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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Serie: Global Futures
- Sprache: Englisch
New York, Washington, Madrid, London and now Paris Ð the list of Western cities targeted by radical Islamic terrorists waging global jihad continues to grow. Does this extreme violence committed in the name of Islam point to a fundamental enmity between the Muslim faith and the West?
In this compelling essay, leading scholar of Islam Tamara Sonn argues that whilst the West has many enemies among Muslims, it is politics not religion that informs their grievances. The longer these demands remain frustrated, the more violence has escalated and recruitment to groups like Islamic State has increased. Far from quelling the spread of Islamic extremism, Western military intervention has helped to turn nationalist movements into radical terrorist groups with international agendas. Islam, Sonn concludes, is not the problem, just as war is not the solution.
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Acknowledgments
1 Islam v. the West?
2 Jihad: Message, Motivation, and Methods
3 Muslim Opposition to Terror
4 Shared Grievances
5 Mainstream Muslim Strategies
6 Religion Is Not the Root of Conflict
Further Reading
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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“It is no surprise that this lucid and insightful treatment of such a fraught topic should come from none other than Tamara Sonn, one of the leading scholars of Islam today. The author trenchantly analyses some of the most pervasive contemporary stereotypes of Muslims – especially their alleged proclivity for violence – and confronts lurid depictions of Islam with sober facts. The result is a highly accessible and valuable study that compellingly undermines the all-too-common view that ‘Islam’ and ‘the West’ are at war with one another.”
Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana University
“Tamara Sonn’s new book dispels the myths that portray Islam as inherently violent and antagonistic toward the West. She offers a compelling response and an essential antidote to the crude caricatures of Islam that pervade our post-9/11 world.”
Todd Green, Luther College and author ofThe Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West
“Sonn’s excellent analysis introduces the reader to the voices of mainstream Muslims who speak out against terrorism, voices that tend to be drowned in the public discourse. Sonn convincingly argues that common grievances among Muslims should not be confused with common religious beliefs. This incisive little book is a reminder that politics, and not religion, is the cause of grievances that lead some to engage in terrorism.”
Nelly Lahoud, Institute for Strategic Studies-Middle East
“A concise but remarkably comprehensive analysis of a major element in contemporary global affairs – the relations between Islam and the West. Sonn’s thorough knowledge of both mainstream and extremist Muslim thought and movements gives a depth to this study that goes well beyond the usual coverage of this significant subject.”
John O. Voll, Georgetown University
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Is Islam an Enemy of the West?
Tamara Sonn
polity
Copyright © Tamara Sonn 2016
The right of Tamara Sonn to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2016 by Polity Press
Polity Press65 Bridge StreetCambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press350 Main StreetMalden, MA 02148, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-0445-9
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNames: Sonn, Tamara, 1949- author.Title: Is Islam an enemy of the west?/Tamara Sonn.Description: Cambridge, UK : Polity Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2016013754 (print) | LCCN 2016021309 (ebook) | ISBN9781509504411 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509504428 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781509504442 (Mobi) | ISBN 9781509504459 (Epub)Subjects: LCSH: Islam--2lst century. | Islam and politics. Terrorism--Religious aspects--Islam. | Jihad. | Islamic countries--Politics and government.Classification: LCC BP161.3 .S66 2016 (print) | LCC BP161.3 (ebook) | DOC297.09/05--dc23LC record available at https://lccn.lcc.gov/201606013754
The publisher has used its best endeavors to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.
Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.
For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com
To my family, with gratitude for their unwavering love and support.
Acknowledgments
Louise Knight of Polity Press deserves primary credit for both conceiving this book and convincing me to write it. I thank her, as well as Professor John L. Esposito and Professor John O. Voll, for their unwavering guidance and support. Special thanks go to Dr Gamal Heshmat, Dr Amr Darrag, Dr Hussein Elkazzaz, and Dr Yahya Hamed for clearly articulating the Muslim Brotherhood’s objectives and strategies in their ongoing struggle for democracy, development, and the rule of law, and against terrorism. I would also like to thank Justin Dyer for his brilliant and painstaking editing of the manuscript. And special thanks go to my students at Georgetown University, who, by asking the right questions, helped me distill years of research and channel it into this very brief format.
1Islam v. the West?
Is Islam an enemy of the West? It may sound like an odd question. How can an ancient global religion be an enemy of a modern geopolitical region? But if you pay attention to the news, there seem to be good reasons to think it is. Threats from terrorists claiming that their religion commands them to either convert or kill everyone are all over the cybersphere. And those threats started even before September 11, 2001, when 19 Arab terrorists attacked the United States. In 1996, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (d. 2011) published a “Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places,” the cities Mecca and Medina, the birthplace of Islam, in his home country, Saudi Arabia. In 1998, he issued another message, this time ordering Muslims worldwide to kill Americans and their allies – both civilian and military – and to take their money, too. Bin Laden said this was the duty of every able-bodied Muslim in any country. American troops are doing the work of the devil, he said, and since the United States is a democracy, all Americans must be held responsible for their government’s policies. Less than six months later, al-Qaeda operatives detonated truck bombs at two US embassies in Africa, killing over 200 people. After 9/11, Bin Laden was at it again, gloating over the successful attacks in New York and Washington, which killed nearly 3,000 people. They were followed by terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004, which killed nearly 200, and in London in 2005, killing over 50 people. Though neither the Madrid nor London attacks were claimed by al-Qaeda, they were undoubtedly inspired by them. So if al-Qaeda represents Islam, it would seem that Islam is indeed an enemy of the West.
