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 The
September 11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon have led some to signal a new
clash in the 21st century between Islam and Western
civilization, portraying it as a clash between Islam and
capitalism,while others chose to name it a clash
between extreme Islam and “our way of life.”
Is what we see now a clash between Islam and the West or
between the civilized world and global terrorism?
Our
inability to understand is compounded by continued
ignorance of the faith and the history of Islam
demonstrated by many policymakers, commentators, the
media and the general public. Far too many
continue to see Islam through explosive headline events
and shocking breaking news, judging the many by the
radicalized few. There is a tendency to equate
Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism with all Islamic
movements, political and social, non-violent and
violent.
The
Taliban’s narrow tribal militant interpretations of
Islam―from their restrictions on women to the
destruction of ancient Buddhist monuments―have
little to do with Islamic doctrine and law. They
have been criticized by governments and religious
leaders across the Muslim world. Similarly, Osama
Bin Laden and al-Qaida are no more representative of
Islam than Christians who blow up abortion clinics or
the Jewish fundamentalists who assassinated Yitzak Rabin
or, like Dr. Baruch Goldstein, slaughtered Muslims at
Friday prayer in the Hebron mosque. Yet, a deadly
radical minority does exist; they have wrought havoc
primarily on their own societies from Egypt to the
southern Philippines. Osama Bin Laden and others
do appeal to a radicalized minority. They appeal
to real as well as imagined injustices and prey on the
oppressed, alienated, and marginalized sectors of
society.
The
Muslim World and the Resurgence of Islam
Making
sense of Islam requires not only an awareness of the
faith and its diverse interpretations but also the
multiple roles that Islam plays in Muslim politics
today. The 1.2 billion Muslims of the world live
in some 56 Muslim countries, from Africa to Asia, as
well as in Europe and America where Islam is the second
and third largest religion, respectively.
Governments range from monarchies to republics, the
religious to the more secular, from America’s allies
to our enemies.
Since
the Islamic revolution of 1978-79, new self-proclaimed
Islamic governments have been created in Iran, Sudan and
Afghanistan alongside the older Islamic governments of
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. However, simply
referring to these governments as fundamentalist states
ignores profound differences in the nature of their
governments and their relations with the West.
These “Islamic” regimes range from a Saudi monarchy
to states run by leaders of military coups (Sudan and
Pakistan), or clergy (Iran) or former seminary students
(Afghanistan’s Taliban). Some (Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan) have generally been seen as allies of America
and others (Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan) are foes.
From
North Africa to Southeast Asia, during the past two
decades Islam has been used in responding to myriad
political and social issues. Rulers have appealed
to Islam to enhance their legitimacy and mobilize
popular support. At the same time,
Islamically-motivated social organizations have been
created to provide much-needed educational, medical,
legal and social services and Islamic political
movements from conservative and reformist to radical
extremist have grown in many states.
Governments
have responded in diverse ways to the reassertion of
religion in politics. In North Africa, the king of
Morocco has combined his Islamic pedigree, as a
descendant of the prophet Muhammad, with a modest reform
agenda that has included parliamentary elections.
Tunisia and Algeria have pursued more secular
paths. Tunisia’s Ben Ali after repressing
Ennahda (Renaissance Party), the Islamist party that
emerged from national elections as the only viable
opposition, maintains a tight hold on the reins of
government. Algeria struggles with the results of
a decade-long civil war that erupted after the Algerian
military intervened to deny victory to the
democratically elected Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)
which had swept both municipal and then parliamentary
elections. Algeria’s spiral of violence has
pitted extremists in the military against radical
Islamists like the Armed Islamic Group, costing more
than 100,000 lives.
Old-line
Arab socialist states like Iraq and Egypt have taken
different paths. The secular Iraqi regime of Saddam
Hussein has oppressed its own population, threatened the
stability of governments in the Middle East, and used
Islam to call for a jihad against the West. Egypt
under Hosni Mubarak, an ally of the US, has battled and
largely suppressed violent extremist groups like the
Gamaa Islamiyya (Islamic group). At the same time,
the Mubarak government has also increasingly attempted
to control its critics including organizations like the
Muslim Brotherhood, which in the past several decades
has pursued a path of von-violent opposition, as well as
professional associations and the media.
Islam
Meets the West
In
Islam’s encounter with Western culture, Islam is often
viewed to be in conflict with liberal democratic
ideals. For example, it is ironic to hear some
speak of a conflict between Islam and capitalism.
Capitalism or its acceptance exists both in its
homegrown forms in the Muslim world as well as
western-inspired versions. The issue is less about
capitalism than about the dangers of western economic
hegemony and its side effects, not only on the Muslim
world but on the “South” in general. In fact,
Islam does not have any problem with many of the
essentials of western capitalism. It is important
to recall that Muhammad’s earlier followers
included prosperous merchants. He himself
engaged in financial and commercial transactions to make
a living.
