Fantasies about Islam and of it

Americans, especially but not only on the Left, live in a world of fantasy beliefs about Islam, according to Dr. Stephen M. Kirby:

In this world there are two teams involved, of differing sizes and membership, and interacting at different times and places.  The large team consists of a group of non-Muslims who know little if anything about Islam, generally wish with all of their hearts that it is a “Religion of Peace,” seem to prefer any presentation that will support that wish, and frown on anyone who expresses skepticism about that wish during the presentation, or afterwards.  The small team usually consists of one Muslim making a presentation that largely fulfills the wish of the large team.  The accuracy of the presentation is not questioned because the presenter has already established his credentials simply by being a Muslim.

In this world of Fantasy Islam, the presenter is able to create his own version of Islam, react with patronizing sympathy or condescending dismissiveness toward any non-Muslim who questions his version, and knows that the majority of his audience will support him in maintaining the comfort of this fantasy.

But Muslims have fantasies about their own religion, too. Lee Harris wrote years ago about Al Qaeda’s Fantasy Ideology:

A fantasy ideology is one that seizes the opportunity offered by such a lack of realism in a political group and makes the most of it. This it is able to do through symbols and rituals, all of which are designed to permit the members of the political group to indulge in a kind of fantasy role-playing. Classic examples of this are easy to find: the Jacobin fantasy of reviving the Roman Republic, Mussolini’s fantasy of reviving the Roman Empire, Hitler’s fantasy of reviving German paganism in the thousand-year Reich.

And so with Muslims who think that the supposed glory of the long-lost caliphate can be restored. Al Qaeda and ISIS alike are fantasists - deadly ones, tragically, but their imperviousness to being disillusioned makes them all the more dangerous. And they find "useful idiots" among so much of the American Left.