UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST:
History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures
400 pages
Copyright © 2007 by Beechmont Crest
Publishing
First edition, 2007
0-9748330-6-1
C H A P T E R 12:
Beyond the Middle East: the Clash of Cultures
This is largely a book about conflict. The previous chapters discuss the conflicts between Muslim and non-Muslim communities that have originated in the Middle East. The clashes involving Palestinians, Israelis, Saudis, Iraqis and Americans receive the most headlines---and so far, the most space in the history books.
These, however, are only part of the story. The clash between the dar-al-Islam and the dar-al-harb now encompasses areas and peoples far removed from the geopolitics of the Middle East:
In Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province, the Islamist group Laskar Jihad has carried out numerous attacks against non-Muslims. In late 2001 Muslim gangs in the province burned Christian villages and killed scores of Christian villagers. On October 28, 2005, three Muslim men associated with Laskar Jihad kidnapped and beheaded three schoolgirls. The reason: the girls attended a Christian school.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, the Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah has killed Indonesians and foreigners alike. The group killed over 200 people in a series of coordinated bombings in October 2002. A copycat Islamist bombing in Bali killed another 20 people in October 2005.
Non-Muslim Westerners were the main targets of both bombings. After the 2005 attack, the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Bakar Ba’asyir, issued a statement from his jail cell: “I suggest the government bring themselves closer to God by implementing his rules and laws because these happenings are warnings from God for all of us.” Like many Islamist groups the world over, Jemaah Islamiyah wants to make shariah the law of the state.
-
The Philippine Muslim group Abu Sayyaf has killed several thousand civilians since the early 1990s. The group’s goal is to create a Muslim state within the Philippines. (Muslims comprise about 5% of the total population.)
Abu Sayyaf operatives have focused on attacks intended to kill large numbers of civilians. The group’s most heinous attack occurred in February 2004, when one of its suicide bombers killed 116 people aboard a crowded ferry.
Nigeria is about 50% Muslim and 40% Christian. The remaining 10% of the population adheres to aboriginal African faiths. Radical Muslim elements throughout the Nigerian government have attempted to impose Islam on the rest of the population by force---with Christians being particular targets.
Sharia was implemented in parts of northern Nigeria in 1999. Since 2000, an unknown number of Christians have been murdered by Muslim mobs. Christian churches have been repeatedly burned in states where sharia has become the official code of law.
In 2002, the governor of the state of Zamfara announced a plan to impose the use of the Arabic language on both Christians and Muslims. (Arabic is not an indigenous language in Nigeria. English, Yoruba, and Hausa are spoken alongside a plethora of tribal languages.) Islamic militants see Zamfara as a “model” for the total Islamicization of Nigeria.
Since 2004, Muslim separatist groups in the Thai provinces of Narathiwat and Yala have been carrying out attacks on Thai government offices and schools. When 2,000 fundamentalist Muslim youths rioted in Narathiwat province in October 2004, more than 70 Thais were killed in the resulting violence.
Europe is now home to 20 million Muslims. In recent years, there have been repeated conflicts in Europe concerning civil liberties and Islam. Muslim demands have resulted in curtailments to freedoms of speech throughout the Continent. In a number of well publicized cases, European Muslims have resorted to violence in order to stifle speech and art that they perceive as offensive to Islam.
The above list is by no means comprehensive. These events illustrate an important point: the clash between Islam and non-Muslims is not just about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the policies of President George W. Bush, or the presence of U.S. troops in the Middle East.
Rather, it is a clash of fundamental values about how people should live, and how societies should be organized. This conflict began more than 1,300 years ago, when the original followers of Islam first began to wage jihad against the non-believing populations of the Middle East.
Islam is not just another way of relating to God. It is an entire set of philosophical, social, and moral beliefs. This chapter explores how these beliefs are different from the beliefs that define Western civilization.
(end of chapter excerpt)
Buy Understanding the Middle East at Amazon.com
Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
