Decadence
Another look at, Why do they fight us?

Asia Times asked Syed Munawar Hasan, the central general secretary of the Jamaat-I-Islami party in Pakistan, whether there "is any chance of reconciliation and dialogue between" the West and the Muslim world. Munawar replied,

"There is none. The basic concepts of both civilizations are in total contrast with each other. When I say this I do not address Western civilization as Christianity. I speak of a man-made system completely devoid of divine guidance. Our concepts of God, human beings, the universe, are totally in contrast with the concepts of the Western world. We cannot segregate human lives into private and public, our lives are ruled by divine guidance, not by man-made rules based on his own prejudices and specific mindset characterized by its own dilemmas and shortcomings. Our concept of the universe is not materialistic, and the result of an 'accident'. Instead, it was a very well thought out process envisaged by the creator of the universe with a plan. So these basic concepts have made the difference between ours and Western approaches."

There are many points of contention and conflict between Arab Islam and the West, but the chief religious contention is not really between Islamic Arabs and Christian or Jewish Westerners, but between Islamic Arabs and scientific-materialist Westerners.

Because of the supremacy of the sciences in western thought, western culture has become caught in a cycle of ever-increasing changes. Western societies contend with an exponentially increasing pace of cultural changes. However, the pace and kinds of changes that we adapt to (with greater or lesser difficulty, to be sure) are exactly the changes that fundamentalist Arab Muslims correctly believe would destroy basic structures of their society which they believe are the divinely-commanded.

In their view, certain concretized social structures, especially the status and role of women, are absolutely essential, springing from and required by the command of Allah, as revealed in the Quran. Without those structures, a society is wholly corrupted. We see them as hopeless religious fanatics; they see us as irredeemably godless and degenerate.

In Islam, the social structure is understood to be ordained by Allah. That this structure is nowhere displayed in the Muslim world means only that compromises have been made, but the goal of faithful Muslims everywhere is always a society that is fully dar al Islam, the world of submission to Allah.

This basic tenet of Islam means that the concept of democracy - the "people ruling" - has no natural place in Islam. Democracy in Muslim countries is literally alien to the religion.Last October, the prime minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, gave the opening address at the 10th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference. In delineating the problems facing Islamic countries today, he said, among others things,

... we also accepted the western democratic system. This also divided us because of the political parties and groups that we form, some of which claim Islam for themselves, reject the Islam of other parties and refuse to accept the results of the practice of democracy if they fail to gain power for themselves. They resort to violence, thus destabilising and weakening Muslim countries.

The rift between the concepts of the ideal society of Western and Islamic thought is enormous. Like an earthquake fault, the pressures and friction were not wholly visible for decades, but they exploded violently. As many others and I have said for a couple of years now, the contest between "the West and the rest," in Roger Scruton's term, will endure for a long time to come. It does not necessarily have to continue as a violent contest, but sadly, probably will in varying degrees.

by Donald Sensing, 4/15/2004 07:26:18 AM. Permalink |