WASHINGTON, DC, 3 July 2007 — Some scholars insist that what is happening today in the world — the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the war between the West and Al-Qaeda and the acts of terrorism practiced by a very particular, extremist and violent branch of Islam — amounts to a clash of civilizations. Others disagree, arguing instead that the clash is more within Islam itself. There are factors on both sides of the equation leading to tensions between the West and Muslim societies, and I remain convinced that it is worthwhile considering where opportunities lie to address the problems on an intra-Muslim level.
Maybe what drives my convictions is the fact that I was raised in a multicultural, multiethnic and multireligious environment where although many argue that religion became the catalyst of two civil wars in as many decades, it was in fact something else that drove the beast in that case, namely politics: In the microcosm in which I lived my formative years in West Beirut, I had the great privilege of living in an environment where Christians, Muslims, Druze and Jews coexisted in a peaceful universe where all religions blended, along with a variety of nationalities and races.
Growing up in Beirut, I counted many Muslims among my close friends. Religion was never an issue. I lived in the part of town which later, when the civil war erupted, became known as “Muslim West Beirut”. I never felt as though I didn’t belong.
I don’t buy the theory of the clash of civilizations because for me the problem is driven by power politics, and supported by factors such as education and environment.
Those with better education tend to be more tolerant of the “other”. And by education I don’t mean those in possession of college degrees, because as Sept. 11 demonstrated, that was not the case — several of the 9/11 hijackers had college degrees. I refer rather to the education received from one’s parents, the environment in which one is raised, and the charismatic influences, in this case often religious, to which one is exposed.
When you look at the extremists, the Taleban and company, at the associations or training institutions where the supremacy of one religious view over others is an integral part of the curriculum, and at the very compelling sense of belonging and purpose that being a part of such groups often imparts, it becomes obvious that part of the problem is influenced by different religious interpretations, albeit often with political ends in mind.
Therefore it follows that, although the problem is one of politics, it may be in religion where the solution is to be found.
This sentiment is shared by Gijs de Vries, the EU’s counterterrorist chief in Brussels. When I interviewed him two years ago, he told me he did not believe there was a clash between Islam and the West. Rather, he said, he thought the clash was within Islam.
Ali Bardakoglu, president of the Diyanet, Turkey’s highest religious authority, told me when I interviewed him in Istanbul that same December that “there are a lot of problems within Islam to resolve. If religion leads to clashes, then there is something missing,” Bardakoglu told me.
Yet when I repeated those words to a group of visiting Muslim scholars at Washington’s American University two weeks ago, the reaction among the majority of the audience was somewhere between icy and hostile.
For the most part they resented being told that there was a problem in Islam. Several of them said it would be more correct to say that there are problems among Muslims, not within Islam.
It may be a simple matter of restructuring a sentence, but at least they half-admitted the fact that not all is well.
For positive change to come about, mainstream Muslims — individuals and organizations — must demonstrate a concerted effort in combating extremists. Those who misquote the Holy Qur’an must be stopped and the mainstream, including very conservative Muslims, must explain that this is not the way of Islam.
Concentrated efforts must be made to root out extremism through dialogue. It’s up to the leaders of the Muslim community to take concrete steps to erase the misunderstandings that have contributed to painting a negative image of what should be a religion of peace.
— Claude Salhani is international editor and a political analyst with United Press International (UPI) in Washington, DC. He may be contacted at [email protected]. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
