After 50 years of spiritual searching, I can say without equivocation that Islam is the best religion! Its Aqida(theology) is by far the most accurate! No confusing God with man as in Christianity ,no making the nation into a parallel God as in Judaism. It is also the most balanced. No extreme asceticism as in Hinduism and Buddhism. No rejection of worldly life as in Buddhism and most forms of Hinduism. Worldly life and spiritual life are both  given their proper place.

Then come the scholars, the theologians ,the academics to mess it all up lol. Taking inspiration from Greek philosophy, all three religions then go weird on us. The Talmudists, the Christian theologians incarnated in the Council of Nicea and the ulema in Islam-all of them make up their own ideas.-ideas not really found in either the Quran, hadith, Old Testament or New Testament. Ideas found in the minds of intellectuals. Ideas that ultimately end up with Crusades and the Spanish inquisition and Al Qaida and Isis and Jewish settlers on the West Bank.

As to our subject of the moment, we get to the Muslim community. It has its positive side, no doubt. A community that maintains its faith as witnessed by the attendance at Friday jumaa prayers, a community that maintains its moral values as witnessed by its refusal of modern fashions of immodesty and exhibitionism and a community that is polite generally and well-intentioned!

BUT.. the people of the Community are seriously immature. Like children they have to believe that their shuyukh and their Prophets are perfect! The Old Testament AND the Quran itself point out the errors and faults in the actions and emotions of many  the Prophets peace be upon all of them. Instead of acknowledging that they a.s are humans ,the Muslims have to justify everything. By taking an extreme position on the notion of Ismaa( meaning free of disobedience) they use this idea, which btw is neither in the Quran or hadith but is an afterthought of the ulema, to deny reality. So they fall for the trap of idealization.

Now in psychoanalysis, especially the school of  Heinz Kohut, known as Self-psychology. idealization is considered a stage in the narcissistic development of children -a normal stage. Usually this stage breaks down as soon as the child reaches a certain age ( somewhere between 6-11 years ) although the process continues into adulthood. In my case it was around 8 or 9 years old lol. Then I began to see the faults in my parents. But it is as if Muslims can never get beyond that stage especially when it comes to their religion!.

One of the mechanisms of this developmental blockage of psychological development, is the use of denial-perhaps the most primitive form of defense mechanism. I like to call it in Syrian Ammaia the “mu mishkela” principle. “Don’t worry, be happy. No problem” Syria was on the verge of a Civil war when I was there but when you pointed it out, the response was “mu mishkela”. This denial is the source of much of the problems-especially in the Arab world. Personally I couldn’t believe how they could accept leaders like Saddam Hussein and Hafiz Assad. And then you would get the response: “Arabs need tough leadership”?! Tough leadership?! That wasn’t tough leadership! It was tyranny and sadism!

Interesting because in the Arabic language denial and lying come from the same root- “kadhaba” and “takdhib”..So they should know better! And Allah talks frequently in the Quran about the dangers of denial. The Muslims seem to believe that only applies to denying the religion but actually denial has a much broader scope of application than that.

But, worst of all, the Muslims are not really Islamic on the deepest level .i.e. they do not like acknowledging one of the deepest truths of the religion-that everything comes from Allah! Yes, even Jews and Israel! Somehow when it comes to that reality it must all come from the British or the CIA or Mossad .They don’t get it. Israel too comes from Allah. Must be-by first principles of Islam. If they would have gotten it earlier ,they could have saved themselves and the Jews 100 years of strife and accommodated the new reality. And built together a highly prosperous area of the globe! Not so! “My way or the Highway”( “from the River to the sea”)! No, no and no. It is Allah’s way not your way-even if you don’t like. it! The good news is that they are just beginning to get it- in the Arab world! Slow learners I would say lol But the mullahs of Iran are even slower! .Think about it!