon Splitting Fantasy

The Flying Horse Fantasy

The Zamzam Water Fantasy

The Jinn Fantasy

Islamic Conversion Fantasies

Sam Harris on the so called ‘Golden Age’ of Islam:

I always find it telling when someone is arguing about how important Islamic civilization has been to the career of our species, that preserving the the work of Aristotle always appears somewhere near the top of the list.

Lemme just think about that for a second. Aristotle was great, don’t get me wrong. But he’s a single non Muslim philosopher, and he wasn’t perfect right? He said many things that impeded the progress of science. I think his importance for future generations was primarily as counterpoint to a 1000 years of Abrahamic religious craziness that practically ruined human history. And I count Christianity as the main offender here.

Yes it is true to say that a millennia ago the Muslim world was ahead of the Christian West. But that doesn’t say anything good about Islam, it’s just a reminder of how terrible Christianity was.

And as for the ultimate significance of Islamic civilization, yes there were Muslims making advances in optics, I think Omer said this somewhere in his article, and one often hears this. But they weren’t using these advances to build telescopes and understand the cosmos. They were using them to design religious calendars. And more accurately pinpoint the direction of Mecca.

Here’s the basic fact, that the Muslim community just has to grapple with. There are single zip codes in New York and Massachusetts that have produced more of enduring value scientifically, artistically, ethically, politically, than the entire Muslim world has produced in 1000 years. And if you think that claim is inaccurate, or that it contains a shred of bigotry, you are lying to yourself.

Most of you have heard me mention the UN Arab Human Development report, which revealed that the country of Spain translates more of the world’s literature and learning into Spanish each year, than the entire Arabic world has translated into Arabic since the 9th century. We’re talking about Spain, which is not leading the world intellectually at the moment.

Arabs are of course only 5% of the world population, but they produce only 1% of the world’s books. And higher % of those are religious than anywhere else.

Again that is just the Arab world. But do you really think that adding Indonesia, and Malaysia and Iran to the list would suddenly make Islamic culture as creative as Western culture? Or indeed as Jewish culture?

Let’s run these numbers, Muslims outnumber Jews by 100 to 1. We can talk in round numbers here, there are 15 million Jews and 1.5 billion Muslims. In the last 10 years, in the last 100 years, which community has produced more of lasting value to humanity. Intellectually, artistically or in any other way?

And I’m talking about scientific breakthroughs, I’m talking about new businesses and museums and films, cures for diseases, new methods of purifying water, the good stuff. The good stuff beyond beating your wife or forcing her to live in a bag. Or killing victims of rape, or performing clitoridectomy on girls. You know the other good stuff.

If you are a so called moderate Muslim, or a Liberal, who is even now pulling the brakes on this train as it leaves the station. Please don’t pretend not to know the answer to this question. And don’t pretend that answering it or indeed asking it is an expression of bigotry.

This has nothing to do with Muslims being mistreated by the West. The Jews were nearly exterminated in the middle of the 20th century. They were victims of an actual genocide, as opposed to the imaginary genocides that we often hear about from Muslim apologists, describing the treatment of the Palestinians for instance.

Who knows how may brilliant and productive people were reduced to ash by the Nazi’s? Judging by the people who made it out, people who did more to establish our scientific world-view, and literature and the arts, than probably any other community in modern history. We probably lost some of the most intelligent and creative people who ever lived.

And don’t kid yourself this has something to do with the resources either. Kuwait is a small wealthy country, that spends allot of money on education. It is far below the world average in math and science. Like 20% below.

What do you think explains this? It is not historically inaccurate, nor is it a sign of bigotry to observe that most of human history and progress arose in the West.

• Science is a western breakthrough;
• Liberal Democracy;
• The Rule of Law;
• Equality before the Law;
• Freedom of Thought and Expression;
• a Universal conception of human rights;
• Separation of Church and State.

These are almost entirely Western inventions. And they’re the foundations of almost everything that is good in our world, And when other cultures have adopted these values like Japan and South Korea, they have flourished.

Take the focus off Islam for a moment, cause this seems to help for some bizarre reason. Consider India, Hindu India. Consider the caste system, and the practice of sati, the practice of forcing a widow to burn herself alive on her husband’s funeral pyre.

These bizarre and barbaric practices are entirely the product of Indian religion. The caste system persists, and it is terrible. And it largely explains why India is so backward, despite incredible economic gains.

There are more malnourished and illiterate people in India than anywhere on earth. The practice of sati was effectively stamped out by the British and the Portuguese and the Dutch, which is a very good thing. Can we say that western notions of human rights and political equality are better than these Indian traditions? Of course.

Is it a sign of bigotry to say this? No, in fact it is bigoted to say that Indians just might be better off with their barbaric traditions. Maybe Indian widows are better off being burned alive after their husbands die. That is bigoted. That is a failure of compassion.

Maybe the illiterate street sweeper who has accepted his lot in life, and the abuse heaped on him by his neighbours because of his belief in karma and rebirth, maybe he is better off than if he were sent to Oxford and educated. That is bigotry.

And no one is tempted to indulge that bigotry on the topic of Hinduism. But when we talk about Islam, all of a sudden, the dial on the Liberal moral compass just begin spinning uncontrollably. And it suddenly becomes impossible to navigate questions right and wrong, good and evil.