Conflict in Muslim World Today is Part of a Struggle to Reassert Islamic Identity, Says Muslim Scholar
WASHINGTON, September 21, 2004 - The conflicts in the Islamic world today represent powerful forces within those societies trying to reassert their Islamic identities, not only against the Western world but also within their own borders, Dr. Sayyed Hossein Nasr, University Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University, told IRP Fellows.
In a seminar to the Fall 2004 Fellows, Nasr said he believes that this struggle to reassert an Islamic identity isn't just a reaction to domination by the West, but also to the Western-oriented elites that rule many Arab and Muslim countries. He said he believes that more liberal interpretations of "shari'a" or Islamic law were not allowed to develop normally and adapt to modernity during the period of Western colonial rule.
When the English, French and Dutch took control of Islamic communities in the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia over a century ago, Nasr said, they banned shari'a and substituted their own laws. "A tremendous tension began. It would be as if China came to the US and banned constitutional law, substituting Confucian law instead."
Even after countries in the Middle East gained their political independence, he argued, �political elites in the East went much further [than the colonial powers] to destroy Islamic law." Because there are few means available for Muslims to challenge local elites through the political process, he said, their opposition explodes in deeper and more violent forms.
Nasr also faulted the U.S. media for promoting "ignorance, misinformation, and disinformation" about Islam. While U.S.-based pundits condemn Muslim scholars for a lack of response to anti-Israeli suicide bombings, Nasr said that almost all major Islamic scholars condemned the September 11, 2001 attacks. As far as Israel and the Palestinians are concerned, he said many Arabs are reluctant to tell the Palestinians what to do, since they feel a sense of shame at not being able to help them in any way.
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