Bottom post of the previous page:
Kind of ironic given that the current powerhouse of Islamic extremism is Saudi Arabia, a full on absolute monarchy that no one wants to say out loud is funding ISIS and Al-Quaeda (Bin Laden himself was a goddamn Saudi Arabian aristocrat pissed that he didn't get every cent of daddy's money) because they have the real life Infinite Money cheat code, and pushes probably the most puritan and extreme version of Islam with a significant following (Salafism is basically everything the right believes Islam is). It's like if Fred Phelps' clan were literal kings and princes with a near-monopoly on desperately needed resources.ColonicAcid wrote:thats because that is what it is exactly.
it was a book that bound all the arabian tribes together. islam and government have been intrinsically linked due to this. That's why throughout majority of muslim nations they've been caliphates and sultanates rather than kingdoms and republics. when middle eastern countries finally began to shed the link between state and religion the west tactically intervened to prevent BAH GAWD COMMUNISM EISENHOWER.
Though I think it should go without saying that religious extremists are pretty much always hypocrites who pick and choose and outright rewrite anything in their holy book that they don't like. Though so are the nice religious people. The sane people ignore the crazy bits and the crazy people ignore the sane bits. (and the bits that are the wrong kind of crazy)
Medieval Islam actually was by law tolerant of Christians and Jews, just making them pay higher taxes as an incentive to convert. (Ironically, this resulted in regional Muslim leaders discouraging their Christian and Jewish subjects from converting, because without the extra religious taxes they'd go broke) The whole extremist routine is actually an incredibly recent thing pretty much entirely coming from Uncle Sam murdering anyone who looked like they might be friendly to the Commies and installing religious fanatics and literal kings in their place. (Hence why Iran is really pissed at the USA, and yet also probably the most stable and sane Muslim country)
(Though that's a huge oversimplification, given if you go further back you get the British, the French, the Ottomans and god knows what else involved. Also literally Dracula)
Reality is so much more interestingly crazy and damning of everyone involved than conspiracy theories.