Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic 'spiritual principles' in order to protect the environment.Just think: one of these days, his mother will either die or retire and he will become King Charles III. One of the titles that he will inherit is "Defender of the Faith," a title granted to King Henry VIII for his intellectual defense of Catholicism against Martin Luther's heresies. (Try not to laugh about this, considering what subsequently happened with Henry VIII and the Catholic Church.)
In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.
He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'.
The notion that Islam is somehow better than Christianity concerning "no separation between man and nature" is truly an astonishing claim. Well yes, most Muslims live much closer to nature, largely because Islam's rules about interest and tendency towards fatalism has prevented them from developing much in the way of technology of their own. (And that's really quite bizarre--Islam was ahead of the West in the sciences from the Fall of Rome until the Renaissance.)
I have been to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the keeper of the "holy" sites of Medina and Mecca. The Saudis and the Bedouins do not give a rat's whisker about the environment. The ex-patriate joke was that the national birds were the building crane and the shopping bag (because you see them flying by all the time, since everyone just throws them out the window.)
ReplyDeleteWe also joked that we could find our way between Riydh and Prince Sultan by at least three landmark methods: using junk cars as markers, using smoke columns from all the burning trash and oil, or using smells from the trash piles and filth. (The UAE, a much more modern place, where abayas and short skirts both go to the mall, has pristine water and immaculate cities).
I hope Harry and his brother are smarter than their parents,and that a reasonable IQ skips a generation in Royal Families. I've always thought that the reason the Queen has been hanging on so long is that she realizes her son is an idiot and has to be kept off the throne.