
How Should We View Islam: Part Two
Understanding Islam requires more than interfaith goodwill. Examining its theology, political ambitions, migration and Western alliances, we require vigilance without abandoning Christian compassion.
Part One of “How Should We View Islam“ took a historical perspective to establish a common understanding of the roots of Islam. This study takes a current perspective, concluding with the assertion that ‘This House Believes the West is Right to be Suspicious of Islam.’
Islam is Not a Faith in the Way We Think of Christianity
Many of us grew up hearing phrases such as the ‘interfaith movement’ and ‘pluralism’. These ideas set Islam up alongside all other faiths, as just one more religion that fair-minded people should respect.
Mark Durie, an Australian Anglican priest, has studied Islam for over 20 years. He claims that understanding Islam is one of the greatest challenges of our age.[i]
At the heart of Christianity is ‘sin’ that needs to be confessed and can only be forgiven by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Entry into this contract is personal, an act of free will, and a demonstration of ‘faith.’
The concepts of sin and faith are alien to Islam. Rather, Islam’s focus is ‘obedience’. The Muslims’ ignorance must be guided, so that they can become obedient to Allah. Christian schools teach theology, the study of God and His divine nature, with an invitation to ‘faith’, while Muslim Sharia schools teach Sharia law, leading to ‘obedience.’
As Christianity is a personal faith based on free will, a pluralist view of society is a natural outcome, as Christianity can never be imposed on anyone. Islam can only recognise one religion that they believe must be held by the whole world. There is no tolerance for any other.
Classical liberalism,[ii] rising out of the Protestant Reformation, championed personal freedom and the limitation of state power. In stark contrast with Islam, that is all about obedience and no separation between the state and religion.
To illustrate how Islam exploits this difference in worldview, consider how Hamas won power in democratic elections in Gaza in 2006.[iii] Since then, there have been no further elections. Hamas has held unopposed power for twenty years, having destroyed democracy.
As most of the Muslims that the West encounters are regular, peaceful neighbours, it is understandable how we can subconsciously project our values and worldview on to them, fully expecting them to treat the indigenous westerners in the same way.
Something is Wrong with the Soul of Islam
Mark Durie believes that Muslims started to experience a setback in their quest for world domination in the fifteenth century with the pushback from the West.[iv] They believe that the reason for their failures was that they had failed to follow Sharia law closely enough. Consequently, there has been a push for an Islamic Revival. ‘If more Muslims are compliant with Allah’s will, they will rule again.’
The rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1920s in Egypt is a perfect example of this soul-searching.[v] They became the standard-bearer for Islamist groups around the world but have once again been driven underground, in Egypt at least, as Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has consolidated power. In other words, the people have rejected the demands of the strict Sharia laws.
Another example of this can be seen in Iran, with perhaps 90 percent of the population hating Islam in the form of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC). Many are becoming Christians,[vi] as are many of the Muslim refugees from Iraq and Syria.
This reaction to ‘radical Islam’ does not mean that their global agenda is finished. Not at all. An illustration of this comes from a PhD study into “Muslim students’ cultural and religious experiences in city, suburban and regional university campuses in NSW, Australia.”[vii] It reveals that they were more religious on graduation than they were on entry, on account of the guides in their communities sent in to ‘support’ them.
Returning to the Sunday, 13 May 2018, suicide bombings in Surabaya, Indonesia, the rape gangs in the UK,[viii],[ix] or the Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, massacre of 14 December 2025,[x] the West can’t be complacent and expect radical Islam to burn itself out any time soon.
The Alliance Between Islam and the Woke Left
Who could have imagined an alliance between a fascist, totalitarian ideology and the progressive far Left Neo-Marxist globalists! But they are united in their ‘hatred’ of the Christian Western civilisation and culture and want to see it destroyed.[xi]
Both sides have a similar view of the human person, namely that they are basically ‘good,’ but just need guidance. There is no acknowledgement of God and no admission of sin.
This alliance is why the authorities have sought to cover up the rape gangs in the UK, and the evidence revealed in Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s 2021 book Prey: Immigration, Islam & Erosion of Women’s Rights[xii] that exposes similar atrocities across Europe. This also explains why the pro-Palestinian demonstrations have filled so many city streets unopposed since October 7, 2023.[xiii]
In light of this astonishing partnership, authorities have feared a Muslim backlash if they fail in their tangible support. Politicians have come to rely on the Muslim vote to keep them in power, a positive feedback loop, and the Left-leaning indigenous populations have flaunted their own moral accolades supporting the so-called ‘oppressed, dispossessed refugees fleeing’ war-ravaged regions, predominantly in the Middle East and North Africa.
