2.5 Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun's Understanding of Civilizations And

Ibn Khaldun's Understanding of Civilizations and the Dilemmas of Islam and the West Today Author(s): Akbar Ahmed Source: Middle East Journal, Vol. 56, No. 1 (Winter, 2002), pp. 20-45 Published by: Middle East Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4329719 Accessed: 07/02/2009 09:34

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http://www.jstor.org Ibn Khaldun'sUnderstanding of Civilizationsand the Dilemmasof Islamand the WestToday

AkbarAhmed

In the wakeof the September11 attacks,new attentionis beingpaid to bothsides of the debateover the competingideas of a "clashof civilizations"and thatof a "dialogueof civilizations;" in thisarticle, Ibn Khaldun's analysis of civilizations is examinedin the contextof the dilemmasfaced by Islam and the Westtoday.

ISLAMVERSUS THE WEST?

L the centuryjust begun, how we organizeour lives, view our own culturesand interactwith otherswill be shapedby the outcomeof a strugglebetween two diametri- cally opposedideas. These ideas are furtherseparated, and the differencesbetween themsharpened, by the processwhich has come to be calledglobalization.' The firstof

AkbarS. Ahmedis the Ibn KhaldunChair of Islamic Studiesand Professorof InternationalRelations, The AmericanUniversity, Washington DC. He has held senioradministrative positions in Pakistan,and was the PakistanHigh Commissioner(Ambassador) to the UK, and is authorof Islam Today:A Short Introductionto the MuslimWorld, (London: I.B. Tauris,1999). He is the authorof many otherbooks and articles,and a frequentcommentator on Islamicaffairs in the media.The authoris deeply indebtedto the followingfor theircomments: Professors Osman Bakar, John Esposito, Louis Goodman, Benjamin Ladner, NanetteLevinson, James Mittelman,Joseph Montville, Sulayman Nyang, M. K. Pasha,Howard Reed, JohnRichardson, Lawrence Rosen, Chris Rojek, Abdul Aziz Said, andTamara Sonn; Ejaz Akram, Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, Arlene Fullerton,Azmat Hassan,Katherine Marshall, Mowahid Shah, and Meena Sharify-Funk.In particular,the authorwould like to expresshis gratitudeto DeanLouis Goodman, School of InternationalService, American University, Washington DC, for his commitmentto the Ibn Khaldun Chair.The authorhas been workingon themesin this articlefor severalyears for a forthcomingbook. The articleis based on his inaugurallecture as holderof the Ibn KhaldunChair. 1. For differentperspectives on globalizationsee the work of Akbar S. Ahmed, Postmodernism and Islam: Predicamentand Promise (London:Routledge, 1992); ZygmuntBauman, Globalization: The Human Consequences(Cambridge: Polity Press, 1998); Ralph Braibanti,"Islam and the West: Common Cause or Clash?"(Washington, DC: GeorgetownUniversity, Occasional Paper Series, The Center for Muslim-ChristianUnderstanding, 1999); RichardFalk, Predatory Globalization:A Cri- tique (Cambridge:Polity Press, 1999); Alija Ali Izetbegovic, Islam between East and West(India- napolis, IN: AmericanTrust Publications, 1993); MuhammadKhatami, "Dialogue of Civilizations" (New York:United Nations GeneralAssembly, September24, 1998); John Micklethwaitand Adrian Wooldridge,A FuturePerfect: The Challengeand HiddenPromise of Globalization(New York:Times Books, 2000); M. PatriciaMische and Melissa Merkling(eds.), Towardsa Global Civilization?The Contributionof Religions (New York:Peter Lang Publishing,Inc., 2001). Lewis approachesthe same subject from a historical perspective: BernardLewis, The Multiple Identities of the Middle East, Continuedon Next Page MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL * VOLUME 56, NO. 1 WINTER 2002 MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 21

these opposed ideas is the so-called "Clashof Civilizations"in which Muslims are invariablyseen as the mainopponents of the West.This Muslim-Westernopposition is not a new idea2and is, in fact, a continuationof olderideas aboutIslam as a predatory civilizationthreatening the West.3 The second and opposedidea is the "Dialogueof Civilizations,"introduced by PresidentMuhammad Khatami of Iranin the United Nations4and supportedby UN SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan. President Khatami's statement made a dramaticimpact becausehis countryis associatedin Westernminds with "terrorism"and "extremism"

Continuedfrom Previous Page (New York:Schocken Books, 1998); Friedmanfrom thatof a journalist:Thomas Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree: UnderstandingGlobalization, (New York: Farrar,Straus and Giroux, 2000); Mittelmanthat of a political economist:James Mittelman,The GlobalizationSyndrome: Transforma- tion and Resistance, (Princeton:Princeton University Press, 2000); Giddens from that of a sociologist:Anthony Giddens, Runaway World: How Globalizationis reshapingour lives, (London:Routledge, 2000); and Kottakthat of an anthropologist:Conrad Phillip Kottak,Cultural Anthropology, (Univer- sity of Michigan and New York: McGraw-Hill,Higher Education,2000). For a more apocalyptic interpretationsee Grace Halsell, Prophecyand Politics: MilitantEvangelists on the Road to Nuclear War(Westport, Connecticut: Lawrence Hill and Co., 1986) and GraceHalsell, ForcingGod's Hand - WhyMillions Prayfor a QuickRapture - and destructionof Planet Earth (Washington,DC: Cross- roads Int. Publishing, 1999); Mary Kaldor,New and Old Wars:Organized violence in a Global era (Cambridge:Polity Press, 1999); RobertKaplan, The End of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia,a Journeyto the Frontiersof Anarchy,(New York:Vintage Books, 1997). 2. The idea is containedin the simplistic division of the world into dar al-Islam - the land of Islam - and dar al-harb- the land of war.The conceptcan be tracedto the origins of Islam.After the Prophet'smigration to Medina, the town was declared dar al-Islam while Mecca, from where he fled, remaineddar-al-harb. Ira G. ZeppJr., A MuslimPrimer: Beginner's Guide to Islam,(Westminster, Maryland:Wakefield Editions, 1992 ), p.30. Also see AbdulHamidAbuSulayman, Towards an Is- lamic Theoryof InternationalRelations: New Directionsfor Methodologyand Thought,(Herndon, Virginia:International Institute for Islamic Thought, 1993); and Abdulaziz Sachedina,The Islamic Roots of DemocraticPluralism, (Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2001). 3. ProfessorRichard Falk points out: "To a large extent, this humanrights discourseis unavoid- ably perceived,with varyingdegrees of justificationand opportunism,as taintedby false universalism and is an expression of Westernhegemony, one featureof which has been, and continuesto be, the suppressionof civilizationalidentity and difference- particularlyIslam, which has historicallybeen perceivedas a threatby the West."Richard Falk, HumanRights Horizons: the Pursuitof Justice in a GlobalizingWorld, (New Yorkand London:Routledge, 2000), pp. 150; Also see BenjaminR. Barber, Jihad vs. McWorld,(New York:Times Books, 1995); JohnL. Esposito, TheIslamic Threat:Myth or a Reality? (New York:Oxford UniversityPress, 1992); Fred Halliday,Islam and the Mythof Confron- tation, (London:I.B. Tauris,1996); GrahamE. Fuller and Ian 0. Lesser,A Sense of Siege, (Boulder, CO: Westview/RAND, 1995); Izetbegovic,Islam betweenEast and West. 4. PresidentMuhammad Khatami of Iran,in his text to the United Nations GeneralAssembly in New York on the 24th of September 1998, strongly and clearly advocateda "Dialogue of Civiliza- tions" (MuhammadKhatami, "Dialogue of Civilizations";see especially pages 12 and 13). The two doves on the text of the statementsymbolized its content.For a detaileddiscussion of the concept see Dialogue of Civilization:An IntroductoryCivilizational Analysis by VictorSegesvary (Lanham, Mary- land: United Press of America, 2000); also see GiandomenicoPicco, "A Dialogue Among Civiliza- tions," in SetonHall Journalof Diplomacyand InternationalRelations ,Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter/Spring, 2001), pp. 5-10. 22 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL althoughthis idea too is not entirelynew. Worldfigures like Pope John Paul II,' the Archbishopof Canterbury,George Carey, Nelson Mandelaof SouthAfrica, Prince Charlesof GreatBritain, and Bishop Desmond Tutu of SouthAfrica, on one level, and manyothers,6 on anotherlevel, havebeen involvedin theirown ways in preciselythis kindof dialoguefor manyyears. Forpeople of good will or faiththe idea of dialogue lies at the heartof the humancondition and the need to reachout. The idea of dialogue was strucka deadly blow in Americaon September11, 2001, whenthe fourhijacked planes killed thousands of innocentpeople anddestroyed the lives of manymore. Other global ideas lay buriedin the rubbleof the WorldTrade Centerin New Yorkand in the smokingruin of the Pentagonin Washington:that of triumphantglobalization as an irresistible,irreversible process and the idea of America as an impregnablefortress. On that extraordinaryday, the Presidentof the United States was on the run, zigzagging acrossAmerica in Air Force One, escortedby F-16s and F-15s, until he returnedto the capitallate in the day to take charge.Stocks tumbled,the Stock Ex- change closed, all flights were suspended,emergency was declaredin severalstates andfalse alarmssent peoplescurrying for theirlives. The scenesof panicon television would have seemedfarfetched and unrealin a Hollywoodfilm. Americabegan to recoverquickly from the unprecedentedcarnage and mayhem; its nativeoptimism began to reassertitself. The starsand stripesappeared everywhere and interfaithdialogue was heardacross the land. PresidentGeorge W. Bush made a welcome visit to the IslamicCenter in Washington,DC. Dramatically,imperceptibly, the miasmicpall of uncertainty,of our lives being vulnerableand out of control,that hangsover much of the worldnow descendedon Americans.People were awarethat somethinghad changedfundamentally. A sense of urgency,panic and even hysteriawas createdby the media.Anthrax cases, fires in the subway,even a tremorin California- everythingwas instinctively being blamedon the "terrorists."The news and discussionsin the mediawere broadcast underthe heading"America Under Attack," "Why do theyhate us?" asked Ameri- cans. Warwas declaredon "terrorists"and in early Octoberthe bombingof Afghani- stanbegan. Muslim demonstrators protested in manyparts of the world. Warsare usually a consequenceof the breakdownof communicationbetween the protagonists.In this case it was a totally asymmetricalwar in the most profound ways possible:the two differentsocieties, one highly industrializedand world-domi- nating,the otherstill pre-industrial,impoverished and tribal spoke different languages and lived in differentcultures. The only thing in commonwas the mutualincompre- hensionwith which they viewed each other. Americancommentators pointed to Iraq,Syria, and Iran as other"terrorist" states and potentialtargets. Pakistan, which had nurturedand supportedthe Talibanin Af- ghanistan,escaped the wrathof the Americansby hastily ditchingthe Talibanand

