Professor Raphi Israeli spoke at an ICJS function last Sunday night at Beth Weizmann. We had about 360+ people in a packed out hall. All people who didn't book (probably 30-40 people) had to be turned away.......
Reverend Dr Mark Durie gave a detailed and concise presentation of the Dhimma pact as it was in traditional form, and how it is now slowly being re-instated stealthily around the globe.
In essence, reduced to a single question, he asked: Why do non-muslims have to do the PR for Muslims? Are Jews expected to say that Christianity is a wonderful religion? Are Christians expected to say to the world that Judaism is a wonderful religion? Why then do people such as George Bush, Mary Robinson and countless others have to go on-record telling us that Islam is the religion of peace, Islam has made enormous contributions to our society etc etc.
Mark explains this in terms of an ancient religious / cultural requirement within Islam for non-muslims to acknowledge the superiority of Islam. This is part of the Dhimma pact which provides protection for non-muslims from Islamic Jihad.
To read another article by Mark Durie see Isa the Muslim Jesus
Prof Israeli spoke about how Islamic individuals were encouraged after WWII to provide manpower for a severely depleted workforce. They came largely from the French, Dutch and African colonies. He explained how the situation evolved from individuals to whole communities, eventually resulting in the importation of Imams to deal with their religious needs.
However, the Imams taught (quite correctly within the structure of Islam) that all institutions of society have to be based on the Sharia, and anyone who thinks he can improve on the Sharia is considered a blasphemer. This is the core of a clash.
Then Prof Raphi Israeli spoke about the theoretical foundations of democracies - that sovereignty is with the people. Also he dealt with the pragmatic manifestations of democracy - a parliament, an opposition, a smooth transition from one administration to the next after an election. And he made a convincing case that all of these structures are foreign to Islam, where the Koran is the only source of authority. Fundamentally anyone who claims that "man" (forgive the genderist term) is a source of authority is a blasphemer.
This dovetailed well with what Prof Israeli said at a private function on Friday night, that the whole concept of "democratisation" is phoney. It would be like "pregnantisation" - the notion that you become pregnant gradually. A country is either democratic or not. Conditions conducive to democracy can be put in place, but that does not constitute democracy or democratisation.
Download an MP3 of Professor Raphi Israeli lecture, complete with the introduction by Dr Durie, here.
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