New Book Calls Europe 'Province of Islam'

New Book Calls Europe ‘Province of Islam’

By ALESSANDRA RIZZO
Associated Press Writer

April 5, 2004, 5:56 PM EDT
ROME – A new book by controversial journalist Oriana Fallaci that hit bookstores here Monday accuses Europe of having sold its soul to what she describes as an Islamic invasion.

Entitled “The Strength of Reason,” (“La Forza della Ragione” in Italian), the book also accuses the Roman Catholic Church of being too weak before the Muslim world.

Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam. And Italy is an outpost of that province, a stronghold of that colony," the book says. “In each of our cities lies a second city: a Muslim city, a city run by the Quran. A stage in the Islamic expansionism.”

The book comes more than two years after the Italian writer’s best-selling essay “The Rage and The Pride” drew accusations Fallaci was inciting hatred against Muslims.

A group in France unsuccessfully sought to stop distribution of the book, while two other associations have requested that it carry a warning.

Fallaci, a former war correspondent who has lived in New York for the past decade, has become known for uncompromising interviews with such world leaders as former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Describing Europe as “Eurabia” – a mix of Europe and Arabia – the Italian writer said the continent “has sold itself and sells itself to the enemy like a prostitute.”

Written in the blunt style that is Fallaci’s trademark, the 278-page book claims the Catholic Church keeps silent even when its symbols are offended by Muslims and before such practices as polygamy and torture.

The current invasion, Fallaci writes, is not carried out only by the “terrorists who blow up themselves along with skyscrapers or buses” but also by “the immigrants who settle in our home, and who, with no respect for our laws, impose their ideas, their customs, their God.”

The book is dedicated to the victims of the March 11 terror attacks in Madrid.

Comment;

More attacks and slander against muslims and Islam under the guise of freedom of speach all of which creates an ugly climate for muslims living in Europe and leads to non-muslims viewing and equating Islam with terrorism, intollerence and backwardness, while in reality Islam represents a panacea for the west especially now that the cracks within capitalism are manifesting themselves for all to see.

In my view it is important to distinguish between ideologies and their followers.

Ideologies need to be thoroughly examined so that things that make sense therein and are practically possible are embraced and things that prove to be nonsense and impractical are left alone.

In case of islam, muslims need to understand that islam is an ideology and a political movement and people are becoming aware of its good and bad aspects. If muslims know what exactly islam is, they need to speak up and discuss rather than discouraging the debate altogether on the issue.

What is happening now is the fact that ex-muslims are come out and explaning islam for what it is to nonmuslims. This has happened because muslims tried to suppress the issue intead of having it debated in the open.

Ex-muslims have provided world with enough material that islam as a politcal movement against democratic world has to go. In other words it is time for muslims to face the music and reform.