La formidable y duradera herejía mahometana (5) Superioridad material y cultural del mundo islámico en los s. VIII y IX
Digo mundo islámico y no Islam porque el mundo islámico inicial no estaba aun islamizado. Esa es además la clave de sus esplendor, la islamización y la ortodoxia del s. IX llevó ipso facto a la decadencia. Bagdad llegó a ser entonces la capital del mundo, superando a Constantinopla, que aun mantenía un imperio considerable y una herencia cultural sin igual.
Por descontado esto no podía proceder de sus orígenes, el desierto arábigo: la razón de este éxito está en la naturaleza de las conquistas iniciales, que no fue la “tolerancia”, sino la simple incapacidad para gobernar apesar de la conquista militar:
The answer lies in the very nature of the Mohammedan conquest. It did not, as has been so frequently repeated, destroy at once what it came across; it did not exterminate all those who would not accept Islam. It was just the other way. It was remarkable among all the powers which have ruled these lands throughout history for what has wrongly been called its “tolerance.” The Mohammedan temper was not tolerant. It was, on the contrary, fanatical and bloodthirsty. It felt no respect for, nor even curiosity about, those from whom it differed. It was absurdly vain of itself, regarding with contempt the high Christian culture about it. It still so regards it even today.
But the conquerors, and those whom they converted and attached to themselves from the native populations, were still too few to govern by force. And (what is more important) they had no idea of organization. They were always slipshod and haphazard. Therefore a very large majority of the conquered remained in their old habits of life and of religion.
La conquista inicial no fue destructiva, sino que se limitó a ejercer el dominio político y militar. Eran muy pocos aún los árabes para realmente “gobernar” el territorio conquistado. Les faltaba capacidad organizativa. Por eso, en los territorios conquistados, se eliminaba sistemáticamente a la clase dirigente, pero la gran mayoría siguió viviendo como antes.
En los primeros siglos de la dominación mahometana, la población siguió siendo cristiana y conservaba la cultura grecolatina anterior. Hay una causa aun más importante:
But there was another and it is the most important cause. The fiscal cause: the overwhelming wealth of the early Mohammedan Caliphate. The merchant and the tiller of the land, the owner of property and the negotiator, were everywhere relieved by the Mohammedan conquest; for a mass of usury was swept away, as was an intricate system of taxation which had become clogged, ruining the taxpayer without corresponding results for the government. What the Arabian conquerors and their successors in Mesopotamia did was to replace all that by a simple, straight system of tribute.
Es decir, la conquista trajo inicialmente una simplificación y reducción impositiva considerables. Esas son las principales causas del éxito mahometano inicial según Belloc, quien nos hace además esta advertencia:
This is a point of decisive importance to the understanding not only of our subject but of the history of the world in general. Yet it is one which is, unfortunately, left almost entirely undiscussed in the modern world.
Millions of modern people of the white civilization – that is, the civilization of Europe and America – have forgotten all about Islam. They have never come in contact with it. They take for granted that it is decaying, and that, anyway, it is just a foreign religion which will not concern them. It is, as a fact, the most formidable and persistent enemy which our civilization has had, and may at any moment become as large a menace in the future as it has been in the past.
Belloc advierte que el Islam ha sido el peor enemigo de nuestra civilización y que puede despertar en cualquier momento. ¡Y pensar que todo esto fue escrito en 1936. Con el Islam sometido política y militarmente por Occidente! Pero no se olvide, solo la derrota moral es definitiva.
Anteriores:
La formidable y duradera herejía mahometana (4) ¿Porqué tuvo un éxito inicial arrollador la herejía?
La formidable y duradera herejía mahometana (3). Mahometanos y protestantes.
La formidable y duradera herejía mahometana (2). Católicos, mahometanos, protestantes.
La formidable y duradera herejía mahometana (1). Introducción
El libro: The Great Heresies
