• [syndicated|from secularoutpost.blogspot.com]

When you write skeptically on religion, you get some interesting reactions. My favorite so far is is a Muslim comment on An Illusion of Harmony:

. . . that book by the enemy of Allah, and the mini-dajjal of our era Taner Edis.

(I ran across it on an online forum discussing a nasty review of Illusion by some sheikh.)

This is sort of like calling someone an enemy of God, a mini-Antichrist, in a Christian context. I kind of like it, actually. It's over-the-top and weird enough to be amusing.

Dear Taner, Unfortunately I have not studied your book, but I have studied some reviews of An Illusion of Harmony. I agree with the core idea and before being aware that there is a book like that I myself, as being growth in a Muslim society, had ideas like you. The root of the problem, however, is not just about Islam. Islam has its roots in the culture of the people who have created it and also have accepted and are practicing based on its doctrines. This three Abrahamian religions have their roots on Sumerian culture who their worldview is based on grief. Let see some parts of "The Epic of Gilgamesh". When Enkidu understands that he is going to die, Shamash, the god of sun, says to him, consoling him for his grief and advising him not to curse others:
He will have the people of Uruk go into mourning and moaning over you,
will fill the happy people with woe over you.
Sumerians in their pictographs used the figure of the head of the wolf as the sign of song. This culture of grief has influence the entire human culture via disseminating the religious ideas in the most parts of the worlds in the form of three religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Judaism and Christianity have freed themselves from the influences of these ideas to some extent, and it was because of secularism which itself was because of accumulation of wealth and scientific knowledge. Islamic world, however, is suffering of poverty. Under the pressure of this poverty the accumulation of knowledge is impossible. So, they are in a degenerative circle. Their poverty prevents them to gain and also produce knowledge, this matter causes some cultural problems. These cultural problems prevent them to solve their economical problem, though they have enough natural resources. (Excuse me if my English is not very good)