Since 9/11, anti-West Muslim groups appear to have multiplied. In 2002, the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram burst upon the scene. It started out demanding strict Islamic law in Muslim northern Nigeria, but within a few years it was calling for control of the whole country. In 2015, Boko Haram upped the ante yet again, announcing that Nigeria was only the beginning. From there it would expand across all of Africa and use it as a base to take over the entire world. Anyone who doesn’t submit to Boko’s law, said its leader Abubakar Shekau, has to either die or become a slave.
Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the most successful terrorist group to date, Islamic State (formerly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, ISIL, and ISIS, and also known as Daesh1). IS has taken control of territories in western Iraq and eastern Syria. Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, insists that his group is the vanguard for global Islamic domination. Islam, he says, is locked in a final showdown with “disbelief.” The time for peace is over, al-Baghdadi declares; until the entire earth submits to Islamic law as he interprets it, Muslims must wield the sword. That is the way it must be, he says, until Judgment Day.
And it is not just twenty-first-century terrorist groups that have pledged war against the West. Every year the government of Iran commemorates the 1979 revolution that brought it to power, with loud public denunciations of America. Marg bar Amrika! – “Death to America!” – is their refrain. Leader of the 1979 revolution Ayatollah Khomeini (d. 1989) referred to the United States as “the Great Satan” – and that phrase caught on. It seemed to capture the idea that there was a single source behind all the problems facing Muslim countries, and that source is the United States. In fact, that was the inspiration behind Osama bin Laden’s founding of al-Qaeda in the late 1980s. Instead of just working against specific Western allies like Egypt, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, al-Qaeda would go straight to the source. Muslims have a duty to fight the United States – that “monstrous” and “decadent” force – Bin Laden said, because it is, quite simply, “the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind.”2
No wonder some far right politicians and commentators are able to argue that Islam is an enemy of the West. Dutch politician Geert Wilders has referred to the Qur’an, Islam’s sacred scripture, as the Islamic Mein Kampf, and wants it banned in the Netherlands. Even before the current refugee crisis, he called for an end to Muslim immigration into Europe. Otherwise within 20 years, he said, Muslims will control the continent and impose their “sick” and “fascist” ideology. Wilders is convinced that Islam is indeed at war with the West. French politician Marine Le Pen seems to agree. Again, even before the Syrian refugee crisis, she was concerned about Muslim immigration from France’s former colonies in North Africa, and compared it to the Nazi occupation during World War II. It may not be military occupation, said Le Pen, but Muslim immigration threatens the very survival of French civilization. American writer Robert Spencer offers similar advice to the United States. He warns that the US is preparing the way for its own destruction by allowing Muslims into the country. Maybe Islam didn’t start out as a fascist religion, but over time, Spencer claims, it has become a “stealth” project. Its objective: to impose Islamic law on all Americans, making all non-Muslims “legal inferiors.” Islam, Spencer asserts, is nothing short of a post-Nazi, post-Stalinist global totalitarian threat. In 2010, Spencer co-founded the American Freedom Defense Initiative with political activist Pamela Geller. Also known as Stop Islamization of America, the organization is the counterpart of Stop Islamization of Europe, founded in 2007 by Danish and English activists. The founders of these groups share the fear of a globalizing, fascist Islam, and feel compelled to awaken the world to the Islamic conspiracy. In 2015, right-wing American political commentator Glenn Beck published It IS About Islam, purporting to expose the true Islamic plan to take over the world. It is not just extremists who are the threat. Beck says Islam, the religion, and its scripture, the Qur’an, call for the subjugation of all non-Muslims and condemn them to hell. This is the reason for the “siege against America under way today.”3
There is no reason to doubt that leaders of global terrorist organizations believe Islam commands them to fight the United States and its allies to the death. But there are good reasons not to believe that they represent Islam. For one thing, many Muslims are themselves Westerners. The first Muslims to come to America were African slaves, as far back as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Today Muslims serve in US, Canadian, and European governments, and they are well represented in Western businesses, education, and the arts. Muslims comprise the second or third largest minorities in many Western countries. In addition, Western countries have strong bilateral relationships with numerous Muslim-majority countries. But the most obvious reason is that the vast majority of Muslims reject the claims of the terrorists. From 2001 to 2007, Gallup conducted the most extensive poll ever taken of Muslim public opinion worldwide (the results were published in 2007). Data from thousands of Muslims representing at least 90% of the global Muslim population showed that 93% condemned the 9/11 attacks as unjustified; the 7% who said they were justified gave political, not religious reasons for their views; and the majority said they admired many aspects of Western life.4 These results have been replicated in numerous regional polls since then. In 2015, for example, a Pew Research poll was conducted, showing overwhelmingly negative views of Islamic State among Muslims.5
These public opinion polls reflect the views of mainstream Muslim religious authorities, who unanimously condemn terrorism. Although their statements don’t make headlines the way terrorist proclamations do, Muslim religious authorities have repeatedly and publicly denounced terrorism ever since 9/11. University of North Carolina sociologist Charles Kurzman maintains a website6 listing official statements against terrorism, beginning with a joint statement issued just days after 9/11. This included the views of leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Palestine’s Hamas, Tunisia’s al-Nahda Party, and their counterparts throughout the world. “We condemn in the strongest terms the incidents [of 9/11],” the authorities proclaim, “which are against all human and Islamic norms.” The UNC site contains over 70 such joint condemnations, and links to many others. Numerous similar condemnations have been issued, most recently against Boko Haram and IS atrocities. They all hinge on the same principles: Islamic law forbids the killing of civilians, and the declaration of war by anyone but a duly recognized head of state – and even then it must be declared only as a last resort. Islamic law also forbids hostage taking, killing of political prisoners, the destruction of property, slavery, mistreatment of women, and forced conversions. Anti-terrorism statements by Muslims affirm Islam’s commitment to protecting human rights, including religious freedom, and the sanctity of life.
