Islam, the West and Double Intolerance

The recent violence and agitation caused by the spreading of a film that ridiculed the prophet Muhammad has highlighted the misconceptions and bad interpretations between the West and the Islamic world. The media accentuate this mutual ignorance and intolerance by emphasizing the false idea of Islam being opposed to West. It reaches a point where, for many of us, it has become routine thinking that the only possible relationship between the Islamic and Western world consists of a cycle of political and cultural conflicts.

Indubitably, for centuries the extremists from both sides have played this reductionist game of amplifying stereotypes of the other, but whoever is open to studying Islam and the West understands that the major source of contention isn’t cultural or religious, but political. Friction is created by U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, the related geopolitics of the Persian Gulf and the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Islamic proselytizing in Western Asia affected the cultural terrain and produced a cluster of identities in which the essential value and beliefs of “the other” are considered to be threatening to the in-group. As a result, in the troubled relationship between some Westerners and Muslims there exists a conviction about the futility and absence of dialogue between the two groups.

But how is it possible that the generalization of the known thesis of “clash of civilizations” explains the reasons of that confrontation to policymakers and the public without necessarily repeating the provocative and sensationalist stereotypes popularized by the proponents of the “war against Islamic terrorism” and the motto, “Down with Western blasphemy”?

Numerous examples exist demonstrating that, at the hour of the attack, bigots from both groups would be happy to use virtually any lie to meet their ends. One has to take measures against the misunderstandings. Westerners who are not familiar with Islam have no desire to understand or tolerate Muslims because they envision Islam as a violent religion that will end up destroying and devouring Europe. What these Westerners are perhaps not aware of is Islamic civilization had a decisive and irresistible influence on European culture. “The Divine Comedy” by Dante contained references to the prophet Muhammad, Avicenna and Averroes. There were books, the Quran for one, in libraries, such as the Bibliothèque Royale de Fontainebleau, and patrons believed the Persian and Arabic manuscripts were the secrets to interpreting ancient knowledge. The Islamic experience in Andalucía is a culmination of European and Islamic civilization and is an era which made the principle of interreligious and intercultural dialogue a reality. This was accomplished through a process of mutual understanding that began by listening to one another.

Today however, both Islam and the West suffer from a serious case of intolerance. In the West, a lot of the stereotypes and false information that contribute to Islamophobia have their origins in a fear of Islam. This fear results in a portrayal of Islam as a monolithic, static, beastly, irrational and threatening block that resists change. This fear of Islam has become a social phenomenon in the West; on September 11, the Muslim invaders converted into Muslim terrorists.

This modern fear of Islam isn’t just a result of anti-Islamic Christian ideology, but a secular relationship with Muslims and Islam. Islamophobia, in contemporary times, comes from an essentialist and cultural conception of Islam, which the West considers not a form of spirituality but a totalizing culture which represents a threat against the universal culture of the West. Islamophobia is stronger in Western cultures with a strong belief that they have a republican, secular and universal mission of excluding or assimilating every outdated religious practice. Thus, the purpose of prohibiting the hijab and the niqab isn’t only outright discrimination, but also nourishment of anti-Muslim feelings that extend in American and European circles.

But this false representation of Islam parallels a false representation of the West. “Islamophobia” has the counterbalance of a permanent “Western phobia” among radical Muslims. Because globalization has become synonymous with westernization, many Muslims feel uneasy about western culture.

Although the apocalyptic, violent and otherworldly versions of Islam glorify death and only exist as Islamic utopia, these conceptions only represent a minority idea among in the entire Muslim world. But global public opinion seems to consider countries’ hostile attitudes toward a few Muslim countries as most representative of general Islamic discussion; this creates a climate that allows for an absence of communication and extreme violence.

It is too soon to assume that a pluralistic Islam is out of the question. But a pluralistic Islam that is perpetually marginalized does not do anything for anyone. How can the Western societies distinguish the pluralist Muslims that look for a place for their traditions and beliefs in a democratic framework? And dialogue? And what about the followers currently committed to the destruction of this framework?

Perhaps a good starting point is recognizing that a lot of Muslims around the world have raised their voices against violence and in favor of spiritual solutions without violence and with peace and communication. But it is also important to understand that this communication has not halted outbursts. These are the voices that need to be heard, amplified and broadcasted to the Western and Muslim worlds. In addition, it is also right to teach more about Muslims and their culture in Western schools in order to end the idea that they are exotic and strange people. Furthermore, there have to be more pluralistic Muslims and no visible violence in the media and public life of Western society. There must be a third solution for solving the clashes between western interpretations of personal freedom and Islamic interpretations of the duties and rights of Muslims.

Maybe the hour has arrived in which Western society understands that what is most important isn’t only about finding a balance between the expression of Muslim identity and the secular and republican ideas of the West, but taking concrete measures for eliminating misunderstandings and incorrect interpretations that have contributed to giving Muslims a negative image as violent, hostile and culturally unsuited for democracy. While Muslim governments exist by exploiting hatred against the West with incidents such as the movie that made fun of the prophet Muhammad, the Denmark caricatures, some U.S. soldiers responsible for blasphemy with the Quran and a North American Evangelist pastor who threatened to burn the sacred book, many people worldwide, including Muslims, will continue to believe that autocracy is an intrinsic feature of the Muslim political landscape.