What Do Muslims Really Think?

President Bush has implemented a policy of bringing democracy to the Middle East. But, even if his policy succeeds in its immediate aim, what will be the outcome? What will the Muslim peoples choose, and who will they choose to lead them?

Two articles bring an interesting answer to this question. Amir Taheri identifies the Islamists as descended from the Salafi movement, which he describes as a faux-religious movement, Neo-Islam, that is not religious but political and totalitarian. It was all started in the 19th century by

the Persian adventurer Jamaleddin Assadabadi, who disguised himself as an Afghan to hide his Shiite origin and set out to build a career in the mostly Sunni land of Egypt. Although a Freemason, Jamal (who dubbed himself Sayyed Gamal) concluded that the only way to win power among Muslims was by appealing to their religious sentiments. So he transformed himself into an Islamic scholar, grew an impressive beard and donned a huge black turban to underline his claim of being a descendant of the Prophet...

[His partner Mirza Malkam Khan] had a slogan of unrivaled cynicism: "Tell the Muslims something is in the Koran, and they will die for you."

Their direct political descendents are the Muslim Brotherhood, the “semi-literate mullah named Ruhallah Khomeini,” and the Afghan Taliban. To Taheri, this movement is first and foremost political, and uses religious imagery purely as a way to get support and grab power.

Suppose President Bush achieves regime change in Iran. What would the Iranian people do? Jason Lee Steorts conducts an interview with Iranian dissident Amir Abbas Fakhravar, author of the “anti-regime book This Place Is Not a Ditch,” to find out. The key question is whether sanctions or military action would strengthen the Iranian regime. Says Fakhravar:

Please don’t ever say that the people of Iran are going to have resentment or anger in their hearts toward America or Western countries for doing this. [On] Saturday [February 4]... the people here found out that Iran was going before the [U.N.] Security Council, and there was celebration all over Tehran. I heard from my own family, the families of my friends, that it was one of the busiest days of the year for the pastry shops — that people were buying pastries and cookies and candies in the streets of Tehran and going to each other to celebrate.

Well, he’s a dissident. He would say that. What about support from the US government?

I cannot mention who, but I’m definitely communicating with some people in the U.S. government and have established contacts with people in the Bush administration.

So the War on Terror, the war against the Islamists, the contest for the future, continues.