What began as a night of turning the brain off and spending time with friends became a lesson that furthered my disdain and reinforced my beliefs that the dogma of Islam is quite possibly the most frightening. At the least, it’s the most urgent and most convicted.
After a busy week of negotiating fatherhood, my career, drafting more of my book, my work on the blog’s Facebook page and the the many mundane aspects we all have in life, I decided to take a night off and head to a local pub with a few friends and catch the game.
It wasn’t long before a young man, likely in his mid-twenties, would sit next to me. His very first question struck me as odd and set the tone for what would become a rather intense engagement with Islamic dogma and the furthermost goal of its followers to the absolute persecution of non-believers, no matter the facade of what their belief may look like.
“Are you American?” - This seemed an odd question as I sat in a bowling alley pub in the heart of the upper-Midwestern United States, an unmistakably caucasian man whose ancestral roots are of Polish, German and Irish descent, with a Marine Corps tattoo on my arm. I couldn't have appeared more American if I had been the Statue of Liberty sitting next to him. “Yes, I am an American,” I said. I was obliged to ask at this point, “I gather that you’re not?” He would go on to explain that he’s Albanian.
I’m no expert on Albania, but I’m familiar enough with the turmoil in that part of the word over the past few decades, so I became inquisitive about the Albanian lifestyle, and this young man’s experiences in general.
He didn’t seem all that interested in talking much about Albania, and was even a bit capricious about what he found appealing about America, or why or how he even ended up here. The only thing he seemed to point out with any definition was that he was a Muslim. This of course turned my brain back online. Rather than read about it in the news or have online banter in rooms lenient to one point of view or another I had a real opportunity to engage in a face-to-face discussion with someone of the Islamic faith.
I saw it as a great opportunity to initiate discussion about a number of things, but especially the more recent events of foreign nationals self-radicalizing and how he felt that affected the perception of him as a Muslim in America today. (At this point, I had not yet discussed my position on religion, as I truly wanted to feed this discussion with empathy to enter the root of his Islamic values before dropping the proverbial shoe to obtain the other observation I would be curious about; his reaction and behavior toward a non-believer).
I listened as he first talked a bit about feeling sheepish in being outward about being a Muslim in America. That conversation left me more than perplexed because it seemed the entire purpose from the start was his desire to tell me he was a Muslim. I nurtured the conversation with him, even to the point of emphatically reinforcing the principles of Islam, to gain his trust. I talked a bit about how much clearer the Qur’an was as opposed to the Bible to understand, and that even with the conflicting messages of good and evil, the Qur’an gives the follower the guidance on how to interpret and employ the conflicting messages; something the Christian Bible does not do. I spoke of this in a tone that would seem to impress his faith; and he took the bait.
(Few know this, but the Qur’an instructs the followers of Islam that where conflicting passages are found, the most recent passages are the ones to be followed, as the ultimate mission of Islam is to eat the world of all other faiths in order that Islamic totalitarianism ultimately canvases the globe. Of course, adapted to the Qur’an and its faith, the more recent passages are the more radicalized passages, as very well explained in the video linked in the above paragraph).
He seemed impressed with my knowledge of Islam and asked me if I was also a follower of Allah or just a student of culture (which he initially claimed to be). I told him that I was merely a man who reads a lot and tries to understand the cultural landscape and associated human psyches around the world.
This is where the conversation would become more uncomfortable and the Islamic dogma and duplicity would finally be dug out of his ritualistic brainwash. I looked at him, drinking a beer, and asked, “I’m not at all trying to judge you, but I’m curious as to your consumption of alcohol as a Muslim. Do you feel that brings subjectivity to your faith, or am I misunderstanding the faith?” It was at this point he said that he wasn’t really a follower of organized Islam, but did believe in Allah. This is also when he asked me if I believed in god and if I was a Christian.
Not thirty seconds after I told him I was an Atheist, and after his astounded stare into my eyes, he just got up and walked away without saying another word.
I of course pursued him, because I was interested at why that offended him so much. (I already knew this answer, but really wanted it affirmed). He went over to the billiard tables so I walked over and set a dollar down on the table and offered to pay for a game against him. He again looked at me with disgust and said, simply, “I cannot talk to you.”
I wasn’t going away easy, as this now provided for so many opportunities to expose this “religion of peace and understanding” for what its current, younger and more self-radicalized generation truly guards its vision as; the presumed, ultimate destiny for us all.
He finally talked more, telling me that Allah would not accept me, nor would Allah accept him for being associated with me as a non-believer. I asked him how this made sense to him, feeling persecuted as a Muslim in the United States because of radical perceptions, while he, himself was behaving radically and persecuting someone who did not believe what he did. He again left it simple that Allah’s instructions for him are clear, that he not associate with non-believers.
I asked him where Allah instructs this (knowing the answer, of course). He said, “The Qur’an, you know this, you understand the Qur’an as you told me earlier.” I hedged my litigation of him even further at this point. “But, you just told me you’re not a true follower of Islam, that you just believe in Allah? How is it that possible if you are now using the Qur’an, the organized teachings of Allah and Islam, to judge me?”
His answer was the truth I was seeking the entire time. “Because I am ultimately responsible to Allah and his word, even if I do not practice all of the virtues of the Qur’an.” This mirrors the subjective following that Atheists recognize of all faiths. When I asked him if he would see me different if I were a Christian and not an Atheist, his response was one that was predictable, but still a bit eerie to hear; “Christians are Atheists to Allah.” (An argument that Atheists continually make to the monotheistic religions, that they are Atheists with the exception of their own god. It was nice to have this affirmed by a believer, even one of Islam, as most Christians sidestep that premise every time).
The entire purpose of my conversation with him was to understand and affirm the disease of dogma that infects the Islamic faith. I had no interest in selling him reason, science, or free-thinking purpose or critical thought processes in this discussion. It clearly would have been futile to try and dismantle his religion at this point anyway, with him so begrudged and disgusted at me for being offensive to he and his “god.”
I blogged recently about this misguided mission of Islam to convince the rest of the non-Muslim world that they were of peace. That blog was written and substantiated merely by my perceptions of their faith’s actions and the typical ambiguous and convoluted arguments with Islamist believers in various online forums. My convictions have now been virtually proven by an actual encounter with a young Islamist who is entirely convinced that the ultimate subjectivity of his beliefs default him to his faith’s virtues of persecution, contempt and antipathy toward the non-believer of Islam.
While it would be irresponsible for me to speculate that he is militant or otherwise aggressively dangerous in his beliefs (he made no allusions to that at all), it certainly was a sign that Islamic dogma is very much a sickness that parallels the Christian one, but perhaps one to be even more watchful of.
I certainly made sure I watched him leave, before me. Call me paranoid, but I want this disturbed and duplicitous young man nowhere near the sanctuary I call my house of reason. It was an enlightening conversation, for sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment