... and not in a good sense. As followers of my blog (and of my erstwhile 10-year-long blog, The Hesperado, and before that, Jihad Watch Watch) know, over the years I've written scads of criticism of Robert Spencer's views of the problem of Islam (and of the problem of the problem -- the problem of the West's failures to grasp & grapple with the problem of Islam). After all the gaffes and faux pas I've seen him do, and repeat, I thought I'd pretty much seen 'em all.
No so. The other day, I almost did a spit-take of my coffee when I read these words from the éminence grise of the Counter-Jihad Mainstream, Robert Spencer:
And wouldn't you know it, our old friend "The Big W" was right on the ball, and deposited this characteristically pithy comment that nailed it:
thebigW says
Feb 19, 2019 at 10:37 pm
” a cult is generally centered around a charismatic leader who demands strict obedience, and there is no such in Islam”
Ahem, there sure as hell is such a thing in Islam, and his name is Muhammad.
How to explain Robert's egregious lapse here? I'm still wondering. Not only does Muhammad qualify as a cult leader, he's probably the Mother of All Cult Leaders throughout history. Is Robert perhaps disqualifying him because he's been dead for centuries? That would be a silly reason to disqualify him; for, unfortunately, Muhammad is still very much alive in the hearts and minds of hundreds of millions of Muslims around the globe.
At any rate, probably the biggest objection (which Spencer didn't mention) to calling Islam a "cult" is that all the cults we've come to know over the decades have been relatively small, and usually fairly limited in geographical extent (with exceptions -- e.g., Scientology; though even Scientology can't hold a candle to the immensity, both in time and space, and in numbers, to Islam). But that would be singularly simple-minded to conclude that Islam can't be a cult, just because it's too big. Nor does being a cult exclude being a religion: A movement could be both (at least for people who are capable of patting their head and rubbing their stomach at the same time). And this isn't to open that other kettle of fish, the "Islam isn't a religion" meme, about which I've written before.