Hi There!Are you interested in what inspired the people who blew up the World Trade Center Towers? What makes bin Laden, his al-Qaeda network, and their "franchises" tick? Want to know more about the movement known as Political Islam or Islamism? What do they believe? What do they want? Why do they do what they do? I'm Bud Swenson and I'd like to welcome you to my Website, Gems of Islamism!Here at Gems of Islamism we'd like to share with you our dissections of some of the books/pamphlets/speech quotes of Islamists we've read. |
So along with my hard-working staff, I've gone over
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My able assistants on their way to an important conference |
Ours is a humble, amateur and very part-time operation (sorry about all those annoying pop-ups!). More of a little niche supplement to the places like memri.org with their multi-lingual pros (ya, I know they're Zionists, but their translations tell a lot). Still, we hope to make a contribution to the understanding of Islamism and Jihadism. So please bear with us as we are still "under construction" working on our page.
What do you mean by Islamism? Is that just a fancy word for Islam? Or for Muslims who believe in sticking up for their rights?
Islamism is the ideology that holds Islam is not just a religion, but a complete political system based on traditional Islamic law. Islamists tend to compare Islam with Socialism and Capitalism rather than Christianity or Hinduism. Not all Muslims are Islamists, and not all Islamists support terrorism, but the original Islamists (Syed Abul-Ala Maududi, Sayyid and Muhammed Qutb) held
Do you people think you're scholars or something?
Our stuff is written at the level of readers who want something beyond stories on 'Islam Today` they've read in TIME magazine or the Sunday newspaper, but who aren't going to or can't spend the time plowing through primary sources. Of course it's really intended for anyone who finds it on Google.
Who are you people anyway?
Not telling. What we will tell you is where we found the information we post. You won't have to take our word for anything. You'll be able to look it up and see if we're telling the truth.
Do you people read Arabic? Farsi? Urdu? .... I didn't think so! Why should we pay any attention to you and your secondary sources? You don't have the real understanding of what these fine Islamists have to say!
It's true we are using literature written in English. But the translations of Milestones, Islam : the Misunderstood Religion and Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Government are by supporters of those authors.
Since a large number of the Islamists in Europe and North America were born there and read English better than Arabic or Urdu, its likely they read an English translation of Milestones or Islam : the Misunderstood Religion, not the original Arabic.
Where are you anyway? I want to send you ... a little something.
Due to the sensitive nature of some of the editorial comments on this site, we'd rather not get into that. You can email us if you want though.
Contact us at: ebudswenson@yahoo.com