WWHD, or A Religion With no Shame?


WWHD (What Would Hitler Do?) seems to be surfacing as the new slogan for faithful Muslim youth in the Middle East. What are we to make of it when the random Arab youth casually opines that we should follow Hitler's example and "burn the Jews"? What kind of religion produces people so filled with pure hatred that they by nature suggest genocide as a religiously-authorized solution to a quarrel over state boundaries, with no moral hesitation whatsoever?

The Free West brought my attention to a Lebanese talk show in which this very thing happened. In that talk show on Hizbollah TV on November 29, 2005, the following exchange occured:

Mediator: The Arab regimes have all accepted the establishing of a Palestinian state on the territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In other words, the 1967 borders only. They believe that the reality and the balance of power do not allow more than that at this stage. Do you support this "realism," or do you adhere to what has come to be known as the historical, original Palestine? Let us... Let us... Go ahead.

Student 1: My name is Hisham Sham'as, and I study political science. I just want to say everyone is talking about...

Mediator: Please address the question.

Hisham Sham'as: The state shouldn't be only within the 1976 borders... Or rather, 1967... Israel must be wiped out.

Mediator: You mean, reviving the motto of erasing Israel from the map.

Hisham Sham'as: Israel should be completely wiped out, so the Palestinians will have a country to return to.

Mediator: If someone tells you this motto is unrealistic, how would you respond?

Hisham Sham'as: There is no such thing as unrealistic. Just as Israel... Just like Hitler fought the Jews – We are a great Islamic nation of Jihad, and we too should fight the Jews and burn them.

[...]

Student 2: Avian flu hit the entire world, and they are trying to find a cure for it now. As for Israel – the only cure for it is to wipe it off the map.

[...]

Mediator: What's your name?

Student 3: Mahmoud Fakhri. I hope what I have to say is not too inciting.

Mediator: Go ahead and incite. This is what we're looking for. We want some action.

Mahmoud Fakhri: In all honesty, the Arab people should overturn the disappointing regimes.

Mediator: Now you are really inciting...

Mahmoud Fakhri: In all honesty, any disappointing government that wants to normalize relations with the Zionist enemy and to sell out the Arab cause, and especially Jerusalem – the people must topple this regime and have its say.
It is difficult to comprehend that these Arab students actually look to Hitler as an example of how to deal with the Jews. It reveals a lot about the underlying belief structure that could allow them to believe that Hitler's extermination of the Jews is something that can be pursued in good conscience by the Arabs, precisely because, as the student noted, they are "a great Islamic nation of Jihad." In other words, this student was voicing exactly what Stu pointed out in his recent post about Islam's doctrinal position on genocide and war. He was explicitly linking Islamic doctrine approvingly to the Holocaust, or rather, he was basing approval of the Holocaust and suggestion of a new Holocaust on Islamic doctrine, with no hint that such barbarism might be forbidden by Islam.