Fall of Kabul

The almost bloodless victory of Kabul as the Taliban walked in uncontested requires more than explanation on military and political grounds. Western governments have consistently misunderstood Islam. They have placated its assertions and failed to stand up to its demands. Only in France has President Macron tried otherwise. President Obama’s Cairo declaration on 4 June 2009 that ‘America is not at war with Islam’ displayed the complete lack of comprehension that has influenced American policy ever since. The issue then and now is that Islam is at war with America. Islam is at war with the west. Islam is at war with the non-Muslim world. Islam’s purpose is to turn the whole world into an Islamic caliphate.

There is a war of words to be engaged, a war of ideas, of interpretation, of exposure, of comparison, of evaluation. Christian leaders of the United Kingdom have failed to articulate the differences and distinction between Christianity and Islam. They do not have the conviction to do so. The benighted former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was reported in the Guardian on 7 February 2008 as follows: ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury tonight prompted criticism from across the political spectrum after he backed the introduction of sharia law in Britain and argued that adopting some of its aspects seemed "unavoidable". Rowan Williams, the most senior figure in the Church of England, said that giving Islamic law official status in the UK would help achieve social cohesion because some Muslims did not relate to the British legal system’. At the time some Muslims also wanted their own parliament to rival Westminster. That has not transpired so far but the desire is still present. They want to see an Islamic flag flying over 10 Downing Street. It is total overthrow and dominance that is sought.

Muslims the world over will be joyfully celebrating this Kabul defeat of ‘The Great Satan’. In Britain rejoicing will be muted and perhaps confined to prayers and privacy. It is nevertheless another seeming step on the way to Islamic global ascendancy. There will be increased restiveness in the Muslim ghettoes of European capitals. But why are so many Muslims fleeing Muslim countries? Why are there so many educated Muslim refugees? It is not just The Taliban and sharia that they flee. It is freedom and prosperity that they seek. It is not to be found in their own war torn, cruel, divided, failed states. It is humanly suffocating to live under an Islamic caliphate in Afghanistan, in a theocratic Islamic republic such as Iran or in a seriously cruel dictatorship such as Syria.

Western media have much to answer for. They have been unwilling to sufficiently criticise Islam. They have exercised a default ‘Islam is OK’ agenda in spite of Charlie Hebdo or perhaps because of Charlie Hebdo. The BBC is pro-Islam even having appointed a Muslim as head of its religious broadcasting department. The recent serious knife assault on Christian woman preacher Hatun Tash, who was treated in hospital after being slashed across the face at Hyde Park Speakers Corner received little publicity. No-one has been arrested for the crime. The trolling of black England footballers received daily headline coverage. Police declined to act against known Muslim grooming gangs who raped and abused non-Muslim girls in Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford and in other English cities. Some have been very belatedly brought to justice.

In Scotland Nicola Sturgeon never attends Church but she has an array of scarves for her visits to mosques. Humza’s Yousaf’s hate Crime Bill was designed in part to make criticism of Muhammad and of Muslims illegal, even within the home. Thus already restrictions on freedom of speech have been meekly written into Scottish law. Anwar Sarwar’s survey purporting to find that a large majority of Muslims in Scotland suffer abuse because of their appearance and beliefs was an attempt to assuage his pain at losing the Labour Party leadership contest to Richard Leonard. Muslims cannot accept defeat, They have to win. If they lose they have to have the appearance of victory. They must fulfil the ideology of conquest. Many more Muslims than those instanced in Sarwar’s survey have lived in peace and prospered in Scotland but his critical race theory influenced survey did not say so.

Why are there no comparisons made between Jesus and Muhammad? Why is the Koran not subjected to the techniques of literary criticism? Why is the Koranic narrative not measured against the Old and New Testaments? Largely by using fear Muslims have managed to intimidate politicians, scholars and even comedians. They have placed the Muslim agenda ahead of other agendas and have been so determined, adamant and uncompromising that people have wilted in the face of such unreasonableness. And there is always the threat of anger and of violence. This is accepted and tolerated because it is a permanent factor in Islam. Samuel Paty a French middle-school teacher was killed and beheaded by an Islamist on 16 October 2020 in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a suburb of Paris. A shudder passed down the spines of all teachers throughout Europe that day.

Ed Husain’s book ‘Among the Mosques’, published on 10 June 2021 describes the ghettoisation of many Muslims living in Britain. This is their choice; it is not to integrate. Extreme jihadi literature can be found in mosque libraries. Many Muslim children do not take part in school plays and activities. English is not learned or spoken among many women. These people also play their own more passive part in the presentation of Islam to British people. The Muslim doctrine of ‘taqqiya’ allows Muslims to pretend to accept things as they are while seeking radical change. They can dissemble and deceive and that is justified for the longer term purposes of Islamic expansion.

There is no inevitable Islamic victory over humanity. Christians must leave ecclesiastical bunkers and trenches and their cowardly overseers and be not afraid to stand up and be counted and disagree with good arguments while expressing distinctive Christian truth with grace.