Islam in the
West: The Threat of Internal Extremism
By Dr M. A. Muqtedar
Khan and Prof John L. Esposito
US
The tension between the US and the Muslim World
has been steadily escalating with both sides resorting
to steps that undermine the prospects for more
peaceful and cooperative US-Muslim relations.
Western Muslims, in America and Europe, suffer
directly as a result of this escalation. They
are being targeted as a potential fifth column
and though they have responded admirably to face
the new challenges, their circumstances continue
to deteriorate. The presence of a persistent anti-western
extremism within a small minority of Western Muslims
exacerbates the plight of Western Muslims and
undermines all their efforts to improve relations
with the broader Western communities and allay
fears that Islam in the West is a threat to democracy
and security.
The US led invasion of Iraq and the subsequent
chaos, death and destruction in Iraq, compounded
by the inability of 1700 US experts to find any
trace of WMDs in two years of systematic searching
[the stated reason for the invasion] has contributed
to an unprecedented amount of anger, frustration,
resentment and anti-American feelings among Muslims
everywhere. According to several international
polls conducted by the PEW forum and Zogby International,
public opinion of the US across the Muslim World
(and elsewhere in the world) has plummeted and
is at its lowest ever.
The Bush administration’s tactics of keeping
the fear, anger and resentment triggered by the
9/11 catastrophe alive in order to advance the
conservative agenda combined with frustration
of American goals in Iraq and a sense of being
at war with Muslim extremism has made many Americans
increasingly hostile towards Islam and Muslims.
Polls conducted in the US suggest that while 38%
Americans hold very negative views about Islam
and Muslims, only 2% have anything nice to say
about them [survey conducted by CAIR Survey, November
2004] and over 44% of Americans are willing to
deprive Muslims freedoms and rights available
to other Americans [A survey by Cornell University,
December 2004].
The war on terror and its attendant consequences
has created extremely difficult circumstances
for American Muslims in particular and Western
Muslim in general. The changing political and
legal environment in Western countries across
the board has undermined the quality of life of
Western Muslims. Many face discrimination in the
work place, are victims of racial and religious
profiling, businesses are failing, international
travel has become difficult and risky and Islamic
institutions, and particularly mosques and Islamic
charities face harassment and unnecessary scrutiny.
The world has never been more interdependent and
the plight of Western Muslims is illustrative
of how global integration is now a palpable reality.
The murder of a Dutch film producer, Theo Van
Gogh, allegedly by a disenchanted Dutch Muslim
[Mohammed Bouyeri, 26], the denial of a visa to
the US for a Swiss Muslim scholar, Tariq Ramadan,
or the humiliating deportation of a British Muslim,
Yusuf Islam, from the US immediately on arrival
are all front page news all over the world. Not
only do these episodes draw widespread attention
from the media, they feed upon and fuel the new
crisis in Western Civilization - “Islam
in the West”.
When a Dutch animal rights activist, Volkert van
der Graaf, murdered a Dutch politician, Pim Fortuyn
in 2002, it did not raise questions about the
compatibility of the philosophy of rights and
the West. But when a Dutch Muslim murders a Dutch
film producer, it raises profound questions not
just about Islam’s compatibility with modernity
and democracy but also about the ability of Western
Muslims to live in a democratic society. Even
though such outrageous episodes are extremely
rare, the fear of Islam and the now embedded antipathy
towards Muslims, frequently surfaces in the western
media, in popular discourse, in casual conversation,
in parliamentary discussions and in new legislations.
As long as relations between Western societies
and the Muslim World remain less than cordial,
Western Muslims face the reality of Islamopheobia
and as a result they will remain second-class
citizens, constantly watched, regularly demonized,
systematically marginalized, feared, despised
and portrayed as a potential fifth column. Defending
the innocence of Western Muslims, and speaking
about tolerance and Islamic teachings on peace
and violence, has become the most important communal
activity of western Muslims.
The Challenge for Western Muslims today is existential.
If things get worse what will happen to them?
Some fear the rhetoric and recommendations of
Islamopheobic political commentators who exaggerate
and exacerbate the situation, questioning the
patriotism of Muslim communities in the West and
even raising the example of the internment of
Americans of Japanese origin during World War
II. Will the West create another “Israel”
to solve the problem of the new Jews of the West?
The fact that there are nearly 20-30 million Muslims
in the West makes such drastic solutions impossible.
Those who are bewildered that we are even considering
this possibility must remember not only what happened
to Japanese Americans but also what happened to
Muslims in Spain who disappeared after ruling
Spain for 700 years.
There are three routes available to Western nations
with regards to their Muslim populations. They
are marginalization, assimilation and accommodation.
The first implies dis-empowering the community,
reducing its influence and its rights and making
its presence insignificant. The Bush administration
has adopted this policy since 9/11. The second
strategy is to reform Islam and Muslims, secularize
them to such an extent that the difference does
not make a difference. The French have embarked
on this strategy and face a lot of resistance.
This strategy causes disharmony and divisions
within society and undermines democracy. Accommodation,
a strategy that was adopted by the US before 9/11,
by the UK, Canada and Netherlands is for Muslims
the best option.
But in order to push Western nations to adopt
the strategy of accommodation and resist the political
pressure from xenophobic right-wingers to do otherwise,
Western Muslims will have to manage their politics
with foresight, prudence, and patience.
Dangers for Western Muslims
There are three potential dangers that Western
Muslims face. Increased anti-western terrorism
in the Muslim World which fuels Islamopheobia,
enhances the political influence of Western anti-Muslim
extremists and enables the institutionalization
of legislation designed to undermine the influence
of Muslims. The bush administration’s foreign
policy that is geared towards the projection of
American power and reassertion of American hegemony
in the Middle East is another threat to Western
Muslims. Aggressive American unilateralism triggers
events and actions that ultimately undermine the
security and well being of Western Muslims. The
third danger to Western Muslim future is homegrown
extremism.
While western Muslims at the moment can do little
to reduce the first two dangers beyond engaging
in dialogues - political and religious - at various
levels, they can and must play an aggressive and
decisive role in eliminating internal extremism
that resonates with extremism in the Muslim World.
Extremist discourse, actions and postures by a
small minority of Western Muslims not only undermines
the efforts of the vast majority to improve Western-Islamic
relations, they also provide concrete evidence
of the most egregious stereotypes of Islam and
Muslims.
Western Muslim community leaders, activists and
scholars must condemn and reject any and all forms
of extremist rhetoric, public statements on TV
and other media and from Muslim publications themselves.
Care must be taken to not only moderate Muslim
public discourse but also Muslim-Muslim discourse
in order to ensure that extremism and vehement
anti-Westernism do not take root in the community.
Islam and Muslims in the West can be critical
of the West and Western ideals but cannot and
must not be anti-West. The critical distinction
between being opposed to American foreign policy
in the Muslim World and being anti-American must
be maintained.
The Threat of Internal Extremism
While a vast majority of Western Muslims have
the same basic desires as many others - material
well being, cultural acceptance and the opportunity
to practice their faith without social and political
intimidation - some of them however wish to use
their geographic location as an asset in their
war against the perceived enemies of Islam. The
argument made by some that radical Islam is well
deeply embedded in the West and the community
western Muslims hides in its bosom many secret
sleeper terrorist cells is patently false and
such claims must be seen as racist and religiously
bigoted. No community has been so closely scrutinized
as Muslims in America and no widespread threat
has been uncovered. The 9/11 Commission fully
exonerated the community of any connection to
terrorism.
Nevertheless in every Muslim community there is
a small group of individuals angry with the West
and fearing that Islam is being destroyed. In
their ignorance and anger they say and do counter-productive
and dangerous things. The continuous barrage of
images of Arab and Muslim humiliation and defeats
from Iraq and Palestine make it difficult for
even those most pacific to remain calm. Occasionally
people lose control and say things that hurt them
as well as the community.
