Fatalism

We have heard about Islamic sense of fatalism - "It is between the hands of Allah!" - and used such a notion to make innumerable propositions about Islamic culture, from fatalism being the reason why science ceased to flourish in Islam to being the reason why Middle Eastern peoples love dictatorships.

However, the images of millions of people trying to gain control of their destinies in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and elsewhere exposes this nonsense as base and lazy intellectual sloppiness.

When a Muslim says - with a charade of fatalism - that all lies between the hands ofAllah, they are not really saying much more than when we say "You can't fight City Hall!"

There is a sense of futility, but not acquiescence.

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