America's second new president of this millennium Barack Obama already has got popularity, for his naive approaches different from that of the last president, in the Muslim World. Last year move for building mosque at Ground Zero is another step in this process. President Obama defended the right of the Muslims to build a 13 storey cultural center and a mosque to be named Cordoba House. This decision raised the wave of condemnation; flurry of loath from mass people across the US. In protests Americans depicted their view points regarding the issue with racial; anti-Islamic beliefs. One placard had - 'Mosques breed radical Islam, Radical Islam breeds terrorists' and below that 'Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims'. In fact the reactions from Americans on these issues are the indicator of their mindset on the question of Islam or the role of the US in Middle East. Surely we didn't forget that though Mr. G. W. Bush invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 he didn't loose his presidentship. He was reelected by those Americans. Hence, it can be assumed that events had been taken place for last few years by the US government in Middle East and by Americans within the US has a common trait or a common tendency of Islamophobia. Do they want to suppress Muslims or Islam in forms they find? Are the Americans Islamophobic?
What is Islamophobia? Islamophobia refers to groundless fear of and hostility towards Islam. Such fear and hostility leads to discriminations against Muslims, exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political or social processes. Basically, Islamophobia developed through centuries but such Islamophobia was unsurprising in the post-Cold War age of al-Qaeda. It got new momentum because US Foreign Relation Council based intellectuals like Francis Fukuyama and Samuel P. Huntington argued about a looming clash of civilization between Islam and the West and thus Islam versus America. Ideology versus state, what an asymmetrical contends!
Start of the strife: Islam vs US
When this sort of asymmetrical contends started between Islam and America? Here I shall try to mean these problems with different approach and information. Islam, of course, has long been a bogeyman for the West. In 1776- a few Muslims for the first time in the history entered into the U.S. And later, from 1880s to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire, and from parts of South Asia; they did not form distinctive settlements, and probably assimilated most into the wider society. The Sultanate of Morocco was the first government in the world to recognize the existence of an independent United States, in 1778. But it was America's naval expeditions to North Africa; 19th century Barbary Wars -- which affected Moroccan Sultanate. That's how America replied Moroccan gift! These seem to have had little impact on either side. Even the small but growing American presence in Muslim lands in the nineteenth century -- merchants, consuls, missionaries, and teachers -- aroused little or no curiosity.
The Second World War, the oil industry, and postwar developments brought many Americans to the Islamic lands; increasing numbers of Muslims also came to America. And then the great change came, when the leaders of a widespread and widening religious revival sought out and identified their enemies as the enemies of God. They found Western Hemisphere as source of sin; source of infidel and Satan. Suddenly, or so it seemed, America had become the archenemy, the incarnation of evil, the diabolic opponent of all that is good, and specifically, for Muslims, of Islam.
Bernard Lewis in "The Roots of Muslim Rage" which was published in September 1990, looked for causes behind the rise of contend between America and Islam. He writes-'Among the components in the mood of anti-Westernizm, and more especially of anti-Americanism, were certain intellectual influences coming from Europe. One of these was from Germany,'… no means limited to the Nazis but including writers as diverse as Rainer Maria Rilke, Ernst Junger, and Martin Heidegger. In this perception, America was the ultimate example of civilization without culture: materially advanced but soulless and artificial; assembled or at best constructed, not grown; mechanical, not organic; technologically complex but lacking the spirituality and vitality of the rooted, human, national cultures of the Germans and other 'authentic' peoples' like Muslims. 'German philosophy, and particularly the philosophy of education, enjoyed a considerable vogue among Arab and some other Muslim intellectuals in the thirties and early forties, and this philosophic anti-Americanism was part of the message.'
What are the outcomes?
Lewis has given a provocative cause behind the rise of contends between Islam and America. But this German propaganda logic can't undermine the more importantly root cause activities attempted by the US itself specifically after WWII. It just not only bruised against the Middle Eastern countries but constantly backed up and endorsed Israeli aggression over other Muslim countries. The US envisions the whole Middle East as a reservoir of petroleum not as a source of civilization, culture or birthplace of all great world religions. So did the Middle East based extremists view the US not as the leader of World progress but as a leader of infidels. And later history till the historic event of 9/11, 2001 is not unfamiliar to us. On that day of 9/11 mistrust, confusion, grief and agony between two groups of believers just reached the acme of unconquerable mountain.
The uneasy feelings are mutual. Americans are Islamophobic while Muslims are antagonist toward the US activities and its existence. Every act of terrorism carried out by extremist Muslims in responses to another aggressive step by the US pushes Islamophobia to new extremes. Unfortunately, many Muslims feel helpless when it comes to arresting the scourge of terrorism posed by the likes of al-qaeda because of the political chaos in the Muslim world, which American foreign policy has helped propel for so long. In a study in 2004 by Cornell University, it is found that about 44 percent said they believe that some curtailment of civil liberties is necessary for Muslim Americans. In fact Muslims both in and outside America are victim to the aggressive steps taken by the American government or revenge taken in response by the terrorist people. Thus American Muslims are in a dilemma and victim from both sides.
What is the future?
