{"id":5528,"date":"2012-03-30T11:34:19","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T09:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/?p=5528"},"modified":"2012-03-30T11:34:19","modified_gmt":"2012-03-30T09:34:19","slug":"der-islam-und-die-zukunft-der-linken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.zeit.de\/joerglau\/2012\/03\/30\/der-islam-und-die-zukunft-der-linken_5528","title":{"rendered":"Der Islam und die Zukunft der Linken"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Harris hat auf seiner Website einen Essay<\/a> zum Thema „Der Islam und die Zukunft der Linken“ ver\u00f6ffentlicht, den ich bemerkenswert finde. Harris ist ein prominenter Vertreter des k\u00e4mpferischen S\u00e4kularismus, ein Religionskritiker, der \u00a0keinen Glauben ausl\u00e4sst.<\/p>\n

Dass unter allen Religionen der Islam heute das gr\u00f6\u00dfte Problem f\u00fcr die Menschenrechte und die Freiheit darstellt, sagt er dennoch in aller Deutlichkeit. Er sagt es ohne Islamophobie und ohne sich von dem m\u00f6glichen Vorwurf, der Islamophobie Vorschub zu leisten, beeindrucken zu lassen.<\/p>\n

Er wendet sich gegen diejenigen, die jede Kritik am Islam unter diesem Label einordnen – ebenso wie gegen diejenigen, die unter dem Deckmatel der Islamkritik „Rassismus, christlichen Faschismus oder beides“ verstecken. Und er nimmt die Linke („liberals“), der er sich selbst zugeh\u00f6rig f\u00fchlt, hart ran f\u00fcr ihre Weigerung, den religi\u00f6s motivierten, genozidalen Faschismus der Hamas-Charta ernst zu nehmen.<\/p>\n

Of course, millions of Muslims are more secular and are eager to help create a global civil society. But they are virtually silent because they have nothing to say that makes any sense within the framework of their faith. (They are also afraid of getting\u00a0killed.)\u00a0That\u00a0i<\/em>s the problem we must keep in view. And it represents an undeniable difference between Islam and Christianity at this point in history. There are also many nefarious people, in both Europe and the U.S., who are eager to keep well-intentioned liberals confused on this point, equating any criticism of Islam with racism or \u201cIslamophobia.\u201d The fact that many critics of Islam are also racists, Christian fascists, or both does not make these apologists any less cynical or sinister.<\/p>\n

The only way to know which way is up, ethically speaking, is to honestly assess what people want and what they believe.\u00a0 We must confront the stubborn reality of differing intentions: In every case it is essential to ask, \u201cWhat would these people do if they had the power to do anything they wanted?\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider the position of Israel, which is so regularly vilified by the Left. As a secularist and a nonbeliever\u2014and as a Jew\u2014I find the idea of a Jewish state obnoxious. But if ever a state organized around a religion was justified, it is the Jewish state of Israel, given the world\u2019s propensity for genocidal anti-Semitism. And if ever criticism of a religious state was unjustified, it is the criticism of Israel that ceaselessly flows from every corner of the Muslim world, given the genocidal aspirations so many Muslims freely confess regarding the Jews. Those who see moral parity between the two sides of Israeli-Palestinian conflict are ignoring rather obvious differences in intent.<\/p>\n

My fellow liberals generally refuse to concede that the religious beliefs of groups like Hamas merit any special concern. And yet the slogan of Hamas, as set forth in Article 8 of its charter, reads: \u201cAllah is its target, the Prophet is its model, the Koran its constitution: Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.\u201d If this is insufficient to establish this group as a death cult of aspiring martyrs, consider the following excerpts from the charter:<\/p>\n