5. See John Paul II, Crossingthe Thresholdof Hope, (New York,Alfred A. Knopf, 1994). 6. Most scholarsreferred to in this articlehave been actively involvedin a dialogueof civilizations throughtheir contributionto humanknowledge. MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 23 siding with the Americans. Usamabin Ladinin an extraordinaryinterview broadcast on Americantelevision7 argued that this was a war betweenIslam and the West.The main grievanceshe listed were the plight of the Palestiniansand the people of Iraq; foreign,non-Muslim troops stationed in SaudiArabia and the oppressionof Muslims by repressiveMuslim regimes. The list strucka nerve in the mosques,shantytowns, andbazaars of the Muslimworld. The idea of Islamas an enemy was gainingground in the Westin spite of Westernleaders insisting this was not true. Commentatorshad associatedMuslims with the September11 attacksfrom the momentthe news broke.Usama bin Ladin,who hadthreatened the UnitedStates with mass terroron severaloccasions, was widely believedto be the mastermind.If a Peru- vian or a Japanesecult had steppedforward and claimedthat they had organizedthe attacksit wouldnot have mattered.In the publicmind Islam was to blame.Reports of the harassmentof Muslimsand attackson mosquesbegan to circulate.Girls wearing the hijab were attackedand abused.Arabs and Pakistaniswere killed; so was a Sikh, mistaken,because of his beardand turban, for a Muslim.The yearsof negativepress, news of hijackingor hostagetaking or honorkillings, reinforced by big budget,main- streamHollywood films like TrueLies, ExecutiveDecision and TheSiege, had condi- tionedthe publicto expect the worstfrom a civilizationwidely viewed as "terrorist," "fundamentalist,"and "fanatic."Immediately, unthinkingly, the explosionsin Okla- homa City in 1995 were at first blamedon the Muslims.It was hardfor the mediato acceptthat a whiteAnglo-Saxon American man was behindit. Muslimswere not helpingtheir case afterSeptember 11. Muslimguilt seemedto be confirmedfor Americanslong before any concreteevidence came in, as they saw thejubilation in partsof theMuslim world where people distributed sweets and chanted slogans againstAmerica. Although these were small groups,the insensitivityof the Muslimreaction rubbed salt intoAmerican wounds. Any doubtsabout taking a savage revengewere removed.Few recognizedthe humiliation,terror, and neurosisin Mus- lim society from the decadesof emotionaland physicalviolence thatthey had been subjectedto; andfewer understood that many Muslims blamed America for their plight. The idea of Islam set on a collision course with Americatriumphed over any other ideas of global peace and dialogue. Yet the actions of the hijackershad nothingto do with Islamic theology.The killing of innocentcivilians is specificallyforbidden in the Qur'an.Killing a single innocentindividual is like killing all of humanity,warns the Holy Book.8The actions of the hijackersmay have had nothingto do with Islam;the consequencesand causes of theiraction will have everythingto do with how and whereIslam will be going in the 21St century. Whatwe will increasinglyface in the centuryis the possibilityof a few determined men hijackingthe engine of a global religion and by their actions involving

7. Interviewwith Al-Jazeeratelevision (Qatar),broadcast October 7, 2001, and rebroadcastregu- larly on CNN in the United States. 8. Holy Qur'an, Sura V (Al-Ma'ida), 32; English translationas here from The Meaning of the Glorious Quran,translated by MarmadukePickthall (Hyderabad-Deccan, India: Government Central Press, 1938). 24 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL millionsof people.What September 11 illustratedwas the abilityof a few determined individualsto pull in theirentire civilization, whether it agreesor does not agreewith their thinkingor actions, into a confrontationwith other civilizations.If a groupof Hindusdemolishes a mosquein Ayodhyain India,or Muslimsblow up Buddhiststat- ues at Bamiyanin Afghanistan,their religions are associatedin the worldmedia with these acts of extremism. Now imaginethe ultimatenightmare terrorist scenario: the destructionof the al- Aqsa mosqueor the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem,the holy city for all threefaiths andthe one city wherethe threefaiths live side by side and whichhas the potentialto createpositive and seriousinterfaith interaction. The mosqueis one of the holiest in Islam and the site associatedwith the originsof the faith. If some trainedand determinedindividuals were to blow up the mosque- as manyhave threatened to do for politicaland religious reasons - the actionwould have the potentialto triggerimmediate world conflict. Islam could be set on a collision course with Judaismand Christianity.The "war"may not have militarybattles because governmentsdo not respondin apocalypticterms, but Muslims,whether living in the West or theirown homelands,might be determinedto take revengeby acts of violence. If it came to Jerusalem,few Muslims- howeverkeen on dialogue- would want to be involvedin attemptingto explainwhat happened.Emotions would be too powerfulfor rationalthought. Dialogue and understandingwould simplybe ignored. Yet the idea of a dialogueof civilizationsis centralto the Muslimperception of self. By knowingGod as Compassionateand Merciful- the two most frequentlyre- peatednames of God of the 99 names- Muslimsknow they mustembrace others even those who may not belong to theircommunity, religion or nation.God tells us in the holy Qur'anto appreciatethe varietyHe has createdin humansociety: "Andof His signs is the creationof the heavensand the earth,and the differenceof yourlanguages andcolors."9 The examinationof languageand color or raceis the stock-in-tradeof the social scientist and this I believe is a good point to introduceIbn Khaldun(1332- 1406).

