Two Sheikhs -- Two Very Different Assessments

This from Sheikh Abu Yahya Al-Libbi, aka Muhammad Hassan Qayed, an al Qaeda member recently escaped from Bagram prison in Afghanistan:

"...the infidel Crusader forces have brought their cavalry and infantry. They are destroying [Muslim] homes, killing their sons, and arresting their elderly and their women, with whom they are filling their prisons in Abu Ghreib, Bagram, Qandahar, and Guantanamo."

"America's nose will be rubbed in the mud. America will be humiliated just like the empires before it,"

"This is the religion of Allah, of the one and only. When he desires something, he says 'become' and it comes into being. So what reason do we have to despair or be afraid? We have only two options: either we live a life of pride and strength in our religion and on our land, doing whatever we want, and worshipping our God as he ordered us, or else we are destined to Paradise."

Contrast that bit of fanatical fatalism with the observations of another Muslim, Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, who has a firmer grasp on the reality of Islam...

"We use trains and planes, but they are not our trains or planes. The (Westerners) manufacture them and export them to us. True, we can buy the most magnificent things in the world, products for our homes and for ourselves. Our people can buy the most luxurious cars, Rolls-Royce or Mercedes 500 or 700, models S, M, and L with all the luxuries. We own them, but we don't manufacture them. We don't even produce a single [screw] in any of these cars. Others do this for us.

"The income of the entire Arab world, including the oil-producing countries, does not reach the that of a European country, such as Spain. Spain --– let alone Germany, France, Britain, or Italy. Just Spain, which is at the bottom of the list of industrial countries... The income of the entire Arab world does not reach it. How come? Because we don't work, and if we do work, we don't do it professionally.

"They conducted a survey of the average time that a government employee spends working in a certain Arab country. The average was 27 minutes a day. 27 minutes! The rest of the time he drinks coffee, reads newspapers, and goes on errands here and there. Only a small number of people work. The rest do not.

"In the mid 1970s I went to Germany. We arrived during in the morning. I asked the guy who took me from the airport to the convention hall... As I was passing through the empty streets, I asked him how come the streets were not busy, like in our countries. He said: "People are at work." After 7 p.m. he took me back to the hotel, and the streets were empty. I said to him: "What's going on, the streets are empty again." He said: people are back home from work, and they are exhausted. All they want is to eat their dinner, watch the news, and then go to bed, because early next morning they have to wake up for hard work. They commute more than an hour to work and back, and spend an hour at lunch. They work non-stop.

"We are a nation that doesn't work. How can we develop if we don't work? When we do work, we don't do it professionally. We keep saying "Don't worry, later, later..." Islam teaches us to do things professionally. Doing things professionally is a religious duty. The Prophet said that Allah ordered to excel in everything. He imposed excellence and professionalism. Professionalism must be followed in everything. "If you kill, do it properly, and if you slaughter, do it properly." Even when killing, you must do well.

"Unfortunately, we do not excel in either military or civil industries. We import everything from needles to missiles. This is our nation. We still haven't manufactured an engine in our Arab countries. We assemble parts, but have no manufacturing industries. India has manufactured a car, and even a plane, while we still go around in circles like a bull who turns a grinding mill or a water wheel until it reaches exactly where it started.

"How come the Zionist gang has managed to be superior to us, despite being so few? It has become superior through knowledge, through technology, and through strength. It has become superior to us through work. We had the desert before our eyes but we didn't do anything with it. When they took over, they turned it into a green oasis. How can a nation that does not work progress? How can it grow?"

--Excerpts from a sermon by Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi on Qatar TV
April 15, 2005

When Islam takes over the world... what will she do with it?

I'd rather not find out.