Reading Paul Berman in Kurdistan

[Valin]

Michael J Totten:

Michael J Totten
6/26/10

Last month when I interviewed Paul Berman about his outstanding new book The Flight of the Intellectuals, we briefly touched on how religion and politics in the Arab world differs so radically from religion and politics in some other parts of the Muslim world.
On that note, take a look at what Dr. Sabah A. Salih has to say about Berman's book at the Kurdish Media Web site.

Islamism, which is markedly different from the way most practicing Muslims in Kurdistan understand the faith, as something spiritual rather than political, has never been a friend of the Kurds. Despite its noisy claims of universality and rejection of national boundaries, Islamism is sectarian through and through. In fact, its actions and programs are intended to put non-Arabs under the political and cultural hegemony of Arabs. Historically, Islamism has been just another name for Arab imperialism. To conceal that, Islamism has been relentless in insisting in its usual totalitarian fashion that its program comes straight from Allah.

This is how most people in Kurdistan view Islamism. There, clerics like Al-Jazeera Television’s wordmonger-in-chief Yusuf Qaradawi or Muslim Brotherhood’s point man in Europe Tariq Ramadan carry no weight. In Kurdistan, a person trading in dogma and medieval irrationality, as these men do, is not considered a person worth listening to. But outside Kurdistan, especially in the heart of Western democracies, as Paul Berman points out in this valuable new book, these are the very people a great many intellectuals embrace as moderate, mainstream, even authentic......(Snip)

You can read the rest of the review here, and order Berman's book here.


Valin says: This is a small book, and while I would not sat it is a "Must Read", I will say it is well worth the time spent.