IBN KHALDUNAND THE UNDERSTANDINGOF CIVILIZATIONS

Unfortunatelythe namesof Muslimscholars are not as well knownin the West todayas I believe they shouldbe. WhenI talkof IbnKhaldun people usually ask: Who is he? Another"terrorist"? Any links to Usamabin Ladin?Or is he an oil shaykhor an Arabminister? Even the scholarswho have heardof Ibn Khaldunmay well ask:How is Ibn Khaldun,the Arabin question,relevant to our problemsin the 2lst century? However,I am confidentthat there will be others(particularly among readers of TheMiddle East Journal) who will recognizethe relevance of my theme- IbnKhaldun andthe understandingof civilizations.The notedhistorian Arnold Toynbee, recogniz- ing the scope and scale of Ibn Khaldun'swork, called it "undoubtedlythe greatest

9. Holy Qur'an,Sura XXX (Al-Rum),verse 22. MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 25 workof its kindthat has everyet been createdby any mindin anytime or place."10 Not only is Ibn Khaldungenerally recognized as the "father,or one of the fathers,of mod- ern culturalhistory and social science"'"influencing and shapingthese disciplines into our time, but his workprovides the intellectualpoint at which otherworld scholars connectin genuineappreciation.12 Ibn Khaldun'sideas foreshadowthose of our own time. "Some of the central formulaeof the modernage," I noted with an element of awe while attemptingto discoverthe relationshipof Muslimhistory to societyover a decadeago, "arereflected in Ibn Khaldun'stheories: Karl Marx's stages of humanhistory which providethe dynamicsfor the dialecticsof conflictbetween groups; Max Weber's typology of leadership;Vilfredo Pareto's circulation of elites; and ErnestGellner's pendulum swing theoryof Islam,oscillating from an urban,formal literal tradition to a rural,informal and mysticalone."7 13 IndeedEmile Durkheim'sconcept of "mechanical"and "organicsolidarity" reflects Ibn Khaldun'snotion of 'asabiyyaor "socialcohesion". It is 'asabiyyathat is at the coreof the Khaldunianunderstanding of societyand we shallreturn to it. Durkheim, himself one of the foundingfathers of modernsocial science, showed us how the collapse of solidarityled to abnormalbehavior. He called this anomie. I will argue below thata kindof global anomieis whatMuslim society is experiencingas a result of the breakdownof 'asabiyya. Thereis a fundamentaldifference however between the modernWestern sociologists and Ibn Khaldun.For all his "scientific"objectivity - andfor manyMuslims it is excessive - Ibn Khaldunstill writesas a believer.There is a moralimperative in his interpretationof 'asabiyyaas the organizingprinciple of society.Muslims see human beings as havingbeen createdto implementthe vision of God on earththrough theirbehavior and organizationof society.The humanbeing is a Vice-regentof God accordingto the Qur'an(Sura II, Al-Baqara,verse 30.) So 'asabiyyaas an organizing principleis not "value-free." "Socialorganization," Ibn Khaldunwrote, "is necessaryto the humanspecies. Withoutit, the existenceof humanbeings wouldbe incomplete.God's desireto settle

10. Ibn Khaldun,The Muqaddimah:An Introductionto History, translatedby FranzRosenthal in threevolumes, one volumeabridgement by N.J. Dawood (Princeton,Princeton University Press, 1969), pp. xiv, citing an originalreview by Toynbeein The Observer 11. MuhsinMahdi, "Ibn Khaldun" in InternationalEncyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Editedby David L. Sills (New York,The MacMillanCo., 1968), Vol. 7, pp. 56. 12. I know of few internationalscholars who attractthe range and quality of scholarsfrom such differentbackgrounds as does Ibn Khaldun.Among them, to name a few, almost at random,are Ernest Gellner,Muslim Society (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1981); LawrenceRosen, Bargain- ingfor Reality: The Constructionof Social Relations in a Muslim Community(Chicago: The Univer- sity of Chicago Press, 1984); MartinLings, What is Sufism? (Cambridge,UK, The Islamic Texts Society, 1995); and Muhsin Mahdi,Ibn Khaldun's Philosophyof History:A Studyin the Foundation of the Science of Culture(Chicago: The Universityof Chicago Press, 1957). 13. AkbarS. Ahmed, Discovering Islam: MakingSense of MuslimHistory and Society, (London: Routledge, 1988), pp 101. 26 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL the worldwith humanbeings and to leave themas His representativeson earthwould not materialize.This is the meaningof civilization,the object of the science under discussion."14The social orderthus reflects the moralorder; the formercannot be in a state of collapsewithout suggesting a moralcrisis. Ibn Khaldun'smethodological approach demonstrates intellectual confidence. Althoughbased in sociology, Ibn Khaldundiscussed in his analysis the impact of Greekphilosophy on society15the interpretationof dreams16the influenceof climate and food'7 and the effect of the personalityof the leaderin the rise and fall of dynasties"8In usingcross-cultural comparison, Arab, Berber, Turk and Mongol groups would providehim the datafor his theories.Besides, he was not writingas an isolatedscholar in an ivory tower but from the vantagepoint of a political actorin the historyof his time.The richmaterial he gatheredwas the basisfor his 'Jlmal- 'umranor "thescience of cultureor society." "IbnKhaldun's life," I wrote,"forms a bridge,a transition,between the distinct phasesof Muslimhistory which we are examining:the Arabdynasties in the tail-end of which - as in UmayyadSpain - he lived, and the great Muslim empireswhich would develop by the end of the centuryin which he died. His life also teaches us manythings, confirming them for us in ourown period:the uncertaintyof politics;the ficklenessof rulers;the abruptchanges of fortune,in jail one day, honoredthe next; and finally, the supremacyof the ideal in the constant,unceasing, search for 'ilm, knowledge,and thereforethe ultimatetriumph of the humanwill andintellect against all odds."'9 All of us in the 21st centuryneed to be gratefulto Ibn Khaldunfor remindingus of the lesson of "thehuman will andintellect." We need to acknowledgethe American Universityin WashingtonDC for keepingthe memoryof IbnKhaldun alive by naming a Chairafter him. I heldthe Fellowship (Chair) named in honorof 'AllamaMuhammad Iqbalat CambridgeUniversity for five years.For me now to writeas the Ibn Khaldun Chairat anotherWestern University is a singularhonor because I believe thatthough the two, Iqbalthe poet-philosopherand Ibn Khaldunthe sociologist,represent different zones, differentdisciplines and differentapproaches together they providea rich mine for contemporaryscholarship and an authenticbasis for the dialogueof civilizations. Let us examinesome currentglobal theoriesabout society.

GLOBALTHEORIES

We must not considerthis discussion as merely an academicexercise or one motivatedby a woolly if well-intentionedeffort at interfaithdialogue. The events of September11 havemade it clearhow urgentit is to understandIslam in ourworld. Just

14. Ibn Khaldun,The Muqaddimah: An Introductionto History, pp. 46. 15. Ibn Khaldun,The Muqaddimah: An Introductionto History, pp. 373-375. 16. Ibn Khaldun,The Muqaddimah:An Introductionto History, pp. 70-87. 17. Ibn Khaldun,The Muqaddimah: An Introductionto History, pp. 58-69. 18. Ibn Khaldun,The Muqaddimah:An Introductionto History, pp. 238-261. 19. Ahmed, Discovering Islam: MakingSense of MuslimHistory and Society, p. 106. MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 27 the span and scale of Muslim society warrantunderstanding. There are 55 Muslim states - of which at least one is a nuclearpower - and Islam has over one billion followers with abundantvitality and passion whose spreadis now trulyglobal. The urgencydemands a two way process:for Muslimsto explainIslam to non-Muslims and for non-Muslimsto be responsiveand makean effortto understand. Yet Muslimsappear to be reluctantto participatein dialogue.They appearto be challengedby certaincultural and intellectualaspects of globalizationbecause many appearto equateglobalization with Westernization.In this, they echo manyWestern analystswho also equatethe two. IndeedAnthony Giddens argues modernity itself, the very enginedriving globalization, is a "Westernproject."20 Thomas Friedman nar- rows globalizationdown furtherto "Americanization'.2' AlthoughMuslims appear to be uncomfortablewith globalization,the idea and practiceof globalizationare familiarto Muslimhistory. Islam's vision of the worldis by definitionglobal. There is neitherEast nor West for God.22Islamic history has had long periodsin which we recognizeelements from what we todaycall globalization: societiesliving within different ethnic, geographic and political boundaries, but speaking a languageunderstood throughout, enjoying a commoncultural sensibility and recog- nizing the same over-archingethos in the world-view (see Albert Hourani23and MarshallHodgson24 for just how muchglobalization there once was in Islamiccivili- zation).A mancould travelfrom Granadain Europeto the Maghrebin NorthAfrica, on to Cairo,then to the Arabianpeninsula and from thereto Baghdad acrossthree continents,and still be in one familiarculture. Ibn Khaldunin the 14th centuryAD is just one such example. Anotheraspect of thattime can provideinspiration for those of us searchingthe past for examplesof the dialogueof civilizations.The Jews, Christiansand Muslims living in Spain untillate in the 15th centuryAD createda rich culturalsynthesis, each cultureenriching the other,which resultedin literature,art and architectureof high quality.The libraryin Cordobain Spain (al-Andalus)had more books than all the otherlibraries of Europeput together. Therewere long periodsof religiousand cul- turalharmony.25 The influenceof Muslimideas, culture,art and architectureon Eu- ropewas wide anddeep. Key figureslike ThomasAquinas were influencedby Islamic thought.The Greekswere introducedto Europevia Muslim Spain and throughthe

