Islam is a Wicked Problem

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A wicked problem is a problem that does not actually have a solution. This is the very nature of a wicked problem. Per Rittel and Webber, a wicked problem typically has these features:

• There is no definitive statement of the problem. Different people define the problem differently.
• There is no clear stopping point. You don’t know when the problem has been “solved”—only whether it has been improved.
• Solutions are not true or false but better or worse.
• People disagree on what counts as success because they have different priorities.
• Every solution has consequences. Unlike solving a math equation, you cannot easily test a solution without affecting real people.
• Every wicked problem is unique. Even if two situations look similar, local circumstances often require different approaches.
• Problems are interconnected. Attempting to solve one aspect often creates new problems elsewhere.
• There is no single root cause. Multiple causes interact with one another.

For the one confronted with a wicked problem, the only possible option is to attempt to choose the least harmful option and then manage the consequences of that decision.

As such, I don’t envy the decision-makers. The present war with Iran—are we able to call it a war now?—reveals exactly this, the wicked problem of Islam for the United States and the west.

Caveat

This is a geopolitical post, not a personal post.

Personally, as a Christian, I maintain two distinct presences. Though I still reside in this world, I reside as a sojourner. I am a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

As such, when I see the Islamic “invasion” of Europe and the west, I really see the hand of God in bringing Muslims to a land where the Gospel may be proclaimed freely. I don’t have to go to Iraq or Afghanistan to minister to Muslims. I can go to nearby Nashville and increasingly, I don’t even have to go anywhere. And people are doing this, ministering the Gospel to our Muslim neighbors.

Yet, I am also a resident of this world and must live in the present reality, in the here and now, and that is the purpose of this paper.

Moral Clarity

We must seek moral clarity, something sorely lacking in the present political discourse on both sides of the issue. George W. Bush’s narrative in the aftermath of 9/11 was entirely intellectually dishonest. “Islam is a religion of peace.” Now, one could argue that it was a necessary narrative, helpful in establishing alliances and international relationships for the sake of expediency, but it’s simply not true.

Any honest student of Islam will concede that Islam is anything but a religion of peace.

Islam is a violent religion, and it always has been. From its inception, it has been spread by the sword, harnessing the bloodlust of young men, a very powerful force indeed. Islam is a totalitarian system of thought that governs every aspect of a Muslim’s life. There is simply no secular/sacred divide to the average Muslim and granted, far from all Muslims are terrorists, but almost all terrorists are Muslims. Most Muslims are peaceful, but again, honest research reveals that, though they are not violent, they offer at a minimum, tacit support of those who are. It is telling that the more devout a Christian is, the more likely he is to die to save someone. The more devout a Muslim is, the more likely he is to die to kill someone.

The undisputable fact is that Islam is a wicked, devilishly inspired false religion. Satan himself could not have concocted a better deception. In fact, I’m convinced that’s exactly what happened. And here’s the deal. Islam is hostile to the church and always will be. Islam is hostile to the west and always will be. Islamic ideals are incompatible with western, liberal ideals that are infused into our culture and institutions.

Ideas like the value of life, free speech, freedom of religion and such are anathema to Islamic thought.

Neverending Problem

Islam means “submission” and by its very nature, it must struggle—Jihad if you will—against the Kufr, the unbelieving world. For Islam, the only possible outcome is global domination. And this is a problem that has no end.

Arabs, the progenitors of Islam, trace their own ancestry back through Ishmael of the Bible. Surah 19:54 verifies his place in Arabic history: “and mention in the Book, Ishmael. Indeed, he was true to his promise, and he was a messenger and a prophet.” Surah 2:127 places Ishmael alongside Abraham (Ibrahim) in the story of building the Ka’bah: “and when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House…” Later, Muslim historians and genealogists developed detailed genealogies connecting Muhammad to Ishmael.

