Krauthammer's Error

Speaking of Geert Wilders, Charles Krauthammer says:


What he says is extreme, radical, and wrong. He basically is arguing that Islam is the same as Islamism. Islamism is an ideology of a small minority which holds that the essence of Islam is jihad, conquest, forcing people into accepting a certain very narrow interpretation [of Islam].

The untruth of that is obvious. If you look at the United States , the overwhelming majority of Muslims in the U.S. are not Islamists. So, it's simply incorrect. Now, in Europe, there is probably a slightly larger minority but, nonetheless, the overwhelming majority are not.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTA0YWU2NjQzZTM3YjRmNDA4ZDk2NWNjNzQyYjlmYTY=

Thus the premier American political analyst mistakes the tail (European and American Muslims) for the dog (mainstream Middle Eastern traditional Islam). Definitive authority in Islam comes from the Middle East, not America and Europe.

What does it mean if a majority of European and American Muslims are not Islamists? Not all Germans were Nazis and not all Russians were Communists, but the ideologues drove the agenda. Islamism is mainstream traditional Islamic law adapted to modern political realities--Qtub’s In the Shade of the Qur’an has no new Islamic theology. Islamists are Muslims who take seriously the political implications of Islamic law and reject any Western-inspired innovations and compromises that have crept into the law. Those in the West who call themselves Muslims while trying to paper over the demands of Islamic law (instead of calling for deep reform) will never win an argument with a well informed Islamist.

Even the most superficial acquaintance with the Koran, ahadith and Sira will convince any fair-minded reader that “the essence of Islam is jihad, conquest, forcing people into accepting a certain very narrow interpretation [of Islam].”

This is why Wilders and many Europeans see Muslims in Europe as colonists, not immigrants.

Krauthammer knows that the tail does not wag the dog. When I see such a heavy hitter swinging at a wild pitch, I start looking for explanations that have nothing to do with talent or intelligence.