20. AnthonyGiddens, The Consequencesof Modernity(Cambridge, Polity Press, 1990), p. 174. 21. Friedman,The Lexus and the Olive Tree: UnderstandingGlobalization, p. xix. 22. Holy Qur'an, Sura II (Al-Baqara),Verse 115. 23. Albert Hourani,A History of the Arab Peoples (London:Faber and Faber, 1991). 24. M. G. S. Hodgson, The Ventureof Islam, (Chicago:The Universityof ChicagoPress, 1974), 3 Volumes. 25. Some scholars see America as having the potentialto create a genuinely harmoniousmulti- religious and multi-culturalsociety. See Diana L. Eck, A New ReligiousAmerica: How A "Christian Country"Has Become the World'sMost ReligiouslyDiverse Nation, (San Francisco:Harper, 2001). As Muslims become more visible incidents against the community appearto be on the rise. Anti- Muslim incidentsrose by 15%in the year 2000-2001 accordingto a report,"Accommodating Diver- Continuedon Next Page 28 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL filterof Arabic. Mostpeople in the Westare unaware of Europe'scultural and intellectual debt to Islam.Muslims take this indifferenceas a deliberateslight. It providesthe background to why they view with suspiciondevelopments in our time. It allows themto simplify globalissues andinterpret a seriesof recentdevelopments. on the surfaceunconnected, as a well-laidplan by theWest to humiliateand even subjugatethem: Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Versescontroversy, the collapse of the Bank of Commerceand Credit International(BCCI), the Gulf War,the rapeand deathcamps of Bosnia, Kosovaand Chechnyaand the continuingplight of the Palestiniansand Kashmiris.In turn,critics accuse Muslimsof humanrights abuse in many countriesincluding Sudan, Afghani- stanand Pakistan. In Pakistan,in an extremeact of desperation,a Bishopshot himself in protestat the treatmentof his community. In this milieuof suspicioneven scholarlyexercises such as SamuelHuntington's essay, "TheClash of Civilizations?"26and later book,27 Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man,28and Felipe FernandezArmesto's Millennium29 are seen by Muslims as part of a global conspiracyagainst Islam, part of a bludgeon- Islam-out-of-existenceschool of thought. However,what cannot be deniedis thatthese theoristsmade an unexpectedcon- tributionto the discussionof Islamby underliningthe role of religionin contemporary global society.It is no longerpossible to talk of globalizationin termsof worldtrade and high financeonly. Howeverthese theorieshave alloweddeeply rootedhistorical prejudicesto resurface.In discussion,at times,lamentably, even giving thema degree of respectability. In his influentialessay "The Clash of Civilizations?"Huntington argued that futureconflicts will be basedon religiousculture, not on ideology or economicinter- ests. Islamwas singledout as a potentialenemy civilization in an argumentthat was as deterministicas it was simplistic."Islam has bloody borders,"concluded Huntington

Continuedfrom Previous Page sity", issued by the Council for American-IslamicRelations (CAIR) in August 2001. See also Paul Findley,Silent No More: ConfrontingAmerica's False Images of Islam, (Beltsville, Maryland:Amana Publications,2001). "Theseincidents, many of which involved denial of religious accommodationin the workplace(48 percent)or schools (15 percent),"notes the CAIR report,"included thirty Muslim employees in Minnesotawho walked off the job because they were denied the right to pray,a correc- tionalofficer in New Yorkwho was deniedthe rightto wear a beard,a womanin Illinois who was fired for wearing a religiously-mandatedhead scarf, Muslim studentsin Virginiawho were told they could no longer hold obligatoryFriday prayers in school, and even a shotgunattack on a mosque in Tennes- see that left one worshiperwounded." More committedand vigorous work needs to be done in this area especially after the backlashagainst Muslims as a result of the events of September11. 26. Samuel P. Huntington,"The Clash of Civilizations?",Foreign Affairs, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer 1993). 27. Samuel P. Huntington,The Clash of Civilizationsand the Remakingof WorldOrder (New York:Simon and Schuster,1996). 28. FrancisFukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York:Bard, 1998). 29. Felipe FernandezArmesto, Millennium:A History of the Last ThousandYears, (New York: Scribner, 1995). MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 29

(p. 35). But if the Bosnians and Chechens,the Palestiniansand the Kashmirisare askedabout their borders they would say the same of, respectively,Christianity, Juda- ism, and Hinduism. This dangerouslydeterministic argument takes us directlyto a clash of civilizations.It carriesthe dangerof becominga self-fulfillingprophecy. Yet we will see below the realclash, the causeof the turmoil,is to be locatedwithin Islam. Besides,the globalstrategic and security interests of theWest are directly related to Muslimlands and many Muslim nationsare seen as importantallies: of the nine "pivotalstates" identified in a recentarticle by Westernexperts around which America formsits foreignpolicy five were Muslim:Algeria, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Indo- nesia.30In additionover 20 million Muslimsare permanentlysettled in the West and ignoredby the "Clash"writers like Huntington.The events of September11 under- lined theirrole as a bridgebetween the two civilizations.They carriedthe potentialto challengethe "Islamversus the West"dichotomy. Then thereare the seriousefforts, at a global level, perhapsfor the first time on this scale and frequency,of influentialindividuals advocating mutual understanding. The Pope's statementsare one example.3"The Prince of Wales' initiativeto bring betterunderstanding between Islam and Westerncivilization, which began with his celebratedlecture at Oxfordin 1993 on "Islamand the West,"32is anotherexample. The speechwas widely reportedin the Muslimworld and struck a chord. The Kingof SaudiArabia, one of the most powerfuland inaccessible monarchs on earth,broke all protocol and drove to the Prince'shotel late at night to congratulatehim when the Princevisited his countryshortly after the lecture. Althoughprovocative and widely discussed,theories like Huntington'sare inad- equate.Let us look elsewherefor explanationsas to whatis happeningin the Muslim world.

THEBREAKDOWN OF IBN KHALDUN'SCYCLE

Ibn Khaldunhighlighted the importanceof the rulerand his dutiesto the ruledin this worldso thatboth mightaspire to and securethe next. The leaderembodies both political and moralauthority.33 Ibn Khaldun'sscience of cultureultimately functions to illuminatethe science of good governance.In our time, one of the majorcrises that faces Muslimsociety is thatof leadership.Yet even influentialcontemporary Western thinkerscommenting on Islam,like Huntingtonand Fukuyama, have failed to discuss the importanceof Muslimleadership.

30. RobertChase et al., "PivotalStates and US Strategy,"Foreign Affairs, Vol. 75, No. 1, (Janu- ary/February,1996). 31. His Holiness John Paul II, Crossingthe Thresholdof Hope . 32. "Islam and the West,"speech by the Prince of Wales, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, October27, 1993. 33. See AkbarS. Ahmed,Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity:The Search for Saladin, (London: Routledge, 1997) and AkbarS. Ahmed, The Quaid: Jinnah and the Story of Pakistan(Karachi: Ox- ford University Press, 1997); Abdal Majid al Najjar,The Viceregencyof Man: Between Revelation and Reason (Hermdon,Virginia: International Institute of Islamic Thought,2000). 30 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL

On the surfacethere is a bewilderingrange of Muslimleadership: kings, military dictators,democrats and, as in Afghanistanat least untilrecently, young andinexperi- encedtribal men or religiousscholars (the meaningof Taliban)running a country.The Talibanand theirguest from SaudiArabia, Usama bin Ladin,who is accusedof mas- termindingthe attackson Americaon September11, 2001, andbefore that the bombing of the Americanembassies in Africain 1998 and the USS Cole in Aden harborin his war against"Jews and Crusaders,"symbolize a certainMuslim responseto our time. In othercountries such as Algeria,Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia, Muslim leaders akin to the Talibanin thoughtand behavioractively challengegovernment. The Iranians,themselves considered fanatics by somein theWest, complain that the Taliban are so extremethat they are giving Islam a bad name. Clearly,ideas and styles of Muslimleadership are variedand hotly contested. Whatthen is going on in Muslimsociety? Who arethe emergingleaders? Defin- ing these leadersis no longer a simple questionof taxonomybut of examiningwhat factorsare responsiblefor their emergenceand the changes takingplace in society. The collapseof leadershipis thusa symptomof the breakdownof society andis also a cause of the breakdown. It is time to turnfor assistanceto Ibn Khaldun'smost widely knowntheory, that of 'asabiyyaor social cohesion,which is at the core of social organization.'Asabiyya bindsgroups together through a commonlanguage, culture, and code of behaviorand when thereis consciousapproximation of behaviorto an idea of the ideal, at different levels, family,clan, tribe, and kingdomor nation, society is whole. With 'asabiyya, society fulfills its primarypurpose to functionwith integrityand transmitsits values and ideas to the next generation.'Asabiyya is what traditionalsocieties possess (the Arabicroot has to do with the cohesivenessof the tribe),but which is brokendown in urbanizedsociety over a periodof time. Of course,Ibn Khaldunpointed out thatcer- tain civilized societies based in cities with developed social organization,arts and crafts,may take a long time to breakdown. Ibn Khaldunfamously suggested that rural and tribalpeoples come down from the mountainsto urbanareas and dominatethem, and four generationson, as they absorbthe mannersand values of urbanlife, they lose their special qualityof social cohesion and become effete and thereforevulnerable to fresherinvasions from the hills.34This cyclical, if over-simplified,pattern of rise and fall held for centuriesand up to the advent of Europeancolonialism.35 Even the disruptiveforce of European imperialismover the 19thand 20th centuriesdid not fully breakthe cycle. Paradoxically,it is only afterindependence from the Europeancolonial powers in the middleof the 20th century,when Muslimsocieties should have become stronger and more cohesive,that Ibn Khaldun'scycle beganto be seriouslyaffected. It is now

