Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Muslim Manifesto for Norway

Minarets in Norway

A Norwegian convert to Islam has written a Muslim manifesto for Norway and published it as an article in Aftenposten. Our Danish correspondent Kepiblanc has kindly translated it for Gates of Vienna, and includes this brief introductory note:

The author is one Trond Ali Lindstad, a converted doctor, born 1942. Originally a communist, he abandoned that ideology and converted to Islam. He founded an Islamic school in Oslo and became its headmaster. The school was shut down by the authorities after an investigation.

Kepiblanc’s translation is below. Emphasis is either mine or the translator’s.


  Muslim Manifesto
by Trond Ali Lindstad

 
1.  Norwegian Muslims need to know how to react towards daily life and greater issues. The following is a Muslim Manifesto for Norway.
 
2.  “The good land readily produces its plants by the leave of its Lord, while the bad land barely produces anything useful.” (Quran 7:58) Muslims must be the good land, and shall be known by their actions.
 
3.  God is the supreme authority. In fact the only authority. No Muslims bow to other than Him.
 
4.  In this country executive power belongs to Norwegian authorities. Muslims must respect this. The authorities make the law and the citizens must comply. But the state is secular. And some law-enforcing persons might be as well. Muslims shall not subordinate themselves to ideas and norms, be it from the state or others, if they are not in compliance with Islam.
 
5.  Norway is a welfare state. It strives to give social and economic welfare to the citizens. That’s a good thing and must not be abused.
 
6.  Muslims might occasionally find themselves in opposition to the state. That’s not unfair. With its secular ideology the state suppresses the Muslims in order to impose its values upon the Muslims. The state demands sovereign executive power, be it in values and minds. And it expects compliance from the Muslims.
 
7.  Norway is at war, directly and indirectly. Today a silent war is waged against the peoples of Gaza. Its main actor is the USA. But Norwegian authorities participate together with Israel in starving the peoples of Gaza.
 
8.  The USA is a hegemonic power with military bases all over the globe. It has a navy with nuclear arms in the Persian Gulf. And barracks in the region. But all this power is unidirectional: there is no Islamic navy in the Gulf of Mexico and no Islamic barracks in the Midwest. Neither is there a plan to expel people from the Midwest, like the plan to expel people from Palestine. The American dominance must be countered.
 
9.  Beware of the Islamic identity. And hoist the flag of Islam! Create Islamic institutions. Erect Islamic schools, kindergartens and clubs. But do so humbly. Do not expose Islam. Remember that our work is for God.
 
10.  Do not provoke the majority! They are not Muslims and show them respect nevertheless. Why should Muslims erect mighty towers when building their institutions? And thus risk being considered provocative and strange by the original dwellers of the country, the bearers of their own culture? Muslims should not expose their endeavours, that is not Islamic.
 
- - - - - - - - -
11.  Be positive towards non-Muslims. Debate with them “as best as you can”, as the Quran prescribes.
 
12.  Some negative trends are in play. Some Muslims are tempted to become “important persons” and collaborate with the powers that be. They must be left alone due to their compromises. Others join political parties, left or right, but accept the rules of the authorities.

Some prefer to adopt the attitude of an introvert towards the society. They tend to decay into sectarianism and dogmatism. They do not use “common sense”. While others think that Islam must be advanced with spectacular actions and indiscriminate use of weapons. But without saying how. They aim at the political imperium, the USA and its allies. And that is not necessarily wrong. But those actions are indiscriminate, striking military personnel and civilians alike, often without any clear intention. Neither do they establish wise alliances. Finally, others comply with the western culture and become part of it. It is a secular attitude, with a little Islam thrown in. They must be awakened and make a choice.
 
13.  Muslims do not believe in liberal democracy, the present sate of affairs around here. Its basis is secularism. It creates its own elite who influence opinion, politically and cultural, in a secular direction. It does not promote a defining morale. It demands hegemony and dominance in political matters and values. That is no challenge for Muslims.
 
14.  Islam is an offensive religion. It is sanctioned by God. And it applies to all and everyone. It is revolutionary and aims at a better world. We must have a strategy for that.
 
15.  Islam is the ultimate religion. It will be so until the end of the world. Be it in a hundred, thousand or hundred of thousands of years? Muslims are patient. And only God knows. But we face challenges and we must know how to meet them.


Hat tip: Steen.

8 comments:

xlbrl said...

The Marxist and Islamic mindset are quite similar. Neither can stand uncertainty, and that is where life and progress is found.

Anonymous said...

so he substituted one totalitarian fascist suedo religion/political ideology for another. so what.

the only difference between the two is no he can say a god is behind what he says and does and must be followed absolutely.

and as far as the "starving gaza'ns,
hhahahahahahahahahahahahaha

that fantasy is getting old, they need to come up with a better one.

gazans are well fed international welfare queens.

Exile said...

Maybe this is why somebody took a pot shot at Mullah Krekar's apartment in Oslo yesterday. Whoever it was missed Krekar but managed to wing his son in law.

Ah well. Norway was never known for its snipers.

Do I sense some dissent amongst indigenous Norwegians? I hope so.

Anonymous said...

This guy is really a good Muslim. And I'm not being sarcastic.

He's also a relative moderate, with the notable exception that he rejects his country's rules.

As for Western communists or leftists converting to Islam, it's a known pattern. In France, the name of philosopher Roger Garaudy comes to mind.

He was one of the intellectual luminaries of the French communist party for the better part of the last half-century.

He has been a member of the Central committee, a member of parliament, and the director of the Centre for Marxist Studies and Research.

In 1982, he converted to Islam. In 1995, he published "The Founding Myths of Israel Policy", in which he denied that the Holocaust ever took place. In 2002, he accepted the Lybian Muslim dictator's Ghaddafi Prize for Human Rights.

Anonymous said...

He's also a relative moderate, with the notable exception that he rejects his country's rules.

Moderate? What about paragraph 14, which calls for the destruction of infidel governments everywhere and their replacement by Islam, is remotely moderate? This man is a jihadist, through and through, he just disguises it better by using words rather than bombs.

Professor L said...

randian, I think Robert is more emphasising the exhortations to debate with and engage the unbelievers in reasoned debate. He also says that bombing attacks actually get them nowhere.

However, he really does get one thing right - Islam will become the religion of the world if no one knows about it. So I say let them erect their minarets and their domes. Let us all see them, for transparency has a strange tendency to make people more honest.

The exhortation to debate may not be so wise if they encounter a Jesuit, however. I kid you not, debating was in the walls at my old school (which was founded by, and still has several staff members as Jesuit priests).

Papa Whiskey said...

... there is ... no Islamic barracks in the Midwest.

Yes, there is: the thousands of Somalis who have taken up residence in Minnesota.

Neither is there a plan to expel people from the Midwest ...

No -- just one to ensure that in due course they are outnumbered, all in the name of "multiculturalism" and "diversity."

Muslims should not expose their endeavours, that is not Islamic.

Indeed. For, as Muhammad himself declared, "War is deceit." (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, numbers 268, 269)

Anonymous said...

randian, I think Robert is more emphasising the exhortations to debate with and engage the unbelievers in reasoned debate.

What exhortations to debate? Read point 11 again. It contains an important caveat: "as the Quran prescribes". Do not be fooled into thinking Muslims use words like "debate" and "reason" the way unbelievers do. "Well reasoned" means "agrees with the Quran" and "debate" means "Muslim gives monologue, unbeliever unhesitatingly agrees".

He also says that bombing attacks actually get them nowhere.

Lindstad is speaking purely about strategy. He doesn't condemn bombing per se, nor does he condemn the goals of the bombers.