This is coolbert: From whence does this overwhelming hatred come from among the Islamic jihadists? Those persons who wish to engage in "holy war"
against the infidel west. And wage this war with an uncompromising hate that generates atrocities such as 9/11.

Many "experts" have offered their opinions regarding this matter. And all
sorts of motivations have been offered to explain for the behavior of the
jihadists. "The Muslim countries suffer poverty". "The Muslim countries
suffer oppression from their own governments." [sanctioned by the west]
"Western infidels trample the "holy" soil of Saudi Arabia." "Justice is
denied the Palestinians." "The Muslim feels like a second-class citizen of
the world." Etc. And to all of these motives, it can be said, that a degree
of does validity exists. But does this explain the behavior of the jihadists?

It is undeniable that for many centuries now, the lands of the Islamic
world have lagged terribly behind the west. In all matters of thing that can
be measured, the Islamic world has fallen further and further behind the
west. This trend began with the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in the
1200's and became more accelerated with the European renaissance.
Industrialization of the west exacerbated the societal gap even further and
faster. This has been a decided shock to the Islamic world, being that
prior to the predation of the Mongols, Islamic culture centered in
Baghdad was probably the most advanced in the world. Islamic students
traveling to the west for studies have been particularly effected by
culture shock and the undeniably large gap that exists between the west
and the Islamic world.

In the last hundred years, two distinct paths have been offered by Islamic
reformers as a way to overcome the backwardness of the Islamic world
vis-a-vis the west.

One path would be that of the "Young Turks" under Ataturk in Turkey, and
the "Young Officer" movement under Nasser in Egypt. These men looked at the comparative backwardness of the Islamic world and said that to overcome this backwardness, the Islamic world needed to become like the west. Give up the ancient customs of Islam and become "western". This was the way to
modernization, development, and prosperity.

The second path, which could be termed the way of the "revivalists", says NO
to the first path! The revivalists would say that the way to return to the
glories of the past is not to imitate the west. The revivalist would say that the Islamic world must look inward to it's ancient traditions and behavior and become "more" Islamic. "We got the way we got in ancient times by being true to our religion, our culture [which is based on the religion], and this is the way back to glory.", would say the revivalists. The way to development and progress and prosperity for us is not the western way. The western way is an "abomination"!! An abomination that must be avoided at all costs.

To read further about the "revivalists", click here.

coolbert.