We fight terrorists with men and guns and bombs. But how do we fight an idea?
Jed Babbin says that, promises to the contrary, we do need to fight Islam – with Islam.
He explains it much better, so click on over already.
Fair enough. Except that Babbin doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Eschatology is not the “spirituality of any religion.” It is primarily the branch of theology that is concerned with the final events of history or the end of mankind, and secondarily a belief or set of beliefs regarding the destiny of humanity or the end of the world. Often the term specifically refers to Christian doctrines about the Second Coming, the Last Judgment, and the resurrection of the dead. It comes from the Koine Greek “eschatos” meaning last, farthest or end. The “Eschaton” that Buckley referred to is, essentially, the end of the world, after which would come whatever paradise a given faith envisions for its adherents. “Immanentize” refers to the bringing about of those “End Time events,” thereby producing the subsequent age of glory with God. The rest of Buckley’s quip is self-explanatory.
There are many interpretations of Muslim eschatological beliefs, but most of them center around the rise of al-Dajjal (an Anti-Christ figure), the Mahdi, who will rule in accordance with Muslim law and will slay al-Dajjal, and the return of Jesus, who has a much more prominent place in the Muslim faith than most in the West realize. Some sects believe that Jesus is, in fact, the Mahdi.
Babbin is right to call for an understanding of Islam as a necessary precursor to cultural victory, but he certainly makes a flabby attempt at it here. If our “broadcasts of hope” reflect such ignorance, we’re doomed.
