A Thought Exercise

Would you recognize radical fundamentalism if you saw it? Here it is in "recognizable" form, if you'll excuse the stereotype for a moment:

Dear Mr. President:

The glory of Allah be upon you! The media tells us that you have received the largest number of popular votes of any president in America's history. Congratulations!

In your election, Allah has graciously granted America—though she doesn't deserve it—a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Prophet daily, we who know Allah will follow that kind of voice eagerly.

Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the infidels nothing. They despise you because they despise Allah. Honor the prophet, and he will honor you.

Had your opponent won, I would have still given thanks, because the Koran says I must (Shura 11.123). It would have been hard, but because Allah lifts up whom he will and pulls down whom he will, I would have done it. It is easy to rejoice today, because Allah has allowed you to be his servant in this nation for another presidential term. Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many judges who are faithful to the will of Allah and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that follows the Koran regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, and freedom of speech. You have four years—a brief time only—to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Allah himself.

As it is said in the holy Koran, "O men! serve your Lord Who created you and those before you so that you may guard against evil." (Shura 2.21) The student body, faculty, and staff at Al Ibrahim Madrasa commit ourselves to pray for you—that you would do right and honor Allah. Pull out all the stops and make a difference. If you have weaklings around you who do not share the values of the Prophet Muhammed, shed yourself of them as it is commanded in the Koran, "O Prophet! Make war against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be merciless against them." (Shura 9.73). Muslims Americans who are true believers in the way of the Prophet would love to see one president who doesn't care whether he is liked, but cares infinitely that he does right.

Best wishes.
Sincerely your friend,
Azam ibn Said,
Imam

PS: A few moments ago I read this letter to the students in the mosque. They applauded loudly their approval.

On occasion, Muslims have not agreed with things you said during your first term. Nonetheless, we could not be more thankful that Allah has given you four more years to serve Him as President, never taking off your faith and laying it aside as a man takes off a jacket, but living, speaking, and making decisions as one who knows the word of the Prophet to be eternally true.

Now consider that the letter was actually written and delivered to the President by a leader of the Christian right (though, obviously, with quotes from the New Testament instead of similar quotes from the Koran)? Would you still recognize it as fundamentalism?

It happened. Here's the link to the letter, by Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University. [http://www.bju.edu/letter]

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By the way, the Republicans are fond of paying homage to Barry Goldwater, and the impact that he had on the party's current dominance. But here's what Goldwater had to say about the Christian right's role in all this:

When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye. (Washington Post, July 28, 1994) [sorry, no link to the WaPo, only to Wikipedia

[In conclusion, I should note that I chose to use a "Muslim fundamentalist" as the example because the American media, and frankly, the Bush Administration, has for years portrayed a black and white vision of Islam. In order for the thought exercise to work, it had to play to that prejudice. I had no intention of offending anyone (other than Republican extremists, of course), and apologize if I did offend the non-extremists among us. In point of fact, in the course of researching some of the quotes from the Koran, I found a number of verses and Shuras that I want to go back and reread for their humanist and literary value. I freely acknowledge, by the way, that I may have taken the Koran quotes out of context, but I was trying to make a point.]