34. Ibn Khaldun,The Muqaddimah:An Introductionto History,pp. 123-142. 35. Ibn Khaldunwas studyingsociety in the westernpart of the Muslimworld. But the Khaldunian cyclical patternof rise and fall of dynasties held in Central and South Asia as well. Tribes from CentralAsia invaded India and gave it seven dynasties, which ruled from Delhi each one in turn becoming effete over the generationsand giving way to those with stronger'asabiyya from the north. MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 31 drying up at the source. Tribaland ruralgroups can no longer provide 'asabiyya; urbanareas in any case are inimical to it: the result is loss of vigor and cohesion. Muslimseverywhere will voice their alarmat the breakdownof society.They know thatsomething is going fundamentallywrong but are not surewhy. Some Americansthought they had the answer.It came in responseto the question Americansasked after September 11, "Whydo they hate us?"And becausepsy- chiatristsplay such an importantrole in interpretingbehavior in Americansociety the answerswere couchedin termsof "envy,""jealousy," and "hatred."We will look elsewherefor the answers.We will examinethe reasonswhy 'asabiyyais collapsingand the consequencesof the collapse. 'Asabiyyais breakingdown in the Muslimworld because of the followingrea- sons: massiveurbanization, dramatic demographic changes, a populationexplosion, large-scalemigrations to the West, the gap betweenrich and poor which is growing ominouslywide, the widespreadcorruption and mismanagementof rulers,the ram- pantmaterialism coupled with the low premiumon scholarship,the crisis of identity and,perhaps most significantly,new and often alien ideas andimages, at once seduc- tive and repellent,instantly communicated from the Westwhich challengetraditional values and customs.This processof breakdownis takingplace when a largepercent- age of the populationin the Muslim world is young, dangerouslyilliterate, mostly jobless and thereforeeasily mobilizedfor radicalchange.36 Globalizationis the easy targetwhen lookingaround for somethingto blamefor the problemsof our world.But 'asabiyyawas damagedfrom the mid-twentiethcen- turyonwards as a directresult of politicaldevelopments: the creationof Pakistanand Israel,the full-blownrevolution in Iran,the civil war situationin Algeria,Afghanistan and partsof CentralAsia displacedand killed millions, split communitiesand shat- teredfamilies.

JAHANNUM (HELL)OR JAIL:THE DILEMMA OF THEMUSLIM SCHOLAR

FollowingKhaldunian logic, with 'asabiyyabreaking down, society can no longer implementGod's vision for humancivilization. The crisisis compoundedas the scholars of Islam who can offer balancedadvice and guidanceare in disarray.Muslims believe thatthose who possess 'ilm,or knowledge,best explainthe idea of what God desiresfrom us on earth.So centralis 'ilmto understandingIslam that it is the second most used wordin the Koran.The Prophet'shadith, saying, "The death of a scholar,is the deathof knowledge"emphasizes the importanceof scholarship.37

36. See Human DevelopmentReport (Oxford and New York:Oxford UniversityPress, United Nations DevelopmentProgram, 1995). Also see ShahidJaved Burki, "Populationas an Asset," Paki- stan Link(California), August 10, 2001. Burkimakes the telling point througha comparisonbetween Pakistanwith a populationof 140 million, and one of the largest Muslim nations, and the United States:Pakistan has 72 million people underthe age of 19, America70 million, althoughthe popula- tion of Pakistanis half of that of the United States. 37. This hadith is found, for example, in Sahih al-Bukhari,Number 6763, and Sunan Darami, number242. 32 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL

Unfortunately,the realityin the Muslimworld is that scholarsare silenced,hu- miliatedor chasedout of theirhomes.38 The implicationsfor society areenormous. In the place of scholarsadvising, guiding, and criticizingthe rulersof the day, we have the sycophantsand the secret services.The wisdom, compassionand learningof the formerrisk the dangerof being replacedby the paranoiaand neurosis of the latter.And where do the scholarsescape? To Americaor Europe.Yet it is popularto blame the West,to blame others,for conspiracies. Withthe scholarsdriven out or underpressure to remainsilent it is not surprising thatthe Muslimworld's statistics in educationare among the lowest in the world.The literacyfigures are far fromsatisfactory, and for womenthey are alarming.As a result womenin the Muslimworld are deprivedof theirinheritance and their rights, and the men in theirfamilies tell themthat this is Islam. Withthose scholarssilenced who can provideobjectivity within the Islamictra- dition and resiliencein times of change,other kinds of religiousscholars - like the Taliban-working in a differenttradition interpret Islam narrowly. Islam for themhas become a tool of repression.Its bruntis felt by women and the minorities.Political tyrannyalso grows unchecked,as the scholarsare not at handto commentand criti- cize. ProfessorAbdulHamid AbuSulayman, the Presidentof the InternationalInsti- tutefor IslamicThought and based in America,summed up the crisisto me in personal conversation:"The Muslim scholar is eithercaught between the ignorant Mullahs threatening him with Jahannum(hell) or the corruptrulers threatening him with jail."39 Jahannumor jail was the choice. This was the directconsequence of the collapse of 'asabiyya.

38. The pictureof ProfessorSaad Eddin Ibrahim [Sa'd al-Din Ibrahim],the notedEgyptian scholar and Directorof the Ibn KhaldunCenter in Cairo,on the cover of TheNew YorkTimes Magazine (June 17, 2001) behind bars and in a cage was a powerful metaphorfor Muslim scholarshipin the world today. ProfessorSaad Eddin Ibrahim in Egypt, like AnwarIbrahim in Malaysia,is in jail chargedwith embezzlementand spying for the West - standardcharges across the two continents;Anwar Ibrahim was also chargedwith homosexuality.Both are critical thinkersactively involved in their societies. They are not alone in being persecuted.An entire generationof scholarshas been eliminatedin countries like Algeria andAfghanistan. For a detailedanalysis of persecutedscholars see DeinaAbdelkader, Social Justice in Islam (Hermdon,Virginia, International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2000). A Mus- lim scholarputs the case forcefully:"It is not an easy task for any conscientiousMuslim intellectualin the Muslim world or in the West to undertakethis critical task without endangeringhis or her life." Sachedina,The Islamic Roots of DemocraticPluralism, pp. 149, fn 38. Also see AkbarS. Ahmed and LawrenceRosen, "Islam,Academe, and Freedomof the Mind,"The Chronicleof Higher Education, November 2, 2001.Thereis anothercategory of scholarson the run. Writerslike Salman Rushdie of Satanic Versesfame and KhalidDuran, author of Childrenof Abraham:An Introductionto Islamfor Jews (Hoboken,NJ: The AmericanJewish Committee,Distributed by Ktav PublishingHouse, 2001), both in hiding for fear of theirlives, form a distinctcategory for Muslimsbecause they have a Muslim background.They are seen as beyond the pale by most Muslims and thereforeevoke extremehostility. 39. Also see AbdulHamidAbuSulayman, Crisis in the MuslimMind (Herndon,Virginia: Interna- tional Institutefor Islamic Thought, 1993). MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 33

