Political ineptness is not a problem of Muslims only but of different people in U.S and Europe as well as the rest of the world who don’t know their priorities.

I think that is a good description of the Swiss minaret debacle. I grant it was a mean-spirited gesture of the Swiss to ban minarets, but actually the whole issue was brought up in the first place by Moslem residents of Switzerland who rashly insisted on the fulfillment of their legal right to demand something completely unnecessary, namely a minaret. Of course the Swiss judicial system, which is innocent of any bias (I mean it) eventually found in favor of the minaret. However it was a rather delicate moment in Moslem-Western relations, so the legal dispute touched off a wave of nationalist sentiment that said, so to speak: “Congratulations! You got your minaret. Enjoy it, because there aren’t going to be any more,” and simply changed the rules so that now nobody is entitled to a minaret any more.

Without having researched the issue, it seems to me that this incident implies, among other things, that Muslim minorities should be better organized, so they can deal with issues at a national level, instead of, as obviously happened here, a single local Islamic community deciding to go to court and thus altering European history. The decision whether or not to appeal the local authority’s minaret ban should have been made centrally by some national, or even Europe-wide, Islamic organization. An organization broad enough to be guided by an overall strategic picture instead of by personal whims, and staffed with competent political scientists who are able to estimate the political consequences of some legal action.

But then again, it may just be because Switzerland is so decentralized that a nationwide Islamic organization would have nobody to negotiate with. There’s no main switch.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen politically inept Moslems in action. One conclusion that stuck in my mind after reading a history of the Palestine conflict is that Arab political leadership was lousy. For decades on end the Palestinians fruitlessly pursued maximalist agendas, unguided by any clear strategy of how to hold on to their land. Until one day they lost it.

“Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home): unto all (in faith) hath Allah promised good: but those who strive and fight hath He distinguished above those who sit (at home) by a special reward.” Aya 95 of Sura An-Nisaa

“When angels take the souls of those who die in sin against their souls they say: “In what (plight) were ye?” They reply: “Weak and oppressed were we in the earth.” They say: “Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to move yourselves away (from evil)?” Such men will find their abode in Hell what an evil refuge!” Aya 97 of Sura An-Nisaa

“He who forsakes his home in the cause of Allah finds in the earth many a refuge wide and spacious: should he die as a refugee from home for Allah and his Apostle his reward becomes due and sure with Allah: and Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.” Aya 100 of Sura An-Nisaa

“Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: “The guidance of Allah that is the (only) guidance.” Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee then wouldst thou find neither protector nor helper against Allah. “