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Islam
And The West:
Early Contradictions And Actual Phase
Posted
By Mahmoud Labadi
Modern
Islam and Christianity are at a glance, highly polarized
within the framework of an Islamic East and a Christian West.
Both religions are rich in commonalities, while maintaining
extensive diversity. Over the last fourteen centuries Orient
and Occident have exchanged a multitude of positive
and negative human capital ranging from ideas, culture,
and scientific progress, to wars and bloodshed. In periods of
war, the spirit of negation and incitement reigned supreme,
while in better periods of quiet the spirit of tolerance and
mutual understanding was predominant. Both scenarios created
opportunities for exchange and this interaction created new
avenues for human progress.
In
today’s antagonistic environment, warmongers mount the stage
and incite their camps towards clash and confrontation in an
attempt to heat up the situation and swell their ranks. They
talk about the clash of civilizations as if such a clash is
inevitable and necessary. Wiser elements, such as scholars and
philosophers give priority to cultural interaction and
tolerance without negating the distinguished foundations and
cultural contributions of both civilizations. Nonetheless,
many forget that the dichotomy of East and West was deeply
engraved in human history, well prior to the advent of Islam
and Christianity or Judaism, which is now an inseparable part
of Western civilization.
In
recent years, East and West have passed through a state of
antagonism and to some extent a state of confrontation. In the
West, Cold War protagonists, interest groups and religious
extremists disseminate “Islam-o-phobia” around the World.
In the East, new states in the formerly colonized nations of
Africa and Asia are asking for their freedom and independence
from Western Dominance. Ironically, the post WWII period saw
these newer states wanting to implement international values
conceived by the West through international agencies created
by the West which were based in Western Capitals, such as New
York, Paris, London, Geneva etc…But unfortunately, the
double standard policies practiced by the Western countries
impeded the implementation of human principles in a fair and
balanced way. Still a great majority of third world countries
and many Moslem nations in Africa and Asia are suffering from
discrimination and deprivation.
EARLY
CONTRADICTIONS
Christianity
and Islam originate from the same source and the same
geographic region. They both belong to the family of
monotheistic faiths, or the Abrahamic religions: Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. All three faiths pray for the same
God, the
God
of Abraham, Moses,
Jesus and Mohamed. Yet, contradictions between Islam and
Christianity emerged in the dark ages when both antecedent
religions came short of recognizing Islam as a true faith
emanating from an authentic prophecy. Islam was considered by
its predecessors as a kind of heresy and the prophet Mohamed,
the prophet of Islam, was attacked as a devil, a liar, a
magician, the Anti-Christ, and so on.
On
the other hand Islam provoked the West with absolute
monotheism and its preaching for the unity of God. Islam
refused the trinity of God and the joint corporal and divine
nature of Jesus Christ. Islam refused to admit the crucifixion
of Jesus while Christianity believed in the crucifixion and
the death of Jesus on the cross before his elevation to his
“Father” in Heavens. In the Sura of Unity (Al Ikhlas) of
the Koran, it is written, “In the Name of Allah the
Compassionate and the Merciful – Say: Allah is one, the
eternal God. He begot none, nor was he begotten. None is equal
to him”.
With
such a clear cut position Islam touched the basic foundation
of Christianity based on the trinity of God. Such a position
provoked a large scale campaign against Islam on an
ideological level and prompted military confrontations in the
battle fields.
In
the middle Ages, a negative narrative dominated the European
consciousness about Islam and created large scale hostilities
culminating in the Crusades which lasted for almost two and a
half centuries. Conversely, the Renaissance and the Age of
Enlightenment in Europe opened a channel to Muslim
civilization and a period of scientific exchange between East
and West took place through the translation of scientific
books written by Moslem scholars and philosophers in
(Andalusia) Spain like Avicenna and Aver roes and other Moslem
thinkers and physicists in the Eastern part of the Islamic
world.
ACTUAL
PHASE
In
this phase of antagonism and confrontation, Islam is largely
portrayed in the West in a negative light. Mass media and
tabloids present Islam and Muslims in a discriminatory manner
and Islam is nowadays portrayed as equivalent to terrorism,
violence and aggression against the West. Thus, fighting
terrorism is a declared policy of the Western Governments
which have found in the so called “extremist” Islam a new
enemy, necessitated by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Islam
has replaced Communism as an ideological enemy and has become
the number one target of smearing propaganda, especially after
September 11th 2001. In reality, the Islamic East
poses no qualitative military threat to the West since it is
scattered amongst 45-50 nations, mostly poor and
underdeveloped countries in Africa and Asia.
Islamic
nations are not in a position to threaten Western superiority
with regard to armaments, weapons arsenals, nuclear power or
star war capabilities as was the case with the Soviet Union.
The Strength of Islam is not in its military force but in its
human values which by and large, are synonymous to those of
the Christian West.
On the Economic level, Islamic Countries have
adopted free market policies and liberal economies and liberal
trade practices. They are not beholden to socialist economic
policies or to restrictive, protectionist trade policies.
Additionally, Islamic nations are the largest consumers of
Western goods and products. They constitute the best economic
and trade partners to Western Countries due to proximity,
volume and demand. Here we should observe a geographical shift
from the East/West confrontation to a North/South
confrontation. However,
this confrontation between the rich global North and the poor
global south is taking different forms and expressions.
Moreover, it takes different dimensions whether on economic,
political or scientific levels. Therefore Islamic countries
situated in the Southern part of the Hemisphere are not alone
in facing the hegemonial ambitions of the industrialized rich
countries.
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