At my blog Free Advice, a Marine reservist who spent time in Iraq describes a post-Saddam village that is on the borderline between a very limited government and a real-world example of anarcho-capitalism. Basically, in the comments the readers who are anarchists think it is an example of anarchy, while those who say “anarchy is unstable” obviously disagree.
It’s a very interesting case and I invite Mises.org readers to chime in with their thoughts. Obviously the village doesn’t feature insurance companies selling quarterly defense services, but then again I’m not sure you could buy a whole life insurance policy, either.
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auctionguy wrote:
“no verses in the Quran contradict each other- people who find contradictions have no understanding of the context or the language at all.”
You’re obviously a true believer, so I won’t argue with you further. I just offer these for other people here.
http://answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/
http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/abrogatedverses.html
“”Modern” islam as practiced in Muslim countries today(whose leaders are curiously always intertwined with the United States) is actually what is backwards.”
As someone else here pointed out, I believe, we should deal with Islam as it is really practiced by people who call themselves Muslims, not with the way you believe it should be practiced. That goes for both the good and the bad parts of Islam. Saying that the Quran doesn’t really advocate such and such is really rather unimportant to me. A lot of people think that is does advocate those act.
This is the Marine who wrote the article.
There seems to be a lot of posts regarding the culture of Islam, so I will attempt to address some of that. Granted, I am not an Islamic scholar, but I did live in these villages with the Iraqi people for seven months, so I can speak to their actions.
Here is the general view of the elders and religious students I spoke with: Islam means peace, so when they refer to an Islamic society they mean a peaceful society. Being a Muslim or follower of Mohammed is one way, and in their opinion the best way, to attain an Islamic (peaceful) society. However, they also believe that Moses and Jesus were also great prophets of God and if you follow their teachings, Judaism or Christianity, you may also attain an Islamic (peaceful) society. The well read men of the villages often discussed that one of the problems of the Muslim world today is that they have forgotten to look for Islam in cultures outside the Muslim culture and this has lead to violence. I don’t think that any of these men had read von Mises or Rothbard; however, based on the conversations and interactions I had with them, I think they would have deemed the theories of both to be consistent with Islam, or a peaceful society.
Edward wrote:
“Islam means peace”
This is one meaning of the word. Another meaning, I think the more crucial one, is “submission”, as in submission to the will of Allah. Some Muslims apparently think that “peace” will only be achieved when everyone submits to the will of Allah.
Russ,
It is true what you write, but we must be clear on our premise. When Muslims speak of “submission” to the will of Allah, most of them mean something very specific. As it was explained to me by a religious student in Iraq, submission to the will of Allah means acceptance of God’s Law. God’s Law is not created by man but exists in the world we live in, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Those who accept these “natural laws” will find peace and prosperity, those who ignore them will not. Again, I cannot be sure, but based on my conversations I believe these religious scholars would have deemed the writings of von Mises consitent with the acceptance of natural law, or phrased another way, submissive to the will of Allah.
Edward,
How does your interpretation of submission square with the traditional proclivity of Muslims to conquest, and even the understanding of some Muslims that they are *obliged* to conquer and convert the Dar al Harb (“House of War”, that is, the non-Muslim world)?
Russ,
Your points are valid and based in truth, but I can only speak to my specific experiences in an actual Iraqi village with Muslims. That interpretaion of submission was given to me by the men practicing it. As a Catholic they never once tried to convert me, but we had long in depth discussions and debates on religious and moral beliefs. Throughout history there have always been men killing and conquering in the name of religion, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that particular religion encourages it.
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