Moses records God’s word concerning the descendants of Ishmael: “As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20) Here’s the problem. Moses also records these words of God concerning Ishmael: “He will be a wild donkey of a man; His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him.” (Genesis 16:12a) The descendants of Ishmael, the exceedingly great nation, will live at permanent enmity against all other peoples. Let that sink in.

When will there be peace in the Middle East? Biblically speaking, never—at least this side of the Second Coming of Christ. What then should we do?

Options

1. Convert them into western-style democracies. It doesn’t work. Iraq revealed that. So did Afghanistan. The idea that the average Muslim is just pining away for western democracy again displays a remarkable ignorance of Islamic thought and cultural underpinnings. Yes, Iraq is technically a democracy, but organizations that measure democracy generally classify Iraq as a hybrid regime or partly free—it has democratic structures but does not function like a mature liberal democracy. Maybe it will get there one day. Afghanistan, well, you know. Indonesia offers a glimpse at the possibility, but it’s no coincidence that there are very few, if any, true Islamic democracies. In fact, the idea of an Islamic democracy is an oxymoron at its core.

2. Fight them. Have you ever stopped to consider the ludicrous nature of the “War on Terror”? How on earth do you declare war on an ideology? We saw the same folly of thinking after Hamas’ October 7th assault into Israel. “We must utterly destroy Hamas” was the oft-repeated refrain. Aside from killing all Palestinians, this is an impossible objective. It doesn’t make sense. Palestinians are Hamas. Hamas is the Palestinians. Likewise, how do you destroy a leaderless organization anyway? We killed Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Zarqawi, al-Baghdadi and so forth but today, Al Qaeda continues to exist and, in some respects, even thrive. The critical error they made was the establishment of the Islamic State, whereby they occupied territory. Okay, now they were playing our game, and their defeat was as inevitable as it was imminent.

How well is it working in Iran? It is a well-established fact that you cannot—other than with nukes—bomb a nation into submission, particularly an Islamic nation that maintains no respect for the value of human life. They simply don’t care if we kill their leaders, tons of their citizens, and destroy piles of their stuff. It doesn’t matter to them. They kill their own people unjustly, and it aids them in their narrative of “The Great Satan” that is America. Iran has a much clearer path to victory than the United States. All they have to do is survive. Hunker down and get through it and be seen as standing up to The Great Satan. Would we invade with ground troops? Almost assuredly no. Iran would present an even bigger military challenge than Iraq did at the time, so we’re left to drop our bombs from afar and hope for a negotiated and acceptable peace. But how do you negotiate any kind of peace settlement with people who see your death as a fundamental objective?

3. Contain them. Saddam Hussein kept the Islamists in check. He was no religious zealot, but a political autocrat, a brutal dictator only interested in maintaining his own power, but he was not in bed with the jihadists, despite whatever narrative the U.S. tried to drum up before the war. Consider Bashar al-Assad or any other Islamic dictator. They keep the jihadists in line to preserve their own power but… they brutally oppress their own people, denying human rights to the extreme. How could we morally support such a bad actor? Well… what if he maintains order or at least the semblance thereof? Can we morally compromise in this way? Well, we have, for decades now.

“Deport them” is the increasingly strident cry of the nationalist when thinking of the domestic issue. They point out the clear truth that Islam, as a system, is simply incompatible with our Constitutional republic and therefore, they, Muslims, must be expunged from society. Unfortunately, this is not only politically unviable, but it also reveals a quandary, a paradox. Our liberal western values cherish unpopular speech, ideas, and thoughts. Today, in America, we allow communists and nazis and racists and all manner of unpopular ideology to be freely exchanged. This is a foundational idea for western society. On what basis do we draw a line with Islam? One could argue that many of these other ideologies are just as harmful, but they are overlooked because they are seen as fringe.