THE CHALLENGETO IDENTITY

The scale of the collapse of 'asabiyyaand the powerand speed of globalization - andthe two appearto be related- havechallenged ideas of identitywhich define and shapeMuslim society. Primaryidentities in society are basedin blood, place or religion.40 Languageis sometimesshared as reinforcingidentity in all threecategories. In Iran,the Persianlanguage is a sourceof pridefor each and every category.In other countries,language expresses the barriersbetween the categories.In Pakistan,Urdu is the declarednational language, Punjabi the languageof the ethnicmajority, and Ara- bic the languageof religion. Invariablylinguistic tensions translateinto ethnic and politicalclashes. Sometimesthe divisionswithin religion into sects resultin conflict and violence. The clashes between Shi'is and Sunnis in Islam have formeda major historicaltheme in the MiddleEast. In SouthAsia the annualclashes still cost lives. In the last century,of the threemain sources of identitywhich definedan indi- vidual,race or ethnicity,nationalism and religion,it was nationalismwhich was the dominantsource of identity.The two worldwars were foughton the basis of nationalism. Withthe emergenceof Communismas a worldforce in the middleof the century andits aggressivehostility to religion,it appearedthat religion, as a sourceof identity would soon be irrelevantto most people. Withthe processesof globalizationaccelerating at the end of the last century,the situationhas changed.Ethnicity fused with religion,as in the Balkans.In otherplaces ethnicityre-emerged with virulence,as in the warbetween Hutus and Tutsis in central Africa.Nationalism changed too, as nationalborders have melted for businesspeople, specialistsand experts who cross the globe pursuingtheir economic, cultural or political interests.Hundreds of thousandsof Asian workersin informationtechnology, for example,have recentlybeen welcomedby the USA and Europe.The poor,however, find bordersas impenetrableas ever;even the borderbetween Mexico andthe USA is no exception. With migration,nationalism and ethnicityare weakened,despite usually being associatedwith a particularregion. Religion on the otherhand can be transportedand can flourishanywhere in the world given the right circumstances.We have the exampleof Islam,which began to makean impactin Americaat the turnof this century. Muslim political commentatorsfeel that, althoughthe Muslim vote is still small in termsof voter strength,it made a contributionto the election in 2000 by supporting GeorgeBush againstAl Gorein theirtightly contested election battle. Muslim leaders confirmthese trends.The leaders of the first part of the 20th centurywould be cast in nationalistterms leading "national"movements - for examples,Mustafa Kemal Atatuirk in Turkey,Mohammad 'Ali Jinnah in Pakistan,Sukarno of Indonesiaand Jamal 'Abd al-Nasirin Egypt. Laterin the century,other kinds of leaderswould be at the head of movementswith a religiousmessage not restrictedto nationalborders; Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is an examplefor one traditionin Is-

40. See Kottak,Cultural Anthropology; and Lewis, The MultipleIdentities of the Middle East. 34 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL lam; the Talibanare another.The opponentsof the formerwould be nationaloppo- nents- the Greeksfor the Turksand the Indiansfor the Pakistanis.The opponentsof the latterwould be moralopponents - the GreatSatan or Americafor Iranand Af- ghanistan. The tidalwave of religionwhich engulfednational and ethnic identities, has yet to crestin the Muslimworld. It has translatedinto politicalpower in countriessuch as Iranand Afghanistan. The tensionsbetween the threesources of identityare acute.In some countriesthe old fashionednationalism left over fromthe past meansa ruthless suppressionof other forms of identity.Iraq and Syria provideus examplesof this. Countrieslike Pakistanexhibit severe tension between an emergingreligious identity anda batterednationalist one. Ethnicityalso remainsan unresolvedfactor in Pakistan. The tensionsare expressed through the violenceand political instability in the country. With the inheritedcolonial structuresof administration,politics and education disintegratingand new ones yet to supplantthem or even consolidate,with old identities being challenged,Muslim society is in flux. 'Asabiyyais at its weakestin these societies. Centraland SouthAsian statesprovide us with examples. Paradoxically,it is in thoseparts of the Muslimworld where there is the unifying factorof dynasticrule or language,as, for example,in the stateson the Arabianpenin- sula, there is comparativestability; we say "paradoxically"because these states are seen as reactionaryby Muslimswho want genuinedemocracy and stagnantby those who want an Islamic state based on the pristineprinciples of the early egalitarian Islamic order. Nonetheless the unifying factors of dynasty and language sustain 'asabiyya,which ensurescontinuity and stabilityin times of global change. Let us examinetwo case studiesof differentMuslim responses to the challengesof ourworld.

MUSLIMRESPONSES TO THE KHALDUNIANBREAKDOWN

CASESTUDY ONE: THESCHOLARSHIP OF INCLUSION,A PERSONALACCOUNT

Scholarslike RichardFalk have arguedthat there is a deliberateattempt to "exclude"Islam from the communityof world civilizations,to make it a pariah,a non- person.The Muslimresponse has been variedand includes mysticism, fatalism, activ- ism andrejection.41 Perhaps the greatestmodel for dialoguestill relevantis provided by the mysticfigures that joined the traditionsof all the greatfaiths. Mawlana Jalal al- Din al-Rumi,whose work is so popularin Americatoday, and Ibn al-'Arabi,are two examplesfrom different ends of the Muslimworld. Their thought and verses explicitly reflectthe essentialunity of the divine vision in synagogue,church and mosque.

41. Westernacademics like ProfessorRichard Falk at PrincetonUniversity argue that there is a deliberateattempt to exclude Islam from the communityof nations:see his chapter"The Geo-Politics of Exclusion:The Case of Islam"(Falk, HumanRights Horizons: the Pursuit of Justice in a Global- izing World,already cited). MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 35

We can discerntwo politicalpatterns in the midst of many and we will discuss them as they affect othercivilizations: one is to advocatea policy of inclusion,in the hope of generatingdialogue and understanding,or, alternatively,to encourageactivi- ties promotingexclusion, confrontation and rejection. Muslims, whereverthey live, are awareof the crisis in society, if not of the Khaldunianexplanation of its breakdown.They reactaccording to theirideas and ca- pabilities. My own personalcase can serveas an example.In my case, fromthe van- tage point of CambridgeUniversity, I set myself the ambitioustask of recordingand attemptingto repairthe breakdown.I spentover a decadewriting scholarly books on the subject,appearing on the mediato explainit, makingfilms aboutit andorganizing people to help me repairit. Projectssuch as the six-partBBC televisionseries Living Islam42and the "JinnahQuartet"43 were initiatedand completed.Seen as landmark events, these projectshelped to change the negativeclimate aroundIslam, and they assistedin the startof seriousinterfaith dialogue. Greatdebate, controversy, and passion were arousedby the projects.This was understandable:they were not just changingimages in the media, in itself a major challenge,but touchingon centralissues in society such as leadership,the natureof the state,and the statusof womenand minorities. Above all they emphasizedthe compassionateand tolerantnature of Islam. Religious, ethnic, and nationalboundaries were being crossed and people were as readyto dismiss and debunkas they were to support. But defendingsuch positionscomes at a cost. Hurdleswere put in the path of these projects,even from inside. Bogus and absurdaccusations were spreadin the steadydisinformation campaign.4 Salman Rushdie, for instance,was allegedto have

42. LivingIslam, broadcastin 1993, was based on my book DiscoveringIslam (1988), and seen as a landmarkevent in the UK. It has been shown thrice on TV, the last time as recentlyas August 2001 as part of the BBC's "IslamWeek," and in many countriesof the world. The accompanyingbook, Living Islam: FromSamarkand to Stornoway,that I wrote was translatedinto many languages(Lon- don, BBC Books, 1993). 43. The "JinnahQuartet" based on the life of M.A. Jinnahthe founder of Pakistan,took me a decade to complete. It included a feature film, Jinnah; a documentary,Mr Jinnah: The Making of Pakistan;an academic book, Jinnah, Pakistanand Islamic Identity: The Searchfor Saladin; and a graphic novel, The Quaid: Jinnah and the Story of Pakistan.The Quartetattempted to answer the question:Do Muslims have leaders who care for humanrights, women's rights, minorityrights and the sanctity of the Constitutionand who can lead their nations to the communityof world civilizations? I believed Jinnahwas one such leaderand provideda relevantmodel. The Quartetprovided the answer both on global and nationallevels but raised worldwide debate as not everyone agreed. It is well to keep in mind that for most people theirinformation on Jinnahwould be his negativeportrayal in RichardAttenborough's film Gandhi or books like Freedomat Midnight by Larry Collins and DominiqueLapierre (New Delhi, Vikas, 1994. Originallypublished in 1976). The JinnahQuartet was challengingestablished images and ideas of the last days of the British Raj. 44. See the documentaryDare to Dream, MontageProductions, UK, on the makingof the Jinnah film. 36 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL

writtenthe script for the film Jinnah;45some saw it as partof a Hinduconspiracy, othersas a Zionistone.46 The lattersuspicion was no doubtconfirmed in some minds when I became the first Muslim to be invitedto deliverthe annualRabbi Goldstein MemorialLecture for 1999 by the Liberaland ProgressiveSynagogues of the UK in the centralsynagogue in St. John'sWood, London. EarlierI had been invitedto talk at Evensongin Selwyn College Chapel,Cam- bridge,the firstMuslim Don to be given the honor.The eventswere widely coveredin the Britishmedia and seen as significantsteps in interfaithdialogue. While most Mus- lims supportedthe initiatives,some were unhappy.A few arguedthat Jews andChris- tians were "enemies"and to visit theirplaces of worshipwas akin to blasphemyfor a Muslim.I was walkingperilously close to fatwa territory. Some not so influencedby notionsof idealism,and more interestedin keeping ledgersmay ask was it worthit? They will pointto the physicaldangers, the lies and slander,the financialsacrifices and the emotionalexhaustion. My answermay be dif- ferentfrom that of those who love me - especiallythe womenin my life, my mother, my daughtersand my wife who was with me every step of the way standingshoulder to shoulderand without whom the projectswould have been unmanageableif not impossible.They were concernedthat I had takenon a global challengeunnecessarily andwas being exposedto dangerin a turbulentsociety andtime. The answertherefore is difficultand complexbut I believe containedin the followingparagraph. These projectsand their theme of dialogue and understandingwere not only changingBritish royalty47 and creatingunderstanding for Islam48but were also mak-

