http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/books/review/Ali-t.html?_r=1&ref=review&oref=slogin
In 01/07/2008 NY Times Book Review Ayaan Hirsi Ali reviews the book “The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam’s Threat to the Enlightenment” by Lee Harris. This entire issue of NYT Book Review is devoted to books & essays related to Islam.
I think it is a well-written essay. Ali agrees that a feature of Islam is fanaticism, but she disagrees that the solution is for the West to abandon its tradition of reason.
Harris does not regard Islamic fanaticism as a deviancy or a madness that affects a few Muslims and terrifies many. Instead he argues that fanaticism is the basic principle in Islam. “The Muslims are, from an early age, indoctrinated into a shaming code that demands a fanatical rejection of anything that threatens to subvert the supremacy of Islam,” he writes. During the years that this shaming code is instilled into children, the collective is emphasized above the individual and his freedoms. A good Muslim must forsake all: his property, family, children, even life for the sake of Islam. Boys in particular are taught to be dominating and merciless, which has the effect of creating a society of holy warriors.
By contrast, the West has cultivated an ethos of individualism, reason and tolerance, and an elaborate system in which every actor, from the individual to the nation-state, seeks to resolve conflict through words. The entire system is built on the idea of self-interest. This ethos rejects fanaticism. The alpha male is pacified and groomed to study hard, find a good job and plan prudently for retirement: “While we in America are drugging our alpha boys with Ritalin,” Harris writes, “the Muslims are doing everything in their power to encourage their alpha boys to be tough, aggressive and ruthless.”
