Sunday, July 20, 2008

Islam, Deism, and Despotism

The New Jerusalem
GK Chesterton
Ch. XII: The Fall of Chivalry

It was exactly because it seemed self-evident, to Moslems as
to Bolshevists, that their simple creed was suited to everybody,
that they wished in that particular sweeping fashion to impose it
on everybody. It was because Islam was broad that Moslems were narrow.
And because it was not a hard religion it was a heavy rule.
Because it was without a self-correcting complexity, it allowed
of those simple and masculine but mostly rather dangerous
appetites that show themselves in a chieftain or a lord.
As it had the simplest sort of religion, monotheism, so it had
the simplest sort of government, monarchy. There was exactly
the same direct spirit in its despotism as in its deism.

2 comments:

Steve Scott said...

What I hear Chesterson saying is that Islam is a one-size-fits-all religion with no checks and balances.

Abu Daoud said...

I think you understand GKC correctly. Because Islam tries to simplify everything into "there is no god but Allah" it ends up with an over-simplified civilization which is incapable of treating human beings like human beings, who are complex beings.