45. Salman Rushdie was alleged to have writtenthe script for the film Jinnah, accordingto the headlines in the Pakistanipress. An editor startedthis mischievous lie duringthe shoot in 1997. He had auditionedfor the role of Jinnahand failed to get it. The story,with footage of the audition,is in Dare to Dream. The lie, repeatedin the press, was initially acceptedas the truth.It was most irrespon- sible as in PakistanRushdie is consideredin the same light as the devil himself; it is well to recall that AyatollahKhomeini issued thefatwa againstthe authorafter being told that Pakistanishad been shot to deathprotesting against The Satanic Verses.Although I kept my fears to myself I was terrifiedthat some fanaticbelieving thathe had found a shortcutto paradisewould knife or shoot one of the British csa&&4h&hote1lobby in Karachi.I discreetlyarranged armed escorts for the-starsespecially Chrito- pher Lee who was playing Jinnah.The rumorabout Rushdie was not laid to rest even when he wrote a letter to The Guardianstating that he had nothing to do with the film (May 7, 1997). It was only when Rushdiehimself denied it on radiothat the story died. We had appearedon the BBC show "Start the Week"hosted by Melvyn Bragg (now elevated to the House of Lords) on June 16, 1997. But the show generatedanother round of accusationsagainst me by some Muslims. I was taken to task for being a lax Muslim because I failed to implementthe fatwa by not leaping across the studio table and doing Rushdie in. 46. See "IranianCounsel on 'Jinnah',"The Friday Times(Lahore, Pakistan), May 16-22, 1997; and "Jewsand Jinnah,"The Friday limes, March28-April 3, 1977. Also see the documentaryDare to Dream. 47. PrinceCharles saw LivingIslam and the accompanyingbook when I presentedthem to him in 1993, and used them for his celebratedlecture on Islam and the West at Oxford later in the year. 48. Many Britishjournalists gave me the title "Ambassadorfor Islam" (Ian Hawkey, "Ambassa- dor for Islam" in CAM: The Universityof CambridgeAlumni Magazine, Cambridge,UK, Easter Term, 1995). Also see editorialon the JinnahQuartet: "Akbar Ahmed's Achievements" (London, The News, November 30, 1998). MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL * 37 ing an impacton ordinaryMuslims.49 Even religiousleaders of all shadesresponded to my workboth positively50 and negatively.5' Most important,the young were being influencedby the projects.After a seminarat Princetonin March2001 a studentintro- ducedhimself as a Pakistanifrom Lahore.He said he had an eight-year-oldnephew who wouldtell him thathe wishedto growup to join the Pakistanarmy in orderto kill Hindus.After seeing the Jinnahfilm, he now says he wantsto grow up to be another Jinnah,and a manof justice andpeace. The changein the world-viewof the little boy in Lahorewould justify the sacrificesand the tribulationsin the battle for ideas; he owns this century. Whenthe variousprojects were completedI was acutelyaware that the roadwas litteredwith abortedprojects of a similarnature and the cemeteryfull of scholarsless intellectuallyand culturally ambitious than we were.Take the exampleof Atatiirk,the proposedfilm projectabout the founderof modemTurkey, which was abandoneddue to the oppositionto it aboutthe time we were battlingfor Jinnah.Antonio Banderas who was to play Atatuirkreceived so manydeath threats that he backedout. At the end of the roadI madea choice to severmy links with the bureaucracyof Pakistan.52It had been a long and tiring decade with what seemed to be non-stop action.I had helpedto changethe image of Islam and I had takeninitiatives in inter- faith dialogue.But I had changedtoo. I was exhaustedand neededto withdrawfrom the worldfor a while.53I headedfor PrincetonUniversity. The rhythmof campuslife, the enthusiasmof my students,the affectionand generosityof my host and friendProfessor Lawrence Rosen, and the excitementof being at one of the finestuniversities in the world- Princetonwas consideredin the very top rankin the US when I arrived- helpedto revivifymy spirit.The discussions on campusencouraged me to thinkof the last decadeand try to extracttheoretical and

49 The generalrelease of Jinnah in Urduand English in Pakistanin Junewas selected as the main event of the monthin the annualreview of the premierEnglish newspaper of Pakistan,Dawn (Decem- ber 27, 2000). The Dawn reportconcluded: "That the film is still highly viewable and outrightuplift- ing is a testimonyto the will power of the man behind it, AkbarS. Ahmed." 50. ProfessorKhurshid Ahmad, a leading scholar of the Muslim world and senior figure of the Jama'at-i-Islami,in The News (London),June 2, 2000, called me the "Ambassadorof Islam." 51. See the commentsof Shaykh 'UmarBakri who had declaredhimself the chief representative of Usama bin Ladin in Europe. He disliked intensely my attemptsat interfaithdialogue in the UK. Bakri attackedme in Adam Lebor's book on Muslims in the West. See Adam Lebor,A Heart Turned East: Among the Muslims of Europe and America, (London: Little, Brown and Co., 1997). Bakri called me a "chocolateMuslim" and "an Uncle Tom"because "he [AkbarAhmed] admiresWestern civilization more than Islamic civilization ... He is a sincere Muslim but sincere is not enough." Lebor,pp. 142-145. 52 . ShaguftaYaqub, "Profile: Ambassador of Dialogue,"Pakistan Link, July 13, 2001; Courtesy of QNews, London, July, 2001. 53. Looking at the breakdownof society for a Muslim scholar was like staringinto the face of despair. In an interviewI recountedthe experiencesof workingon the JinnahQuartet: "Completing the Jinnahproject really opened my eyes ... Journalistsopenly demandedmoney; bureaucrats vented theirhatred for the success of new ideas and indulgedin ethnic politics; politicianswanted 'commis- Continuedon Next Page 38 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL intellectualconclusions from the experiences. I have given the readera personalglimpse of what it is like to engage in the currentdebate about civilizations and the price that may come with it, so that the readermay also, perhaps,appreciate more fully why the life of Ibn Khaldunhas a resonancefor me. OtherMuslims have takendifferent routes to respondto the Khaldunianbreak- down,their endeavors also raising controversy and debate. One such group is theTaliban who arecriticized by many,and not only in theWest, for theirtreatment of womenand the minorities.They remaina mysteryto the worldand it is to themthat we now turn.

CASESTUDY Two: THESCHOLARSHIP OF EXCLUSION

Because so little is knownof the Talibanin Afghanistan,now seeminglyon the wane, severalfalse assumptionsare made aboutthem: that they are a politicalparty; that they are definedand containedby Afghanistan;that they are a passingphenom- enon and quite marginalto the Muslimworld and thatby ignoringthem or bombing them they will fade into oblivion.54 While commentatorssaw the Talibanas an "Islamic"body, few knew that as much as Islamic fervorthe Talibanwere drivenby Pukhtunwalior the code of the Pukhtuns,55also knownin the Afghancontext as Pashtun.The Talibanin Afghanistan were Pukhtun/Pashtun.Their treatment of womenand minorities has moreto do with Pukhtunwalithan Islam. The laws of hospitality and revenge dominatethe code. Pukhtunwaliexplains why the Talibanwould not surrendertheir guest Usama bin Ladineven thoughthey faced deathand destruction.It also suggeststhat the laws of revengewill be activatedand individualsor groupswill extractvengeance for what they have sufferedas a resultof the warin 2001. The Americans,the Britishand their allies the Pakistaniswould be the likely targets.It is well to rememberthat their vic- tims have includeda Viceroyof Indiakilled at the high noon of empire(Lord Mayo, killed in 1872) and a popularprime minister of Pakistan(Liaqat 'Ali Khanin 1951). Thereis no limitationof space or time in the implementationof Pukhtunwali:"I took revengeafter a hundredyears and I took it quickly"is a well-knownPukhtun prov- erb.56

Continuedfrom Previous Page -ons'; people on the projecttook full advantagebecause I was committedto completingit; Govern- ment renegedon their commitmentand pulled out one million pounds afterwritten agreements in the middle of the shoot. Everyonecould apply pressureon me because I was determinedto maintainmy integrity."(Yaqub, "Profile: Ambassador of Dialogue"). 54. For a case study illustratingthe complex interplayof Pukhtuntribalism, Islamic leadership and political opportunismof the state see AkbarS. Ahmed, Resistanceand Controlin Pakistan(Lon- don, Routledge, 1991). 55. AkbarAhmed, PukhtunEconomy and Society: TraditionalStructure and EconomicDevelop- ment in a TribalSociety (London,Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980) and Ahmed, Resistance and Con- trol in Pakistan. 56. Akbar S. Ahmed, Mataloona: Pukhto Proverbs (Karachi:Oxford University Press, 1975), p.1. MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 39