The
Quran, hadith or traditions about what the Prophet said
and did, and Muslim historical experience affirms the
right to private property and trade and commerce.
In fact, the economic regulations of Islamic
jurisprudence form a very sophisticated code.
Mosques throughout the world, such as the Umayyad mosque
in Damascus and the elegant mosques of old Cairo and
Tehran, are often adjoined by magnificent bazaars.
Traders and businessmen were among the most successful
sector in society and were responsible for the spread of
their faith. Perhaps the best response to those
who ask whether Islam and capitalism are compatible is
to look at the lives of the millions of Muslims who live
and work in our midst in America and Europe. Many
have come here to enjoy freedom and the opportunities
offered by our economic and political systems.
Like religious and ethnic minorities before them, they
too struggle with issues of identity and assimilation
but not with their desire to enjoy the best that we
represent. The fact that members of their faith
have distorted its teachings and committed an act of
terrorism should not diminish their rights to equality
under the law, to experience the religious tolerance
that our political systems were based on.
“Why
do they hate us?”
The
temptation is to seek easy justifications to explain
away anti-Americanism as simply irrationality,
ingratitude, jealousy of our success or hatred for “our
way of life.” As we puzzle about “Why do they hate
us?” it is time to also realize that they see more
than we see. Anti-Americanism is driven not by the
blind hatred or religious zealotry of extremists, but
also by a frustration and anger with U.S. policy among
the mainstream in the Muslim world. Unlike the
past, today an international Arab and Muslim media, no
longer solely dependent on Western reporters and
channels, provides daily coverage of the violence, the
disproportionate firepower and number of Palestinian
deaths and casualties, as well as the use of American
weapons including F16s and Apache helicopters provided
to Israel for use against civilians in the occupied
territories.
The
American administration’s soft-glove treatment of
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s heavy-handed
policies in the West Bank and Gaza and America’s
record of relatively uncritical U.S. support of Israel—witnessed
in its levels of aid to Israel, the U.S. voting record
in the United Nations, and official statements by the
administration and State Department—have proved to be
a lightning rod. Further, the West’s espousal of
self-determination, democratization, and human rights is
often seen as a hypocritical double standard when
compared to its policies, such as the impact of
sanctions on more than a half million Iraqi children,
and sanctions against Pakistan, but a failure to press
Israel and India on their nuclear developments.
The moral will so evident in Kosovo is seen as totally
absent in our policy of permissive neglect in the
Chechnyan and Kashmiri conflicts. As a native born
American convert to Islam and former government
consultant has observed: “America’s bizarre
complicity in the genocidal destruction of Chechnya, its
tacit support of India’s incredibly brutal occupation
of Kashmir, its passivity in the ethnic cleansing of
Bosnia, and even America’s insistence on zero
casualties in stopping the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo
all contribute to the terrorist mentality that is
growing all over the world.”
Reacting
to Terrorism
As
governments respond to the threat of global terrorism,
it will be difficult but necessary for our leaders and
politicians to lead—and not be led by―a thirst
for revenge. The war against global terrorism should not
justify a gradual erosion of important principles and
values at home or become a green light to authoritarian
regimes in the Muslim world to further limit the rule of
law and civil society, or repress non-violent
opposition. Nor should it affect the need to adopt
a more balanced policy in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. American and European responses must be
proportionate, from military strikes, security measures,
and anti-terrorism legislation, to foreign policy.
The need to bring the terrorists who attacked our
country on Sept. 11 to swift justice and to pursue a war
to destroy their cells and bases of operation must be
guided by remembrance of past mistakes. It must be
balanced by evidence that establishes a direct
connection of guilt and by strikes that are focused
rather than wide-ranging and indiscriminate. A
disproportionate response runs the risk of a backlash in
the Middle East and the broader Muslim world—as well
as among fellow American and European Muslim citizens—that
will erode the good will and support of many and
reinforce an image of a superpower again placing itself
above international
law.
If
the above foreign policy issues are not addressed
effectively, they will continue to provide a breeding
ground for hatred and radicalism, the rise of extremist
movements, and recruits for the Bin Ladens of the
world. Therefore, it is critical to adopt a long
as well as short-term strategy based on a reexamination
of U.S. foreign policy and an openness to press our
allies, and to challenge ourselves to reconsider
policies, strategies and tactics that diffuse the
conflicts and clashes confronting future generations.
*
John L. Esposito is University Professor and Professor
of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown
University.
Founding Director of the Center for
Muslim-Christian Understanding: History and
International Affairs at the Walsh School of Foreign
Service, his publications include The Islamic Threat:
Myth or Reality? (Oxford University Press).
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