The Mass Migration of Muslims
Hannah Arendt’s book The Origins of Totalitarianism, first published in 1951, unpacks the roots of genuine asylum seekers escaping war-ravaged regions:
Civilised countries did offer the right of asylum to those who, for political reasons, had been persecuted by their governments, and in practice, though never officially incorporated into any constitution, has functioned well enough throughout the nineteenth and even in our century. The trouble arose when it appeared that the new categories of persecuted were far too numerous to be handled by an unofficial practice destined for exceptional cases.
Moreover, the majority could hardly qualify for the right of asylum, which implicitly presupposed political or religious convictions which were not outlawed in the county of refuge.[xiv] (my emphasis)
Genuine compassion for the oppressed can be felt in this quotation. I attribute that to the word ‘civilised’, which in this case reflects the Judeo-Christian heritage of the nations being described. Therefore, it is only right that those who can offer support and refuge to the vulnerable should do so.
Further, note the phrase “exceptional cases”: this is not describing any form of mass migration. Couple this with Arendt’s caveat that the asylum seeker’s political or religious convictions would be ‘compatible with their country of refuge.’
Now overlay this onto our present-day experience with the mass migration of Muslims into the West. It is readily accepted that the overwhelming majority are ‘economic migrants,’ not asylum seekers fleeing persecution or death.
British author, journalist and commentator Douglas Murray takes this further. He estimates that there are at least 100,000 new arrivals into the UK who ‘don’t like’ the British values. In other words, he recognises that these people don’t intend to integrate into the host culture, confirming they are certainly not asylum seekers. Murray doesn’t want them to live there, and says. ‘Many have come illegally and continue to come illegally. If you don’t like it, go!’[xv]
Consider the motivation for the mass migration of Muslims into the West. Their desire for a better economic life and for the state provision of healthcare are natural pull factors. However, the majority have no intention of integration, quite the opposite, in terms of the growth in the number of mosques and the legal establishment of Sharia law in many regions of the Western cities. This is not too big a stretch to this as alignment with Islam’s Third Jihad.
It seems that the Woke Left’s embrace of the Muslim wave explains why the ‘exceptional cases’ have been allowed, even designed, to become the mass migration we see today right across the West.
The conservative Right are now pushing back, not just at the new arrivals but more dangerously perhaps, at the Woke Left, who have admitted they have opened the floodgates. To deny this is a serious issue is naïve.
Murray has an apt metaphor for us. We can ‘stand up,’ or we can ‘beg on our knees.’ We can say enough is enough and adopt the leader of Restore Britain Rupert Lowe’s deportation policies,[xvi] effectively standing up to the clandestine Islamification of the West.
Or we can continue to exercise our feel-good motives and continue to welcome the mass migration of Muslims into the West, adopting the two-tier legal system, until we are taken over and become part of their Islamic caliphate. Then, we will be driven to beg on our knees for mercy from our overlords, who will not tolerate diversity and pluralism, but demand unwavering submission to the will of Allah.
‘This House Believes the West is Right to be Suspicious of Islam’
This was the motion debated on 17 June 2026, in the Oxford Union. Actor Laurence Fox was one of the speakers for the motion.[xvii] He started by quoting Neville Chamberlain, former British Prime Minister, who said prior to World War II regarding discussions with Hitler’s Germany: “We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries.” (my emphasis)
338 days later, Britain was at war with Germany. How effective was their ‘resolve’ with ‘consultation’? There was a minority in Chamberlain’s day who were greatly suspicious of fascism, leading up to the war and were very vocal in their suspicion. For example, Winston Churchill saw Fascism for what it was, an ‘existential threat to the West.’ Suspicion is not prejudice; it’s a very natural instinct of survival. Suspicion isn’t hatred either — it’s pattern recognition.
Fox went on to say, “As a Christian, I am commanded to love my neighbour and to pray for my enemy. Every single life is sacred, and all lives matter. But I will not submit to ideology.”
The plethora of hate speech legislation pouring out of the West, the application of antidiscrimination laws resulting in accusations of racism, cancellation, and the calls of bigotry and islamophobia have effectively forbidden the West from ever being ‘suspicious of Islam.’
