Politics, Ideology, and Religions in the Middle East
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POLITICS, IDEOLOGY, AND RELIGIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST a graduate class project of Fairleigh Dickinson University by Alexandra Acosta Amanuel Ajawin Anwar Al-Barout Ahmed Al-Muharraqi Waleed Al-Shahari Jaime Buenahora Eve Burnett Pilar Bustamante ‘Matankiso Chachane Ahmad Daoudzai Arnaud Huannou Johannes de Millo Naseer Ahmed Faiq Bobette Jansen Shihana Mohamed Lila Ratsifandrihamanana Editor Ahmad Kamal Published by: Fairleigh Dickinson University 1000 River Road Teaneck, NJ 07666 USA May 2010 ISBN: 978-1-4507-1726-7 The opinions expressed in this book are those of the authors alone, and should not be taken as reflecting the views of Fairleigh Dickinson University, or of any other institution or entity. © All rights reserved by the authors No part of the material in this book may be reproduced without due attribution to its specific author. The Authors Alexandra Acosta is a Graduate Student from the USA Amanuel Ajawin is a Graduate Student from Sudan Anwar Al-Barout is a Diplomat from the UAE Ahmed Al-Muharraqi is a Diplomat from Bahrain Waleed Al-Shahari is a Graduate Student from Yemen Jaime Buenahora is a University Professor from Colombia Eve Burnett is a Graduate Student from the USA Pilar Bustamante is a Communications Expert from Colombia ‘Matankiso Chachane is a Diplomatic Assistant from Lesotho Ahmad Daoudzai is a Graduate Student from Afghanistan Arnaud Huannou is an International Civil Servant from Benin Johannes de Millo is a Diplomat from Monaco Naseer Ahmad Faiq is a Graduate Student from Afghanistan Bobette Jansen is a Graduate Student from Germany Ahmad Kamal is a Senior Fellow at the United Nations Shihana Mohamed is a Graduate Student from Sri Lanka Lila Ratsifandrihamanana is an International Civil Servant from Madagascar Index of Contents Foreword Ahmad Kamal 1 The Ancient Near Eat Eve Burnett 3 The First Millennium Bobette Jansen 13 The Second Millennium Jaime Buenahora 25 The Religious Mainstreams Pilar Bustamante 37 Islamic Sciences Arnaud Huannou 51 The Contributions of Africa Amanuel Ajawin 69 The External Players Ahmad Daoudzai 75 The Impact of Oil Anwar Al-Barout 95 Women in Terrorism Alexandra Acosta 107 The Role of Turkey Shihana Mohamed 117 The Role of Iran Johannes de Millo 137 The Iran Nuclear Program Ahmed Al-Muharraqi 147 Hezbollah Waleed Al-Shahari 153 Economic/Political Integration Naseer Ahmed Faiq 163 The Role of the Media ‘Matankiso Chachane 173 The Future Scenarios Lila Ratsifandrihamanana 185 Foreword Ahmad Kamal FOREWORD This is the second volume of a trilogy of books on the Middle East, prepared on the basis of research papers by graduate students of Fairleigh Dickinson University. Whereas the first volume had focused on current issues, this volume delves deeper into the three parameters of politics, ideology, and religions, that make the Middle East as critically important as it has become for all of us in a globalized world. Despite its central importance and impact on events elsewhere, the fact remains that the Middle East is a complex patchwork of distinct ethnicities and beliefs, each with its own formative history and development. An analysis of these elements is not easy, and yet it has to be attempted in an effort to better understand current events, and their unfolding into the future. Like all other parts of our world, the Middle East is of course an evolving geographical region. It is impacting the rest of the world just as it is itself being impacted by events in other parts of the world. There is nothing static in our world of yesterday and today. Everything moves constantly, everything impacts everything else. The story of history is a continuum, and a single continuum at that. As a result, the papers in this volume should only be read as part of a dynamic and fast moving situation, and not as conclusive or distinct in their views and judgments. Nevertheless, the papers do go deeper into the details of the historical determinants which influence current events in the Middle East and beyond, and their projection into the future. The role of immediate neighbors, and that of other external players, is also analyzed in order to determine the sad history of the past, and the chances of a better contribution to peace and security in the world in future. While every effort has been made in to do so in this volume, it is quite clear that much more needs to be done to identify the reasons why the Middle East is so centrally important to all of us. That is why the effort will be continued in the third volume of this trilogy, this last one concentrating on the economic aspects of the Middle East, and its economic impact on the worlds of today and tomorrow. Hopefully, the completed three-part exercise will assist us all in a better understanding of the events as they unfold in the Middle East and of the inputs that are so necessary in this part of the world. The graduate students who have participated in this extended exercise are to be congratulated for their significant assiduity, for their passionate convictions, and for the competent results of their research. 