Contrary to the western legends, Mohammed, the prophet, was a genius, not a mentally disabled man, I think. The western propaganda, many people believe in, says he was illiterate, retarded, with speech problems. He may have been illiterate, with speech disabilities, but certainly, a very intelligent person of his time. I don't mean he was a good, empathetic or moral person. Not at all. But I can't stop admiring his vision about society, power, the human nature, in fact about long term political power. He united the Arab tribes, that were in a perpetual war one with each other. He succeeded to bring peace among these people, as he promised. Peace was his gift for his kind, Islam means peace. And his project still functions, he still rules over a fifth of the world population. He's the prophetical king who reigned over 1000 years. not Jesus. In fact, the power of Jesus started to fade centuries ago. But Mohammed is still very influential.
Why? Because he brought a perfect social project, able to assure its own long term success. In fact, he brought a perfect patriarchal model. Strict authority, hierarchy, control over peoples' activity, minds, and dreams. Long before Hobbs, he new authority and fear were essential for peace. All for peace and...freedom. He promised freedom, not slavery, to all the tribes he and his adepts defeated, with only one condition: adopting Islam. That time, slavery was the fate of the defeated ones in fights. Genial!
Long before communism, he promised the same as communists did, and did almost the same they did. But he was more successful. Really successful. I dare to say he was a good tradesman, he used to work for a successful businesswoman, whom eventually married. He knew the subtleties of the human nature,he knew what most people want. Most people want peace, silence, a kind of material and mental security, they have no daring dreams, no bold personalities, no strong internal needs toward exploration and self discovery. In fact they are eager to trade all of their daring dreams, their dream of real happiness, real selves, for a little material, mental security and a little peace. In fact he invented surrogacy for all the human mental functions and needs he deceitfully inhibited. He invented honor, instead of real dignity. The crimes of honor are proves supporting this statement. He standardised the higher human mental needs and found satisfying solutions for most people. And for those dangerous people, a minority, who want more, his system found a solution: damnation. He were against Islam, and they must be punished. Islam controls every aspects of life, in detail. There is no escape. Everything is in the Quran. Admirable.
As for women, they were transformed into machine for reproduction, in fact producing boys. They will and personalities were entirely anihilated. They were transformed into merchandise, sold by their families. Because then and long time after the most important wealth transfer was marriage, women as breeder were transferred from one family to another in perfect breeding condition: virgin and obedient (brain washed).. If a family has no good merchandise, it has no honor. It's normal in trade.
After a period, at the end of the first millennium AD and the beginning of the second, when science knew a wonderful development in Islam, the progress stopped. Why? Because, science wasn't in agreement with Islam, and the Islamic schools needed social support in order to exist. And Islam was the key to such support. Islam destroyed the scientific, cultural and artistic elites. And then its way to success was free. On the contrary, in the poor, dirty and illiterate west, a few measures against corruption (clans), able to support elite building pave the way to the modern science and development.
I read books about Islam, But Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the most sincere, crystal clear writer on this topic. I want to be represented by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the most admirable European politician, the most sincere and honest one. But unfortunately she's not European any more...Anyway she did a wonderful job, not only for the Muslim women, but for all the women, especially the ones living in patriarchal cultures. She made me understand Islam more than any other author. Because she has passion and sincerity and she is a woman.
Reading "The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam"", a collection of essays and lectures from 2003–2004, combined with her personal experiences as a translator working for the NMS (as wikipedia explains) I understood more not only about Islam, the human nature, but the situation of women in the west. And the truth is, we, westerners are living an illusion of freedom and empowerment, but our societies share the same framework with the Islamic ones. Instead of being horrified by the situation of women in Islam and naively enjoy our privileges, we should focus on the similarities between the situation of women in Islam and in the west. And for sure, there are more similarities than differences. We are living a big lie. Patriarchy is patriarchy. In Islam it is perfect. In the west is fuzzy, imperfect, deceitful. But still patriarchy. And we are confused, and that makes us depressed. I think the entire industry of psychotherapy, politics and social sciences, with few exceptions, helps us struggle finding a way in such a mess, discovering the well hidden truth.
The truth is we a living in an Islam full of illusions. We are living in patriarchy. This system preceded Islam. In fact, Mohammed didn't invent anything important (including the veil and the genital mutilation, not mentioned in Quran), as communists didn't eather, but he and his followers adopted the best inventions of their time in order to build a perfect theory of mass control. Women in the west shouldn't be virgin any more, because their function is in a lesser degree breeding, but sex providing. Western men prefer prostitutes, they are cheaper, as long as marriage doesn't function as wealth transfer any more. Women don't belong to their fathers any more, they are freelancer prostitutes.
I never see, in any book or article, a clear emphasis on the patriarchal nature of corruption. If we admit Islam is a source of corruption and economic, scientific, cultural stagnation, why we don't draw the natural conclusion, patriarchy, in any society, leads to corruption and stagnation? Patriarchy is a criminal system, build by criminals, for criminals, based on criminal goals and reasons. It is not meant to lead to development, but robbery and exploitation. It levels people, their behaviour, dreams, goals, it destroys real, self made cultural elites.
If we want progress, we should condemn patriarchy in any form. Our laws must combat it. And the first goal is the real liberation of women. They should build their own structures, institutions, and the patriarchal family should disappear. Any sexual relationship should focus on women's needs. Society will look different, for sure. But destroying patriarchy may be the first and most important aim of this species. Liberation of the half of the human kind deserves any efforts. But destroying patriarchy may save the entire species, otherwise condemned to regress, as Islam shows.
In the west, people use to believe Muslim will emancipate themselves and Islam will emancipate itself, as Christianity did. In fact, Islam may be a mirror, not only of the past of the west, but of its future, too. Because the factors which destroyed the progress in Islam started to act in the west: levelling people, performances, ideas. When the top performances and schools seek for the acceptance and support of the masses, that will happen. Remember the Islamic schools. And mass media, show bizz even academia in the west crave for popular acceptance.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, writing about Islam, writes about the west and the entire world.