THE THIRD CHOICE:
Islam, Dhimmitude
and Freedom

CARING and CONVINCING

Mark Durie has experienced many different faces of Islam, sometimes almost simultaneously. For instance, he's lived in the home of a welcoming and friendly older Muslim woman, who turned out to be the mother of the man who had headed a local massacre of Christians.

Mark Durie. Caring, careful, dedicated and convincing. Those are some of the words that come to mind. Also genuine and thorough.

Mark is all that and more. Mild-mannered, friendly - and incredibly knowledgeable.

Also he's been a central figure in what's happening in regards to Islam in Australia, the country that has perhaps been best in preventing the encroachment of political Islam.


Where to begin? His story includes time in a Muslim country, living in a Muslim home, doing linguistic research into the local language. His hostess, as I've said, was the mother of a man known to have led a massacre of Christians.

Another crucial fact is that he's had a religious calling - he's an Anglican vicar in Australia. But long before he found his vocation, he cared about religion and god - and so was often closer to the people in the Muslim country where he did research than in Australia, which is a very secular society.

His religious bent has stood him in good stead in terms of understanding traditional Muslims and the Muslim religion - including the holy book of Islam, the Qu'ran. In Australia, most of the people around him dismissed the content of Islamic texts ("Oh, those don't count. They're from over a thousand years ago - no one takes them seriously.") Mark Durie knew about the power of religious belief.

His linguistic training has also stood him in good stead. He's been trained to notice, to pay attention to facts, to see differences. So once again, he hasn't been caught up in the general Western attitude to Islam, to the Muslim religion ("Oh, religions are pretty well all the same.") Instead, he's done lots of looking into the texts - including books popular at local Australian mosques for years and years. Quite a revelation. Available to all. But no one, outside the Muslim community, had read them, had any idea about the jihadic content.


But all that isn't what got me to talk with him. I was told, about an online video: you just have to watch this video - it's the best introduction to what Islam is really about. I already had quite a good idea about the Muslim religion, the holy book of Islam and so on, but I watched it anyway. It was Mark Durie, giving a talk, cut into 15 segments (this was before one could upload long videos to Youtube). I listened to one segment after another. And was truly impressed. Here was someone utterly convincing - from personal experience and from his research - and also very able to convey his story and his findings. You might appreciate it as well.

Unfortunately, the segents have been removed. The whole video is available - but you need RealPlayer (free - and easy to download):

rtsp://ra.calvinseminary.edu:8080/archive/durie-2010-10-02a.rm

Anyway, after listening to the segents, I wanted to hear even more about Mark Durie - and am grateful he agreed to be interviewed. A fabulous interview.


There's much more to Mark, by the way. He speaks internationally. He has a blog. He's an internationally renowned academic, scholar, theologian and human rights activist. And he's written several books, including The Third Choice: Islam, Dhimmitude and Freedom (co-written with Bat Ye'or): "how humanity can live with dignity under conditions of humiliation and inferiority" (p 231).


Even better, of course, is to prevent or reverse Islamic encroachments, so there is no dhimmitude. And as I said at the start, Mark has been a pivotal figure in Australia in this work.

Click here for more on Mark Durie,
his books, blog and site


Click here for the interview with Mark Durie
    





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Mark Durie.
The Muslim Religion,
the Holy Book of Islam.
Criticism of Islam?
No. It’s facts about Islam
and effective resistance strategies.
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