Most people in the West are sensible and recognize
isolated episodes of violence or intemperate rants
as isolated. However there are three issues on
which a small minority of Western Muslims, continue
to alienate Western populations from Islam and
Muslims.
(1) Justifying Suicide Bombing: The images of
the attacks of September 11 and the many victims
of suicide bombings in Iraq and Israel have become
etched on the Western psyche. Suicide bombing
has become an epitome, a metaphor for of all that
is evil in this world and all that is terrible
about Islam and Muslims. Even though most Muslims
everywhere - with notable exceptions of course
- condemn suicide bombing as unIslamic and when
targeting civilians as an abhorrent form of terrorism,
some Muslims continue to utilize the freedom of
speech available in the West to claim that suicide
bombing is a noble and Islamically justifiable
defense strategy. These individuals who defend
and support suicide bombing [sometimes even when
targeting civilians] succeed only in branding
Islam as a barbaric religion that inspires violence.
They also belie the majority of Western Muslims
who condemn it and make it look as if they are
dissimulating and lying. This promotes the canard
that western Muslims are all secretly supporters
of terrorism and that Islam indeed teaches violence.
Those who continue to hem and haw on the issue
of condemning suicide bombings by invoking “complex
realities” and resorting to moral relativism
work, intentionally or unconsciously, with Muslim
radicals in undermining the fundamental moderation
of Islamic teachings.
(2) Equating the war on Terror to the war on Islam:
Some radical Muslim commentators have been insisting
that the war on terror is actually a war on Islam.
Unfortunately the history of American foreign
policy and the US’ recent actions in the
Muslim World have convinced many Muslims that
the US is at war with Islam. Ironically these
radical commentators themselves equate Islam with
terror when they translate the war on terror as
war on Islam. For Western Muslims this is an unacceptable
interpretation of what is happening. First of
all it is not true. Islam continues to thrive
in the West even today. The prominent role played
by American Muslims in the Presidential elections
of 2004 is clear proof that in spite of growing
Islamopheobia and the Patriot Act American Muslims
still remain a vibrant force and far from being
snuffed out. Yes, they are targeted and profiled
because of the actions and discourses of radical
Muslims, but most of them will testify that the
war on terror is not a war on Islam. In Europe
the presence of Muslims has transformed Europe’s
foreign policy, its relations with the US and
its posture with regards to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Today Europe seeks to balance US’ support
for Israel. Muslim commentators who continue to
propagate these claims are trying to insert a
wedge between Western Muslims and their homelands.
They wish to use Western Muslims as a weapon to
subvert the West from within, but in the process
sacrificing the community. Those who insist that
the West is at war with Islam do a grave disservice
to Western Muslims and to undermine the prospects
of future good relations between the West and
the Islamic World.
(3) Demonization of the West and Democracy: The
third theme in the radical Muslim discourse includes
a rhetorical demonization of the West as evil
and democracy as hypocrisy. In a curious way the
very existence of this “free radical discourse”
is indicative of how strong democracy is across
the board in western countries. But this constant
demonization of the West (America and Europe),
ridicule of their values, icons, their religious
beliefs, their secular beliefs and cultural practices
may very well lead to the elimination of free
speech and the diminishing of democracy. As far
as Western Muslims are concerned, the 19 Muslims
who attacked the US on 9/11 have caused them untold
misery; they cannot allow it to be amplified through
irresponsible statements from within their own
communities.
The community must get tough on radical discourse
We recommend that Western Muslims become more
organized and aggressive in marginalizing and
condemning voices that justify violence, incite
hatred and practice demonization of the other.
How can community members and leaders fight bigots
in the mainstream community and the rising Islamopheobia
if some within their own ranks mirror the same
fear, ignorance and prejudice? When someone from
the community makes a radical statement, community
leaders must immediately condemn it and demand
a retraction and an apology before anyone else
does it. Once radicals realize that the community
will not tolerate their extremism, and will take
lead in condemning them, they will fade away.
The struggle for acceptance of Islam and Muslims
in the West cannot be divorced from the acceptance
of the West within its Muslim communities.
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