The recent release of the book, Son of Hamas, by Mosab Hassan Yousef has caused quite a stir across the Middle East. Yousef is the son of the founder and leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and in his book he discloses that he has served as one of the top spies for Israel’s internal security organization. Needless to say, a shocking revelation for the hard core Islamic jihadists.
As I understand from reviews of the book, his basic premise is that Muslim fanatics are in need of liberation from their god. In fact, he says in an interview that his father “is not a fanatic, he’s a very moderate, logical person. What matters is not whether my father is a fanatic or not, he’s doing the will of a fanatic God…………At the end of the day a traditional Muslim is doing the will of a fanatic, fundamentalist, terrorist God……….The problem is not in Muslims. The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from their God.”
Previously I have commented at length on the views of Pope Benedict XVI as they pertain to the dangerous ideas that the Muslim faith presents to civilization, the most dangerous of which is the idea that God approves violence in his name. In his 2006 lecture at Regensburg, Germany, much maligned in the Muslim world for its alleged blasphemy, the Pope outlined how the choices made by Islamic theological and intellectual leadership over the centuries have resulted in an inability to reconcile the truths of their religion with those of reason, a critical ingredient that has produced the dominance of the West in economic and scientific development. And it’s not simply all about the radical swamps of Islam; even mainstream Islam has no real concept of tolerance, plurality, or true introspection. Their God is pure will, and their mission is the rule of sharia law. Obviously, these views resonate with young Yousef, and his courage should be a beacon for responsible Muslims.
Strangely (or maybe it’s not so strange) missing in response to Yousef’s revelation and conspicuously absent from any of the speeches by President Obama in Cairo or other venues where Middle Eastern leadership is focused is any reference to the need for a recognition of this obvious disconnect by responsible Muslim leaders. The Pope could use a little help here, and it would be nice if it came from the political leader of the free world.
I am reminded of the words of Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his Nobel lecture of 40 years ago: “The timid civilized world has found nothing with which to oppose the onslaught of a sudden revival of bare-faced barbarity, other than concessions and smiles…….a sickness of the will of successful people, it is the daily condition of those who have given themselves up to the thirst after prosperity at any price, to material well being as the chief goal of earthly existence.”
