LESSONS FOR A SMALL PLANET: Islam, Too, Must Change
by Roy Brown
As America and the world community contimue to confront
terrorism, the idea that Islam itself is not to blame is a comforting
mantra. In a letter to the Times of London, nine Muslim leaders wrote,
"Islam condemns such abhorrent behaviour [as the September 11
attacks] and the Holy Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent
person with the murder of the whole of humanity." Strangely, just a few
years ago one of those same writers was calling for the death of salman
rushdie. We must not condemn all Muslims for the actions of a few of
their co-religionists. But we can and must condemn islam to the extent
that it preaches terror.
To pretend that islam is a religion of peace and love is to
delude ourselves. Islam (the word means submission: submission to
the will of God) has always been a religion of conquest. To argue that
only a few Islamic extremists are guilty rather than Islam itself is like
arguing that only a fre german extremists were responsible for the
Holocaust, not Nazi philosophy itself.
Though many Muslims young and old were horrified by
September 11, quite a few were delighted that America - the great satan
- had been attacked. Some young Muslims in Bradford, northern
England, told reporters why they lacked sympathy for the Americans:
"Because we are Muslims first." Schoolboys in Paris told their teacher
with pride: "Now you see what we Arabs can do!"
As early as Septmber 15, Jorgen neilsen, professor of Islamic
studies at the university of Birmingham, wrote in the Times of london:
"Islam does not teach revenge. It does not encourage the killing or
oppression of non-Muslims; jihad is not holy war." But holy war is
precisely how jihad is interpreted by the fundamentalists. The West will
never understand what it faces if such misrepresentation is allowed to
go unchallenged.
In Islamic immigrant communities across the West, youngsters
are taught from an early age that they are Muslims first and British,
French, German or American second; in any conflict between their
country and foreign Muslims the muslims are automatically in the right -
regardless of any crimes they may have committed. It need not be so.
But before this can change Islam itself must change.
In the heat of war anyone is capable of inhuman acts. But to
murder innocent people in cold blood and to sacrifice one's own life,
that takes absolute conviction: that takes religious fervor. The
madrasas of northern Pakistan that trained the Taliban have been
instilling that conviction, that fervor, in the minds of thousands of young
Muslims for the past ten years. They believe utterly that the Qu'ran is
the absolute and final word of God. In it God enjoins every Muslim to
wage holy war against the infidels.
Where can this lead? The west for all its military might could
not win a world war against a billion Muslims. Nor will the west ever
accept domination by such an alien culture. An all-out "clash of
civilizations" would be a long and bloody conflict with no winners. Is
there any way out? Yes, there is. But to avoid devastation will require
change on both sides - from the west and from Islam.
For its part, Americans will have to recognize that globalization
demands engagement. The United States can no longer treat the rest
of the world as just so many potential consumers of American goods
and services. The rich have a duty to the poor, and polluters have a
duty to the planet. But, even if America accepts its global
responsibilities, this will not end the problem. Islamic fundamentalism
will still exist, and the mullahs will still be calling for jihad against the
infidels. Islam itself must change.
The concepts of human rights and democracy are alien to
Islam. Though most islamic countries signed the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights when first promulgated in 1948, many have since
qualified their support by signing the so-called Universal Islamic
Declaration of Human Rights. This later document [1981] accepts
human rights "insofar as they conform to Islamic law" - in other words,
not very far. There is no concept of freedom of speech in Islam; ask our
friend Dr. Younus Shaikh, languishing on death row in Rawalpindi,
Pakistan, for explaining what life was probably like at the time of
Muhammed. There is no equality of treatment for men and women
under Islamic law; ask any young woman who has just been raped and
as a result is facing prison for indecency - or any young woman from an
immigrant community in the West sent to Pakistan to be married against
her will.
The gulg in understanding between islam and the modern world
must be bridged. We in the West must never compromise our
committment to human rights, but we must be prepared to apply those
rights more fairly. And Muslims need to learn that, first and above all,
we are all human beings - that we share our common humanity with all
others on this planet regardless of race, religion, color, or sex. All
religions, even Islam, must be interpreted in the light of that
understanding.
Muslims must not allow themselves to be used by the
fundamentalists. They know that what happened on September 11 was
evil and brings shame on the perpetrators. To side with the
fundamentalists is to share their guilt. Muslims must stand up and be
counted on the side of civilized values. Just as Christians have had to
do over the last four hundred years, Muslims must be prepared to
critically evaluate and reject some of the more violent and primitive
facets of their religion.
Christianity only became civilized after the church was forced to
accept that it did not hold all knowledge of the cosmos nor have the
complete prescription for everyone's life. Many Muslims still believe
that Islam has such a prescription, but it is a pre-scientific, pre-
Enlightenment prescription based on the medieval values of a desert
people. Islam may have power, wealth, numbers, and conviction, but
belief that diseases and famine are manifestations of the wrath of Allah
or that He enjoins the faithful to murder the infidel no longer have any
place in the modern world.
Contemporary Muslims are prisoners of their belief that Islam
has all the answers. Muslims, together with fundamentalists of other
faiths, need now to make a stand against the violence of their holy
texts. They must shake off their chains and join with people of goodwill
of every faith and of none, in the vision of a world where human rights
and human values are universally respected.
Roy Brown is a vice president of the International Humanist and Ethical
Union (IHEU).
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