1 2 The Ancient Middle East Eve Burnett THE ANCIENT MIDDLE EAST INTRODUCTION September 11, 2001 was a defining moment in history. The Western world suddenly became concerned as never before with the existence of the Middle East, and the East-West dichotomy was thrown into high relief. The then-President of the United States and self-proclaimed leader of the free world referred to the response of the US as “civilization’s fight.”1. His “fight” sent American troops to Iraq to dethrone Saddam Hussein and to install democracy. Somehow it has not seemed to solve the problems. In opening his “new history”, published in 2006, Roger Osborne suggests that “civilization” is the thin veneer humans have created to protect themselves from their inner animalistic barbaric motives, the same ones which brought about the horrors of two World Wars. Interestingly, his historic accounts begin with prehistoric Europe and moves quite suddenly to the emergence of classical Greece. No reference is made to the accomplishments of Sumer, Babylon or the Kingdoms of Egypt.2 On the other side of the world, Saddam Hussein made frequent references to Iraq as the cradle of civilization and to the accomplishments of Nebuchadnezzar II and Hammurabi. His motivation was to highlight the importance of Iraq to the Arab world and to promote his political agenda of pan-Arabism.3 The fact of the matter is that Western civilization began in Iraq. Had there never been a Sumer or a Babylon, never a Hammurabi, and never an Abraham from the Sumerian city of Ur, the course of Western history would have been quite different. To establish this, it is necessary to look at the contributions of the ancient civilizations first and also to explore when and where East and West divided. THE FERTILE CRESCENT While today the Middle East faces the challenge of growing desertification, the landscape of the ancient Near East favored the growth of settled societies. The nomadic populations who wandered through the African continent and lived off the flesh of hunted animals found the riverbeds of the valley between the Tigris and the Euphrates and the Nile valley enabled them to live off the land. It was especially in the southern part of the river valleys where the water from the upper rivers flew into the sea that the fertility of the soil allowed for the year-round cultivation of crops. The weather was unpredictable and floods were frequent, but the collective effort of irrigation and the 1 Osborne, Roger. Civilization: A New History of the Western World. New York: Pegasus Books, 2006. , p. 1 2 (Osborne), pp. 20-46 3 Unknown, "Saddam Hussein." Unkown. www.wikipedia.com. 27 November 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein>. 3 The Ancient Middle East Eve Burnett construction of platforms to save homes from flooding gave men a measure of control over nature. 4 Living off the produce of agriculture required also the collaborative effort of separating the grain from the husk of the plant before it became removed by the wind and the rain.5 Agriculture thus inherently paved the way not only for the development of year-round settlements, but also of collaborative effort, social stratification and an understanding of the necessity of fore-thought. Dependence on agriculture also put these early societies in a vulnerable position with regards to the forces of nature. The attribution of certain divine characteristics to forces of nature and the fabrication of religious rites to compel the deities to heed the will of these early societies meant in turn that high social value was placed on the men and women who seemed closest to the gods. Competition for the irrigated waterways with other settlements also led to the development of methods of warfare and military organization.6 THE BEGINNINGS OF “CIVILIZATION” Writing about the very early history of these societies is always fraught with difficulties. First-hand evidence comes in the form of discovered pottery shards and other remnants. The earlier existence of other societies might be completely overlooked as remains might not exist or might not yet have been revealed. However, what we have gathered is that the earliest societies were small agricultural villages sharing cult centres with other villages.7 One of the earliest-known of these was the city of Uruk of ancient Sumeria. Uruk developed into the first true city. The inferior quality of the pots produced in Uruk suggests that they were, in fact, mass-prooduced and so indicate the existence of a cadre of craftspeople able to produce such wares, and also implies the beginning of trade.