The Middle East is on fire. (Yawn) Again. It’s what they do. Christians have potlucks. Muslims riot. Prediction: The first one to get “Death to America” rubber bracelets to the malls in Cairo is a millionaire.
Why do they hate us so much? The endless stream of “experts”
drone on about the American overthrow
of Iranian democracy in 1953, our support for dictators, Israel, etc., etc.
They are either ignorant or lying. The real reasons for this and anything else,
really, are cultural and historical.
I once asked a friend with a Masters degree in Islamic studies
whether the Koran condoned terrorism. She said, “It’s confusing”. The Koran is
a bit of a Rorschach test. If you want to justify peace, you will. Violence and
hate? It’s there, too.
Muslims have a long view of history. The crusades are an
esoteric footnote to most Westerners. To many Muslims, they are still a
foremost thought. One traveler to the Middle East remarked seeing an odd
postcard. Nothing says, “Hey mom, wish you were here”, like a
Crusader stabbing the belly of a pregnant woman. Probably the most ubiquitous
tourist trinket in all of Turkey is the evil eye (pictured below). Why is the
protective talisman always blue? The eyes of the white crusaders were blue . I have
one in my own home but white people still come.
Things weren’t always so backwards. Math and science blossomed during Islam’s golden age from the
middle of the 8th century to 1258 A.D. While Christian Europe
stagnated, Muslim culture thrived. Trade brought great wealth. Art, philosophy,
and innovation flourished. What happened? Abu Al-Ghazali.
Islamic philosophy was once influenced by Hellenism and the
Greeks. In a war of thought and debate, the Asharite Ghazali vanquished
Mutazilism, which believed the
injunctions of God were accessible to rational thought and inquiry. No longer
was logic itself valid. Knowledge came only through the holy Koran. Al-Ghazali
famously claimed that when fire and cotton are placed in contact, the cotton is
burned directly by God rather than by the fire. This victory of revelation over
reason arguably led to the feet of Islam being stuck in the mud of the middle
ages for a millenium. As a consequence, today, more books are translated by Spain in a single year than have been translated to
Arabic in a thousand years. It is why some Arabs still do not believe man has
been to the moon. (So do some Americans but don’t get me started.)
As most religions
do, Islam believes it has the one truth. But while Christians, Jews, Hindus and
Buddhists all believe there is some wisdom and truth in other religions,
Muslims believe in the utter superiority of Islam. Nothing from the
infidels is worth consideration. While Europe was experiencing an explosion of
ideas and technological advances, Muslims rejected it all. The ironic exception
is in military technology and tactics. Apparently, when it is kill or be
killed, ideology loses its hold.
Judaism is a
religion of government and law but is not universal. Christianity is universal
but preaches acceptance of whatever government is in place. In Islam, which
actually means “submission”, Allah has decreed that every human on earth should
submit to Him and the theocratic set of laws that is Sharia.
The concept of victim hood in XFL running back Rod Smart’s
jersey seems to encapsulate much of Arab and Muslim culture. It is embedded,
fixed deep in the mind. Islam has been called “ROPO”, a Religion Of Perpetual
Outrage. In Bernard Lewis’ “Islam and the West”, he describes an important
Muslim concept: “God is justice and justice is God”. It explains much. Justice
is an important value but its evil twin is vengeance. While Jews emphasize a
people’s liberation and Christians emphasize forgiveness and personal
salvation, Muslims emphasize reckoning, evening the score.
An Arab’s dignity is like the air he breathes. Honor --
personal, familial, national and so on-- is precious. When pride is injured,
there is no “moving on”. It must be reclaimed. This concept is seen in such things
as “honor killings”.
Not extremely common, they are not rare either. One survey revealed that in Jordan, where it is
actually legal, 20% believe Islam
condones and even supports murder in the name of family honor.
Surrounded by
modernity and wealth, to live as a Muslim in a Muslim country is to live in
humiliation. With a supremacist belief system and the constant, objective
reminders of their own failures, how can there be peace except that the
“natural” order of the world be restored? There was once a time when Jews and
Christians, the “people of the book”, were tolerated and respected. They lived
in peace under Islam. But this was a time when the Caliphate was robust,
dominant even. Maybe the festivals of rage we see now did not exist in 1000
A.D. because no one felt insecure when the prophet was disrespected.
The forces
against moderation, tolerance, and peace are very strong. But we must keep in
mind that Muslims are human beings. While it’s easy to focus on the bad, many
who travel to these countries are struck by the extreme level of warmth,
generosity, and hospitality. Muslims believe in chastity and virtue, in
holiness and righteousness, in support for the poor and destitute and, yes, in
submission to the creator of the universe. These aren’t such bad things.
American Muslims are peaceful and productive and only about 20% of the Muslim
world fully supports the harsh ideology of terrorist groups.
So what should our
response be? If the question is how to change individuals’ hearts, the
answer is easy: Love. It is what we are commanded to do even in the face of
perplexing anger and insults. If the question is how their societies can
change, it’s a bit more complicated. Unnecessary aggression or the return of
insults never works but neither does appeasement. Maybe the Islamic Martin
Luther is alive today. Maybe events some day will cause Muslims to reexamine Al
Ghazila. Maybe they will want peace? Until then, I need to figure out how to
get those bracelets to market.
