August 12, 2013
The Muslim World is starting to notice the Arabs of South America. Al-Jazeera regularly reports on them. South America is emerging, and there are regular Latin-Arab summits. Those in the Arab world know the history of South America where Arabs are often the elite.
But Arabs in the Muslim world have yet to ask the pertinent questions.
Why are the Arabs of South America elite?
This Arab Congregation in São Paulo, Brazil, is Evangelical; but whether Evangelical,
Catholic, or Orthodox Christian, Christianity informs the Arab community in
Latin America and may be responsible for most of their success.
Why are the Arabs in the Muslim world so poor in a region swimming in oil, while their cousins in South America are so well off in countries which historically have been poor?
The answer that must be considered is that Christianity may be the answer for the success of Latin Arabs. The Arabs in Latin America are Christian, in a Christian culture.
This would be a painful observation for the Muslim world to make; as it implies that Islam is the source for the retrograde condition of the Muslim world. Yet, that conclusion cannot be avoided.
Nothing holds back the Christian Arab in South America, anymore. There was prejudice at first, but the Arabs in Latin America established themselves as elites within one generation of their arrival.
There is no longer even institutionalized anti-Arabic prejudice in South America, though there might be some cultural prejudice against Islam
The Arab world has to confront the possibility that Islam may put such a damper on the human spirit that it is Islam which is destroying the Arab world. Islam has not been the only destructive philosophy in history; but it seems to be unique in its failure to reform itself. Christianity has produced some dark periods, but all branches of Christianity have cleaned up their act in time. Islam does not.
The West was racist. Now it is better.
Gandhi forced the Hindus to ease up on their caste system. They have a way to go, but things are getting better.
Much of Islam however wants to return to the seventh century. This is amazing. Until this question is addressed, the Arab world may never pull itself out of the morass in which it finds itself. I know this is painful, but it seems to be the truth.
South America offers the Arab world a vision of Arab success and victory; but the requirement may be a departure from Islam.
To those who would be prefer to keep this discussion totally secular:
In a way, so would I.
But the sheer failure of Islamic civilization to produce democracy or innovation is astounding.
Even those advances which are ususally credited to Islam are bogus.
– Islamic architecture was actually Byzantine Greek in origin. The Muslims embraced the style when they conquered the Byzantines.
– Islamic medicine came from Greek texts, and the Jews living among the Arabs. Maimonides comes to mind.
– The Arabic numeral system was invented by the Hindus. The Arabs merely conveyed the system to Europe.
Posted on YouTube: February 12, 2020
Where Islam survives, it survives by borrowing, not innovating. Islam radically crushes innovation in the human spirit.
The Arabs are not stupid. They are quite intelligent. Latin American Arabs prove that.
The only conclusion must be that Islam is thoroughly destructive of creativity.
This is not to put down Muslims. Many are extraordinarily wonderful. But as a social construct, Islam is destructive.
This is the lesson of Arabs in South America. It may be a painful lesson for the Arab world, but it is a necessary lesson.
October 26, 2017 – Had to replace a YouTube video that had died. Had to make some edits.
September 1, 2020 – Reorganized layout to make it also mobile friendly.
May 4, 2021 – Changed some wording. Added links and a video.
September 28, 2021 – Fixed a video link.