Muslims simply couldn’t identify themselves with Socrates as a “martyr” who died for his beliefs, the way many Christians did, because the Muslim “martyr,” or shahiid, is one who dies while killing others. Likewise, in order to earn their respect, Jesus would have had to have slain a good portion of the roman soldiers who were coming to arrest him to qualify. It’s no wonder then that Nietzsche and Hitler had great respect for Mohamed and Islam. KGS
WHY MUSLIMS LIKE PLATO
By Fjordman
Plato was evidently inspired by the ideas of Socrates, whom he makes the chief spokesman in his dialogues; but since Socrates himself wrote nothing, it is impossible to say with certainty how many of the ideas presented come directly from him. The general consensus is that the doctrines developed in the middle and later dialogues (most notably the famous Theory of Forms) represent Plato s own distinctive philosophical views, while the earlier writings more closely reflect the influence of Socrates. The Socratic project is to shake us out of our comfortable preconceptions, by challenging us to give a rational account, or logos, of the concepts and categories we employ, often unreflectively, in our ordinary lives.
The image of Socrates as a martyr who died for his beliefs might make sense to Christians, but less so to Muslims. This is because a Muslim shahid, a term often translated as martyr, is not a person who dies for his beliefs but rather one who murders others for their beliefs and himself dies in the process, for example by blowing up a bus full of unarmed non-Muslim civilians. According to such an Islamic worldview, Socrates was a weakling and a failure.
If an Arabic translation of this major work of political theory ever existed at all, which appears unlikely, it was at best treated with indifference, at worst with outright hostility. This blatant rejection of Aristotle s political philosophy stands in sharp contrast to the enthusiasm for his natural philosophy and requires an explanation.
Brague concludes (page 116) that Aristotle s Politics appears to have been unknown in that part of the world. This was an absence that had one important consequence: Islam founded its political philosophy, not on Aristotle, but on Plato, whose political reflections the only ones available thus replaced Aristotle s, to play the role in the East that the latter filled in the Christian West. If there was a deliberate decision not to translate Aristotle s Politics, it is not impossible that this was because the work was judged less appropriate than Plato s dialogues on the ideal regime for use in connection with the Muslim community in search of a theory of its own, and therefore that in Muslim lands such theory was deliberately founded on principles that were more Platonic than Aristotelian.
I have also heard the claim that Muhammad was the Hitler who succeeded. Both statements could be considered true. That s what Muslims have in common with both international Socialists and national Socialists, or Communists and Nazis: A complete rejection of Western liberty and a passion for Platonic political totalitarianism. This explains why Marxists and radical left-wingers within the Western world often team up with Muslims: They have a mutual enemy and make common cause to stamp out the Socratic spirit of the West.
NOTE: The irony. Influential lovers of Plato since the time of Lenin, have been moving away from sporting facial hair, only for their followers to once again opt for Plato’s beard thanks to their acceptance of Mohammedism.
Perhaps it is because muslims are such great ‘followers’ who ‘submit’
is why they don’t make very good ‘leaders’ or ‘thinkers’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE6-vxzboZw
Mirror Mirror Star Trek TOS
Just curious… Anyone else think islam fits here?
WORKCITID????????????????
What a complete nonsense – outpour of a sick hateful mind!