Islam and the West — no clash of civilisations

The ascendance of the role and danger of non-state actors on the international stage is upon us. The daring attacks by asymmetrical warfare tactics, carried out by the notorious Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), the fanatic hard line Al Qaida off shoot has been able to sow the seeds of a major confrontation between civilisations and religions.

In just over a month, Daesh has been able to attack three major world powers - precipitating unwavering war. This was done by downing a civilian Russian charted airliner over Sinai in Egypt killing 224 people; in daring simultaneous attacks, Daesh attacked soft targets in Paris, the worst in France and in Europe since WWII killing 130 innocent people; and carrying out a major attack on US soil in mass killing attack in San Bernardino in Southern California, killing 14 people.

The intended or unintended consequences of such a showdown rekindled what the late Samuel Huntington argued in his seminal book, “The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order” two decades ago. Before Huntington’s book, Bernard Lewis wrote an article in the September 1990 issue of The Atlantic Monthly ”The Roots of Muslim Rage” in which he warned of a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West. It was ironic that both writers’ warnings came out in the late 1990s, before the existence of Al Qaeda and of course before the emergence of Daesh, as it is portrayed falsely today, the poster child of Islamic ‘barbarity and terrorism’.

Daesh with its barbaric un-cleansed atrocities, beheadings and fierce methods of slaughtering its enemies has precipitated a clash within Islam’s 1.7 billion Muslims - the majority of who condemn and reject such behavior as un-Islamic acts perpetrated by a fringe elements of its adherents, who are triggering a “Fitnah” sedition amongst Muslims. In addition, Daesh is precipitating a clash of civilisations between Islam and the West, thus fulfilling Huntington’s prophecy. But this should not be happening, under the name of Islam; a religion which calls for tolerance, peace and coexistence.

Furthermore, What Daesh is doing is un-Islamic and is against the teachings of Islam. The Quran warns clearly against Daesh’s un-Islamic tactics, whether blowing themselves up with explosive belts, suicide attacks, or killing innocent civilians, both Muslims and non-Muslims.

A study by the “The Express Tribune Blog”, argues:”In reality, most terrorists have little to no knowledge of Islam or its teachings. A French journalist who was held prisoner by [Daesh] described how the ideology his captors spoke of had little to do with religion. He said, “It was more hammering what they were believing than teaching us about the Quran. Because it has nothing to do with the Quran. … They didn’t want even to give us a Quran.”If they did truly follow Islam, they would know that Islam strongly discourages killing, so much so that the Holy Quran states that the ‘killing of one man is equivalent to killing of all humankind’.

Another widespread misconception about terrorists that has to be addressed by scholars is that “they only carry out attacks on non-Muslims and keep their Muslim brethren unharmed. On the contrary, the statistics studied by Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at the United States’ Military Academy suggest that more Muslims have lost their lives at the hands of different barbaric militias since 9/11, around the world, as compared to non-Muslims.”

Today, the gap is widening and the anti-Muslim sentiment has reached a fever pitch. With the so called the civilised world reeling from the Daesh’s attacks and wonton killings- certain Western political figures, led by the Republican US presidential candidate front runner, Donald Trump are calling in a bigoted fashion, for establishing a data base for American Muslims and monitoring their mosques! While Ben Carson a retired neurosurgeon Republican Presidential candidate argues against a Muslim becoming US president! It is ironic these remarks were mouthed with impunity before the attack in San Bernardino!

After the Paris attacks on 13 th November, the “Clash of Civilisations” warning was echoed all over again. France’s President Francois Hollande however was more rational and objective in his statement following the attacks (especially when compared to US Republican presidential hopefuls). He said: ”We are not committed to a war of civilizations, because these assassins don’t represent any civilisation... “We are in a war against terrorism, jihadist, which threatens the whole world.”

Nevertheless, that line of rational thinking did not convince US Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential candidate. According to the Washington Post, reacting to Hillary Clinton’s statement that she didn’t believe the United States was at war with Islam, Rubio suggested, “That would be like saying we weren’t at war with Nazis, because we were afraid to offend some Germans who may have been members of the Nazi Party but weren’t violent themselves…” This is a clash of civilisations.... There is no middle ground on this. Either they win or we win. And we need to begin to take this seriously. These are individuals motivated by their faith.” While Carson bluntly argues “we are currently facing a clash of civilisations” between radical Islam and western values!”

Unfortunately, this is emerging as a salient theme in the Republican discourse, especially after the San Bernardino terrorist attack. “Where an array of candidates grandstand on the cultural nature of the threat as a way to highlight the supposed weakness and political correctness of their Democratic opponents” as the Washinton post’s Ishaan Tharoor accurately states.

Muslim scholars, governments, and academics in the Muslim World and the West should lead the discussions about not falling in the trap of the clash of Civilisations conviction that groups like Daesh and bigoted Western officials and presidential candidates are trying to emphasise. The unholy coalition between Daesh and the likes of Trumps, Carsons and Rubio has to be broken, because Daesh does not represent Islam and mainstream Muslims. The same way those Republican presidential candidates and the others who subscribe to their eschewed thinking, do not have exclusive hold or representation of Western civilisation.

Professor Abdullah Al Shayji is a professor of Political Science and the former chairman of the Political Science Department, Kuwait University. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@docshayji

The ascendance of the role and danger of non-state actors on the international stage is upon us.