End of Islamophobia? Is it plausible? Neither plausible nor possible in the present context but can be appeased with a congruent effort. The Americans have to change their mindset. They have to sling out the spectre of Islamophobia from their mind. The Americans should look for the root causes behind their Islamophobia. This is not a call for the United States to relinquish its advantageous military and economic positions to appease others. The American government should work to resolve or, at the very least, refrain from aggressive attempts. Mr. Obama also should remove his façade of soft tone and need to come up with real motive for the Muslims. And should take steps boldly about Ground Zero Mosque plan implementation. It will promote image both of his government and his state to the Muslim world. The great step may morally weaken the terrorists as well.
What is Islamophobia? Islamophobia refers to groundless fear of and hostility towards Islam. Such fear and hostility leads to discriminations against Muslims, exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political or social processes. Basically, Islamophobia developed through centuries but such Islamophobia was unsurprising in the post-Cold War age of al-Qaeda. It got new momentum because US Foreign Relation Council based intellectuals like Francis Fukuyama and Samuel P. Huntington argued about a looming clash of civilization between Islam and the West and thus Islam versus America. Ideology versus state, what an asymmetrical contends!
Start of the strife: Islam vs US
When this sort of asymmetrical contends started between Islam and America? Here I shall try to mean these problems with different approach and information. Islam, of course, has long been a bogeyman for the West. In 1776- a few Muslims for the first time in the history entered into the U.S. And later, from 1880s to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire, and from parts of South Asia; they did not form distinctive settlements, and probably assimilated most into the wider society. The Sultanate of Morocco was the first government in the world to recognize the existence of an independent United States, in 1778. But it was America's naval expeditions to North Africa; 19th century Barbary Wars -- which affected Moroccan Sultanate. That's how America replied Moroccan gift! These seem to have had little impact on either side. Even the small but growing American presence in Muslim lands in the nineteenth century -- merchants, consuls, missionaries, and teachers -- aroused little or no curiosity.
The Second World War, the oil industry, and postwar developments brought many Americans to the Islamic lands; increasing numbers of Muslims also came to America. And then the great change came, when the leaders of a widespread and widening religious revival sought out and identified their enemies as the enemies of God. They found Western Hemisphere as source of sin; source of infidel and Satan. Suddenly, or so it seemed, America had become the archenemy, the incarnation of evil, the diabolic opponent of all that is good, and specifically, for Muslims, of Islam.
Bernard Lewis in "The Roots of Muslim Rage" which was published in September 1990, looked for causes behind the rise of contend between America and Islam. He writes-'Among the components in the mood of anti-Westernizm, and more especially of anti-Americanism, were certain intellectual influences coming from Europe. One of these was from Germany,'… no means limited to the Nazis but including writers as diverse as Rainer Maria Rilke, Ernst Junger, and Martin Heidegger. In this perception, America was the ultimate example of civilization without culture: materially advanced but soulless and artificial; assembled or at best constructed, not grown; mechanical, not organic; technologically complex but lacking the spirituality and vitality of the rooted, human, national cultures of the Germans and other 'authentic' peoples' like Muslims. 'German philosophy, and particularly the philosophy of education, enjoyed a considerable vogue among Arab and some other Muslim intellectuals in the thirties and early forties, and this philosophic anti-Americanism was part of the message.'
What are the outcomes?
Lewis has given a provocative cause behind the rise of contends between Islam and America. But this German propaganda logic can't undermine the more importantly root cause activities attempted by the US itself specifically after WWII. It just not only bruised against the Middle Eastern countries but constantly backed up and endorsed Israeli aggression over other Muslim countries. The US envisions the whole Middle East as a reservoir of petroleum not as a source of civilization, culture or birthplace of all great world religions. So did the Middle East based extremists view the US not as the leader of World progress but as a leader of infidels. And later history till the historic event of 9/11, 2001 is not unfamiliar to us. On that day of 9/11 mistrust, confusion, grief and agony between two groups of believers just reached the acme of unconquerable mountain.
The uneasy feelings are mutual. Americans are Islamophobic while Muslims are antagonist toward the US activities and its existence. Every act of terrorism carried out by extremist Muslims in responses to another aggressive step by the US pushes Islamophobia to new extremes. Unfortunately, many Muslims feel helpless when it comes to arresting the scourge of terrorism posed by the likes of al-qaeda because of the political chaos in the Muslim world, which American foreign policy has helped propel for so long. In a study in 2004 by Cornell University, it is found that about 44 percent said they believe that some curtailment of civil liberties is necessary for Muslim Americans. In fact Muslims both in and outside America are victim to the aggressive steps taken by the American government or revenge taken in response by the terrorist people. Thus American Muslims are in a dilemma and victim from both sides.
What is the future?
End of Islamophobia? Is it plausible? Neither plausible nor possible in the present context but can be appeased with a congruent effort. The Americans have to change their mindset. They have to sling out the spectre of Islamophobia from their mind. The Americans should look for the root causes behind their Islamophobia. This is not a call for the United States to relinquish its advantageous military and economic positions to appease others. The American government should work to resolve or, at the very least, refrain from aggressive attempts. Mr. Obama also should remove his façade of soft tone and need to come up with real motive for the Muslims. And should take steps boldly about Ground Zero Mosque plan implementation. It will promote image both of his government and his state to the Muslim world. The great step may morally weaken the terrorists as well.
This article was appeared in the Daily Star on 26th February 2011.
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