“Islam, as I have often said, is a religion of laymen. It has no hierarchy, no clergy, no sacraments. There are only groups of Muslims of varying size who agree on what Islam and most especially what Islamic religious law (sharia) is.”

Former DIA Colonel Pat Lang has posted a short analysis on the future of the “Jihadi” war. Grim and realistic… Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

Why they hate us?

Implicit in the rhetoric concerning this new phase of anti-jihadi warfare is the notion that “jihadism” is a passing phenomenon that can be destroyed and which will disappear as irrelevant to “modern” life.

It is also said that jihadism is “un-Islamic,” a distortion and misrepresentation of a great religion. In fact, jihadism is inherent in some views of what Islam is.

Islam, as I have often said, is a religion of laymen. It has no hierarchy, no clergy, no sacraments. There are only groups of Muslims of varying size who agree on what Islam and most especially what Islamic religious law (sharia) is. This process of forming consensus (ijma’) groups is endless and inevitable.

Some will say that Shia Islam has a hierarchy. It does not. In fact, The howza (“college” of Shia scholars) is merely another expression of consensus, in this case of consensus among scholars “elected” by acclamation from among their fellows. The “authority” created by such acclamation is fleeting as each man’s opinions are automatically disregarded after his death. Much the same thing is true of the great Ulema (scholars) of Sunni Islam.

Therefore, for one group of Muslims, however large, to say that the consensus of some other group of Muslims is invalid or “un-Islamic” is merely vanity on a grand scale. That is particularly true if the smaller, armed and violent jihad inclined group of Muslims are willing to fight, kill and die for their views. Perfumed and elegantly dressed Muslim ladies are frequently heard expressing such disapproval of jihadis. More vanity is expressed in this. More vanity.

The spokesmen for the various parts of the US government are now engaged in telling the world that this unfavored group or that unfavored group are un-Islamic or the like. More vanity.

The corpus of Islamic scripture contained in the Qur’an and the wildly varying collections of hadith (traditions of the early Muslims) is so vast that it contains ample justification for any sort of view desired.

We can kill our way to a state of relative quiet in which the jihadi impulse is suppressed for some time, perhaps a long time but that is all we can do.

Until the Muslims taken as a whole themselves see the futility of the unending struggle against the kuffar (unbelievers) we will always face the prospect of more violent jihad.

Pat Lang