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A World Without Islam

Topic Brief for the July meetup of the Politics, Philosophy, and Big Ideas
group.
For this months Poliphilo meetup we are going to tackle a cultural juggernaut
with a bit of an alt-history spin. Imagine a world in which Islam never took
root. The religion of the Quran and Mohammed, to which around a fourth of the
worlds population subscribes togone. Its achievements erased from the face
of the earth, together with all the wars attributed to the sword of Islam in its
impressive expansion out of Arabia in the hundred fifty years following
Muhammads recitation. How would humanity have fared, including those
societies that are currently Islamic? Dare we consider what would change? It is
not an easy question to ask, and a very difficult question to answer, indeed. Let
us explore this topic together, using the tools of geopolitics, history, sociology
and others, while keeping an open mind.
Leave your preconceptions at the door and join us for a night of fierce (yet
respectful) debate and candid conversation at Hong Kongs gastropub for the
Brit-nostalgic, the Yorkshire Pudding in SOHO, Central.
As usual, no previous reading is required. For the sake of good conversation, however,
the following background information has been compiled for your ease of reference.
Reader discretion is advised
(A BRIEF NOTE

OF

CAUTION)

This Meetup will in no way attempt to conclude as to whether Islam, any


of its basic tenets, or Muslims in general are either good or bad. Rather
than wholesale value judgements about a people and its beliefs, we aim
to broaden perspectives and encourage the critical examination of a
religion, culture and history that is often considered only at face value.
No one needs to read the works referenced below. A detailed knowledge
of Islam and its history is also not required, although some familiarity
with its basic tenets would be beneficial to attendees.
As with all potentially polemic topics, members are reminded to enjoy
the discussion, and any debate that follows, with civility and openmindedness.
In recent decades, the religion known as Islam has become the focus of much attention
to strategist, policymakers and the media given its growing and notable influence upon
world events and popular opinion. Negative portrayals of Islam and its adherents seem
pervasive in Western media, causing the religion to be glanced at with more fear and
perplexity than at any time since the ascent of Western civilisation. Moreover, since the
attacks of 9/11 in U.S. soil, the actions of a number of relatively small bands of Islamist
fundamentalists and other terrorist groupsthink of such luminaries as al-Qaeda, Boko
Haram, Hamas and the Islamic State, to name a fewand the sporadic lone-wolf attacks
of the individuals inspired by them have been followed attentively by citizens worldwide
and subsequently internalised to create, at best, a caricature of the Islamic world, Islam
and its more than one-and-a-half billion devotees. This pervasive conflation between
Islamism and mainstream Islam seems to be rooted in popular belief that the Islamic
religion, culture and history have provided the perfect breeding ground for the seeds of
extremism.

Indeed, throughout the course of history, several treatises have been published that are
highly critical of the philosophy and beliefs of Islam. This is hardly noteworthy, as any
major religion would attest to. Nevertheless, in 2010, one author, Graham Fuller, took the
next step and decided to ask: would the world be better off if Islam had never existed?
Mr Fuller's conclusions formed the basis for his book: A WORLD WITHOUT ISLAM. The high
shock value of the book's title belies its lack of overt bias, as well as its author's notable
credentials. A former chair of the National Intelligence Council, Graham Fuller served for
27 years in both the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA).
During his time at the CIA, he served as the Agency's station chief in Kabul, Afghanistan.
His experiences provide interesting insight into the nature of Islam as well as into the
question of whether the violent polarisation of Orient and Occident is indeed based upon
religion, rather than politics and culture.
Despite the plethora of insights provided by his unique perspective, critics of Mr Fullers
book have asserted that he did not convincingly succeed in demonstrating that the
conflicts and the divide between the West and the Middle East would have been just as
acute without the influence of Islam.
In
this
Meetup,
we
will
attempt
to
consider
the
same
question
that A WORLD WITHOUT ISLAM doeshow much would the world today be affected if
Islam had never appeared? In doing so, our discussion will cover several aspects, and
most importantly, attempt to provide a thorough examination of the many historical,
political and economic effects of Islam throughout the ages. Given time constraints, some
would call this Mission: Impossible, nonetheless let us ponder over the most pressing
questions. In no particular order:
1. What precipitated the end of the Islamic Golden Age, which lasted approximately from
the 8th century to the 13th? Besides external factors such as the Mongol invasion and the
impact of maritime trade in time-old overland routes, how big of a role did internal
factors within Islamic society play?
One possible internal factor could have been the 12 th century stifling of ijtihad
(independent reasoning, encouraging critical analysis of the Quran) in favour of
institutionalised taqleed (imitation, encouraging more orthodox interpretations). In
fact, even in modern times a current known as Quranism which offers a more
progressive interpretation of Islam based in the text of the Quran only is bitterly
rejected by the conservative ulema (clerical elite), who insist on the necessity of
incorporating the Hadith (the accounts of the supposed sayings of Mohammad on
many matters) and the broader Sunnah (the deeds of Muhammad and his
companions) into Islamic orthodoxy.
2. To what extent were the bitter conflicts between Christendom and the Islamic Caliphate
in medieval times caused, or at least exacerbated by, the fractious relations between
Latin Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church?
3. Has nationalism rather than religion been the main ideology of resistance within Muslim
countries? If so, could the shortcomings of these countries at the heyday of nationalism
account for the pivot of their societies towards a more strict interpretation of religion?
4. Are there any long-term practical solutions to softening the political strife between the
West and the Middle East? If so, do these solutions require taking Islam into account or
not, given the characteristics of the region?

Outline of Meetup
As usual, we will meet for about three (3) hours, with the last hour devoted to group
discussion. The following is a suggested outline of the train of thought to follow in order
to make this broad topic more manageable.

Intro to Islam and its Nature 30 minutes


A basic overview of Islam, its successes and failures. Does it have any inherent
values that have greatly shaped its historical behaviour?
The People and Culture of Islam 30 minutes
Who are the main people affected/influenced by Islam and their role in history?
How do Muslim countries and societies function and what has their impact been
on the rest of the world?
The History of Islam and Islamic Civilization 60 minutes
A critical examination integrating all of the above sections into an attempt to (1)
judge whether Islam's nonexistence would affect the major course of world history
& development and to what extent; and, (2) whether such changes would be
positive or negative in terms of measurable factors.

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