Dakota Beacon

With Islam so prevalent in today’s news, this topic warrants scrutiny. The fact is that the Muslim population worldwide is expanding and shifting. It is prudent to familiarize ourselves with the reality of Islam. Consulting resources discussing the Islamic phenomenon would extend our comprehension. Here are a few suggestions. Mark Steyn’s book “America Alone” is very well thought out, insightful and witty. He portrays a demographic reality confronting the West, to wit, an expanding Muslim population in terms of birth rate and migration. Regardless of the reader’s sentiment, Steyn speaks bluntly to this reality. In the contest between Islam and the West, demographics plays a major role. Early in his book Steyn establishes that a country must produce 2.11 live births per adult woman just to sustain its population, to neither shrink nor grow. This is the American birth rate today. Canada has a shrinking birth rate at 1.48. The European birth rate as a whole is 1.38. Russia’s birth rate is declining at 1.14 live births per adult woman. On the other hand, Muslim Pakistan has a birth rate of 5.08 and Saudi Arabia 4.53 children per adult woman. At this rate their overpopulation will migrate to fill the gap of the declining populations of the West. That France has a 30% Muslim population under the age 20, and growing, is symptomatic of the problems to come not only in France but in every other European country with a declining birth rate and a lax immigration policy. Another suggested reading is V. S. Naipaul’s book “Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey.” Naipaul offers a refreshing glance at the root of modern Islamic events. Specifically, he begins immediately after the 1977 revolution in Iran when the Shaw was deposed by radical mullahs. This is travel literature at its best and the reader benefits from Naipaul’s valuable portrayal of Islamic people he encounters from Iran across India to Malaysia. Dispel any notion that he is a “biased Hindu.” If anything, he questions radical ideology rather than doubting the people. He is motivated more as a seeker of truth than as a scholar. As such, he expresses his doubts about certain interpretations of Islam. Another fine travelogue was penned by the eccentric Robert Byron in his book “The Road to Oxiana,” detailing a fascinating 1930s journey through Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Departing from Venice in 1933, Byron set out on a journey through Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad and Teheran to the land of Oxus. That is the ancient name for the region of the Amu Darya which forms part of the border between Afghanistan and the former Soviet Union. This is a thoroughly captivating record of his experience with Islamic people in a multicultural setting along with his account of architectural treasures and geography inaccessible to most Western travelers. If history holds your interest, another suggested reading portrays history from an Arab perspective. “The Travels of Ibn Battuta” translated and edited by Rev. Samuel Lee is a classic in travel literature. This tale is the equivalent of Marco Polo’s “Travels.” His account is of significant historical value. Sheik Battuta started on a pilgrimage to Mecca from Tangier, Morocco, in 1326 and ended his journey 27 years and 75,000 miles later. During his travels he visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time including East Africa, Byzantium, Iraq, southern Russia, India, Ceylon and China. Among his many accounts are descriptions of Muslim seafaring activities, architecture and agriculture. We may not be able to personally visit Islamic lands, but we may still learn of the people, culture and religion through the experiences of others who did traveled there once upon a time. It behooves us to learn of the past to peek at the future. Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).