4. Secularize them. This is the McDonald’s theory. Just continue to export western culture to Islamic nations. They’ll fall in love with all the trappings of liberal, western society and this will ameliorate the masses and their antipathy toward all things western. I saw this first-hand. Years ago, I visited New Orleans with some friends and a handful of Saudi Arabian exchange officers. Before the night was out, every one of them was deep in all things haram, mainly drunkenness and women. It seems their Islamic sensibilities vanished with access. I saw this in Kuwait City during Ramadan. Flying out, as I checked in and cleared security, I rounded the corner to the food court and observed hundreds of Muslims chowing down in broad daylight, something expressly forbidden during Ramadan, which requires fasting during the day. Apparently once they cleared security, they were good to flush their Islamic requirements.

Most Muslims are secular anyway. You recall, it’s a lifestyle, a culture, a totalitarian, immersive system. Any religious fervor is reserved only for the fundamentalists.

So, which is it? Maybe it’s a combination of each of these, or some of them. Again, I’m glad I’m not the decision maker on these issues and for those keyboard warriors second-guessing each decision and stirring up vitriol for those charged with managing these affairs—have you actually considered the wicked problem of Islam?

The Grace of God

Interestingly, we find the only hope of a solution in the grace of God.

I thank God for His common grace.

We see the common grace of God in the Sunni-Shia divide. Following the death of Muhammed in 632 AD, there was a dispute in Islam over who would succeed him as the caliph, an essentially political dispute. Many Muslims believed that the new leader (caliph) should be chosen through consultation among the community’s leading figures. They supported Abu Bakr, one of Muhammad’s close companions and father-in-law, as the first caliph. This became what is now called Sunni Islam. Others believed leadership had been designated by Muhammad to his cousin and son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib and that leadership should remain within Muhammad’s family. This is what became Shia Islam.

Sunnis and Shias exist in a perpetual tension that, depending upon the geopolitical situation, often explodes into violence and persecution. Though millions of Sunnis and Shias live and work alongside one another in relative peace, the most fundamental of them remain convinced of the apostasy of the other. In places like Iraq, we see historical wholesale slaughter of one group by the other. As nation states, Saudi Arabia and Iran stand as Sunni and Shia stalwarts in opposition to one another’s regional and even global objectives.

It is this divide that inhibits the Ummah, the larger global body of Muslims, from uniting against the unbelieving world. The common grace of God.

And in the Gospel proclamation, we rest in the saving grace of God.

Listen, this is a geopolitical paper in that we’ve hopefully exhausted our secular ideas and at some point, find them more than wanting. We do the things, make decisions, manage the consequences, but God—my two favorite words in all of Scripture—has already solved, is solving the wicked problem of Islam. Let us consider Iran one more time. Do you know that Iranian mosques are emptying out and, in many places, are practically empty. Iran is a theocracy from the top down. The rank-and-file Iranian is no religious zealot, but an unwilling participant in a scheme they rightfully see as oppressive and evil. The very fact of a forcefully imposed theocracy has created, by accident, a younger generation who can see it for what it is, though they currently lack the traction for substantial, long-term opposition. Did you notice the Iranian-Americans celebrating the death of Khomeini?

As the mosques are emptying out, by many reports, the underground church in Iran is exploding. It’s difficult to measure because of outright persecution, but clearly the church is growing and becoming a force in Iran, just like it is in China and other oppressive places. The fact is, the harder the church is squeezed, the more it flourishes, because persecution purifies the church. It separates the pretenders from the contenders, and we see glimpses of this happening in Iran.

It is a message that has led to the rise and fall of empires, of kings and rulers. It is a message that has literally changed the course of the world, and it is the only message that changes the heart of a man. All other messages ultimately ring hollow and fall short, including the message of Islam. Even as we do the things, make policy, protect our nation, defend our borders, secure and protect the rights of our citizens and those we can help around the world, we rest in the inevitable defeat of Islam and all other false religions at the hands of the church, at the feet of Jesus. As He says so clearly, “I will build my church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18).

Until then, I pray for the billions of people under the satanic yoke of Islam as I pray for the wisdom of our leaders charged with such an impossible task, dealing with the wicked problem of Islam.