Meanwhile, the takeover of the democratic West by totalitarian Islam has progressed, by stealth. This is not a war against ‘a people,’ or a ‘nation,’ far from it. Rather, it is a war against an ideology, a religion, with global domination aspirations.
The Muslim people are God’s creation, and Christ died for all. A near lifelong friend of mine, Gordon Hickson, cofounder of Mahabba (loving all Muslims), a network designed to reach Muslims for Jesus, has so many stories of miraculous conversions from Islam to Christ. Mark Durie is seeing hundreds saved in Melbourne, Australia. Being suspicious of Islam does not mean we deny them the Saviour. Far from it. With eyes wide open, I believe we must still strive with passion to see Muslims saved, especially those in our neighbourhoods.
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist, broadcaster and author, has blown a war cry against Islam, saying. ‘A war is underway against Europe and the West to conquer it for Islam. A war is underway against the Jewish world to exterminate it.’[xviii]
Stark words indeed. Phillips explains that Islam’s sights are first on the Jews; then they will come for the Christians. She claims that the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the world’s response within hours, siding with the so-called ‘oppressed’ against their ‘aggressor’, Israel, was a clear sign that we are engaged in a war for our survival and our civilisation. Quoting from a 1999 Sowell essay, the barbarians are no longer at the gate but are already within all our walls.’[xix]
Concluding with Hannah Arendt’s take from the 1950s:
Deadly danger to any civilization is no longer likely to come from without. Nature has been mastered and no barbarians threaten to destroy what they cannot understand, as the Mongolians threatened Europe for centuries. Even the emergence of totalitarian governments is a phenomenon within, not outside our civilization. The danger is that a global, universally interrelated civilization may produce barbarians from its own midst by forcing millions of people into conditions which, despite all appearances, are the conditions of savages. [xx]
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[i] Forsyth, Robert (2026, June 3). Is Islam Compatible with Classical Liberalism? Part 2 with Dr. Mark Durie. Centre for Independent Studies. [Video]. YouTube.
[ii] Biscontini, Tyler (2019). Classical Liberalism. EBSCO.
[iii] Svetlova, Ksenia (2023, November). The Primary Victims of Hamas are Palestinian. The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune.
[iv] Ibid, 25m 37s.
[v] Laub, Zachary (2019, August 15). Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Council on Foreign Relations.
[vi] Twelves, Jim (2025). While We Were Sleeping: A Wake-up Call for All Christians. Jim Twelves, p 203.
[vii] Possamai, Adam et al (2016). Muslim students’ cultural and religious experiences in city, suburban and regional university campuses in NSW, Australia. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 38(6):637-648. DOI:10.1080/1360080X.2016.1211950.
[viii] Stefanovic, Karl (2026, June 24). CANCELLED! The Tommy Robinson and Karl Stefanovic Podcast They Don’t Want You to See!! Tommy Robinson. [Video]. YouTube.
[ix] Lowe, Rupert (2026, July 9). The UK’s Rape Gangs: Rupert Lowe’s Bombshell Report Estimates 250,000 Victims. JRE Clips. [Video]. YouTube.
[x] Zammit, Andrew & West, Levi (2026). The Bondi Attack: The Islamic State’s Strategic Shifts and Jihadi Tactics in Australia. Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, March, 19(3).
[xi] Ibid, 30m 01s.
[xii] Hirsi Ali, A. (2021). Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the erosion of women’s rights. HarperCollins.
[xiii] Murray, Douglas (2023, November 8). Israel, Immigration & Islam. John Anderson Media. [Video]. YouTube.
[xiv] Arendt, Hannah (2017). The Origins of Totalitarianism. Penguin Classics. p 385.
[xv] Ibid, 23m 34s.
[xvi] Restore Britain (2025, October 9). Mass Deportations: Legitimacy, Legality, and Logistics.
[xvii] Fox, Laurence (2026, August 1). Fox Pops: Laurence Fox Oxford Union Debate. Reclaim the Media. [Video]. YouTube.
[xviii] Phillips, Melanie (2026, February 16). The Unholy Alliance – Why the Left Loves Jihad. Mathias Corvinsu Collegium MCC Brussels. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwYaQdnS-PY
[xix] Sowell, Thomas (2026, October 7). Barbarians Inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays. Free Audiobook. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWtf9LPz7cg
[xx] (14) Ibid, p 396.
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Image courtesy of Adobe.
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