In The Return of Fear, Peter Frost, an anthropologist, gives a few facts which don’t argue fully against the current belief among Americans and Europeans that Muslim men are prone to violence and fanaticism; those facts do tell us of the ethnic basis for this inclination. Indonesians—88% Muslim—have low rates of violent crime, as do other east Asians. It’s also been known since at least the writings of the Ibn Khaldun that some of the ethnic groups which took up Islam are inclined to violence and fanaticism. ( Ibn Khaldun was a great Islamic historian and philosopher of the 14th century.) Frost quotes Khaldun as claiming Arabs are a savage nation often making a living by looting—the early books of the Bible tell us the same thing.
Evolution is for real; genes are also for real. The inclination of a lot of modern human beings is to think those parts of life on earth are just so interesting when they tell us why the dinosaurs either disappeared or flew away, how giraffes got their long necks and zebras their stripes. We haven’t learned to think in terms of modern biological science when it comes to human beings, nor do many appreciate the ongoing effects of evolution and genes when it comes to human beings. Even readers of Frank Herbert‘s Dune novels don’t appreciate the ways in which a desert environment can select for a violent form of human personality which is radically individualistic but also inclined to accept the harsh discipline of warrior bands or even conquering armies.
So, it seems to me to be wrong to assume it’s Islam which causes the inclinations of Arabs—Khaldun also mentioned Berbers and other North African nations as being inclined to violence and fanaticism. It seems more likely that the Arabs and similar peoples have retained the traits of the desert nomadic ancestors. The `early adapters’ of Islam, including the founder, could be seen as regressing to an earlier form of Hebraic monotheism. That earlier form of Hebraic monotheism is more suited to a people who are yet desert nomads—at least in their inherited inclinations and aspirations. Such a religion would provide the enrironment which would both nurture aggressive tendencies and also reward aggressive men, desert warriors, with greater reproductive opportunities. Such societies will also tend to provide better reproductive opportunities for women who are submissive to these violent men, even strongly supportive of violent sons and husbands and brothers. Over time, as violent inclinations are reinforced in men, the women are likely to become more deeply, more `genetically’ submissive.
It would not be wise for a people with more peaceful inclinations to invite large numbers of a more violent people to settle in their midst. The peaceful people might become the victims even if in a great majority.
A violent people isn’t necessarily an evil people and they, women as well as men, might well think Western men to be womanish and Western women to be mannish. And a peaceful people can be evil. Trivial truths. The more important truth is that a people with men of violent inclinations will need strong, centralized governments to allow the building of larger-scale and more prosperous societies; otherwise, the men of violent inclinations would cause massive disruptions and distrust. Without a strong ruler, such men are much better at looting than they are at even administering a conquered people.
To exaggerate, but not by much: it takes a Genghis Khan to rule a nation (or multiples nations) of desert nomads. We of the West do not wish to live under the type of repressive government which is needed to bring peace when there are many men in the population with inclinations to violence and fanaticism. Nor do we wish to live in a society with chaos and violence on the streets. So why do we open up our countries to immigration by those who don’t have inclinations compatible with ours and with the sorts of societies we wish to build and to live in? Why do we send our armies overseas to destroy the sorts of repressive governments which have brought order and prosperity to these countries with men inclined to violence and fanaticism?