Thetribal interpretation of Islamexplains why thereis a sympathyfor theTaliban in those partsof Muslimsociety wheretribalism is strong,as in some partsof Saudi Arabia;it also explains the aversionto them where it is not, as in the middle class sectionsof society in Cairoor Karachi.The Talibanalso have some sympathyamong Muslimswho look for alternativeanswers to Westernmodernity. To make mattersworse the social and political factorsthat explain the emer- gence of the madrasas (usually madrasain Pakistan)or religious schools, which producedthe Taliban,remain largely unstudied.57The emergenceof the prototype madrasasof Pakistanneeds to be viewedin the contextof the declineof Western-style educationand administration and their loss of credibilityfor ordinarypeople. Madrasas standfor a system,which is the cheaper,more accessible and more "Islamic" alterna- tive. The syllabusof a typicalmadrasa is exclusivelyIslamic in content.Its basis is the Qur'anand the Sharia.That is how it should be for an Islamic school. But the Qur'an - and the Sunna of the Prophet - (together, the Shari'a) - repeatedly ask Mus- lims to acquireknowledge. One proverbialinstance is "Seek knowledge,even unto China."I' China then, in the seventhcentury, symbolized the farthestnon-Muslim civilization.It was a challengeto the imaginationto even thinkof thejourney. Yet after numerousdiscussions with teachersand an examinationof madrasa syllabi I noted thatthere are no non-Muslimphilosophers or historians,on those syllabi - not even modernones like KarlMarx or Max Weber.Worse: even the Muslim ones, like Ibn Khaldun,who are thoughtto be too "scientific"are missing.The philosophyof the typicalsyllabus is reducedto whatcommentators call "politicalIslam": Islam as a vehicle for all-encompassingchange; Islam as a challengenot only to the corruptlocal elite but also to the worldorder. While the oftenWesternized nationalist leaders of the post-independenceperiod soughtto hold on to the stateand consolidate it, the new leadershope to destroyit as a legacy of theWest and then re-create it in an Islamicmold. The formersought survival in a transitionalworld; the latterdemand purity in an impureone. After an initialperiod after independence when prestigewas attachedto West- ernizedschools, madrasasbegan to flourishfrom the 1970s onwards,most notablyin

57. The trickleof books and articleson the Taliban- Ahmed Rashid,Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalismin CentralAsia, (New Haven:Yale UniversityPress, 2000) and articlessuch as Jeffrey Goldberg, "The Educationof a Holy Warrior,"New YorkTimes Magazine, June 25, 2000; Jessica Stem "Pakistan'sJihad Culture," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 6 (November/December,2000); WilliamT. Vollmann,"Across the Divide: Whatdo the AfghanPeople Thinkof the Taliban?"The New Yorker,May 15, 2000 - though containinguseful information,are usually sensationalistin nature. They simply confirm the negative media images of Islam by pegging their ideas to cliches such as "terroristIslam" "jihad"and "fundamentalist."Take Rashid's title, Taliban:Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalismin CentralAsia, or Stem's sub-headings:"Schools of Hate,""Jihad International Inc," "Addictedto Jihad,""Bad Boys" and "ExportingHoly War."Theproblem of representationis compoundedfor the Taliban,as they appearto be practicingthe scholarshipof exclusion. We are left with few insights into what is happeningand why in their society. 58. The commentatorson hadithconsider this a "weak"and unreliablehadith, but it has become proverbial. 40 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL

SouthAsia (thereare estimatedto be 50,000 in Pakistanalone).59 Remittances from the MiddleEast providedfunding and allowedcentral government channels to be by- passed.The war in Afghanistanagainst the Soviet occupationin the 1980s provideda global stage and a global cause to the young and the zealous. Thesemadrasas laid the foundationsfor the populistand militant Islamic leadership thatwould emergein the 1990s. Mostly from poor,rural backgrounds, speaking only the local language,dressed traditionally with beards that assert their Islamic identity, these studentswould become the warriorswho formedthe Talibanand go on to conquerAfghanistan. The word Taliban- from talib or student, the productof the madrasa- enteredthe global vocabulary. The battleof Afghanistanagainst the Soviets was won not on the playingfields of the Etonsof the Muslimworld but in the humbleclassrooms and courtyardsof the madrasa.Its outcomechallenged and changedthe alreadyshaky educational and political structuresin the entireregion and not just in Afghanistan.The impactof the Talibankind of thinking,the frameof mind,the style of behavior,and logic of argument,can be seen in differentmeasure in Muslimgroups from Los Angelesto Lahore. Living in the Westis no guaranteeof freedomfrom Taliban thinking.60 The war in late 2001 againstthe Talibanmay have hammeredthem in Afghani- stanbut did little to counterthe influenceof the Talibankind of thinkingelsewhere in the Muslimworld. On the contrary,the sympathyhelped to throwa blanketover their misdeedsin the cry of angerthat spreadthroughout the Muslimworld. Whereverthey live, Muslimsare awareof the injusticesof theirrulers and the fact that some enjoy supportin the West,the culturalinvasion from the West,and the stereotypesof Muslimsin the Westernmedia including the Hollywoodfilms in which Muslimsare shown as terroristsand fanatics.These are not marginalor art films but big star,big budget,mainstream "blockbusters" seen by millions.They influence pub- lic opinion.Such negative propaganda coupled with what is seen as the indifferenceof the Westto the outstandingpolitical problems in the Muslimworld combine to create a focus on the Westas the rootcause of Muslimproblems. We have lost ourhonor, the honorof our faith and traditionsand have no powerto correctthe wrongsof our own world, Muslimslament, blaming the West for this loss. From this perceptionto actively opposing the West as a form of jihad, or religious war, is one short step for

59. Stern, "Pakistan'sJihad Culture." 60. I encounteredthe influence of Talibanthinking first hand when I was invited to deliver a KeynoteAddress to a majorMuslim conferencein Chicago in July 2001. The Chairmanof the organizing committeeinformed me thatwhen my name was announcedsome people objected.We respect his scholarship,they said, but complainedthat he is the same personwho advocatesthe Jinnahmodel of leadershipover that of Usama [bin Ladin]. I felt these Muslims were failing to appreciatetheir situationas Americansand as good Muslims who must live with other civilizations in the 21st century. The Muslim responses to the tragic deaths of September 11 were also revealing. While they expressed sorrowthey also pointed out that this is how Muslims like the Palestiniansand Kashmiris live their normallives. It was time, they expressed with bitterness,that Americansalso experienced the pain and suffering.The war in Afghanistanand the expressionof crude anger againstMuslims in the US and UK did little to win heartsand minds on either side. MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 41 groupslike the Taliban. The bitteranti-Western edge to the Talibancomes partlyfrom their feeling that while they sacrificedtheir lives andland in fightingthe Soviets as allies of the Ameri- cans, when it was over the Americansleft themand their devastated land in the lurch. They will remindyou that those being called "crazies"and "extremists"were once hailed as "freedomfighters" by the West.Their actions, such as the destructionof the pricelessBuddhist statues, are partlymotivated by a psychologicalcompulsion to en- rage and defy theircritics.6' Althoughthe Taliban-styleleadership is "new"in the sense that it emergedin oppositionto the moreWesternized leaders in power afterthe SecondWorld War, in fact the divisionin Muslimleadership goes backto the 19thcentury. In 1857, afterthe greatuprisings in Indiaagainst British rule ("theIndian Mutiny"), two rivalmodels of leadershipbegan to emerge.Sir SayyedAhmed Khan, who createdthe Aligarh Univer- sity on the modelof Oxbridge,was a loyal servantof the Rajand wished to synthesize Islamand modernity.62 Iqbal, Jinnah, and the leadersof the Pakistanmovement would be inspiredby Sir Sayyed.In contrast,the foundersof the madrasaat Deobandnear Delhi fought the British duringthe uprisings,and their influentialschools created networksthroughout India and now influencegroups like the Taliban.The schism in Muslimleadership, Usama at one end andJinnah at the otherof the spectrum,is thus rootedin the indigenousresponse to modernityand the threateningpresence of West- ern imperialism. We saw the interconnectednessof our worldeven before September11. In the aftermathof the attackon the USS Cole in Aden in October,2000, PresidentBill Clintonin Washingtonthreatened Usama; the head of the Islamic party,the JUI, in Pakistanin turnthreatened all Americansin Pakistan,including the Ambassador,if Usama were harmed;Afghanistan was on high alert and Americansthroughout the world were warnedto be on guard.Once again Islam had been pushedin a certain directionby those of its leaderswanting confrontation with the West. Clintonand his Secretaryof State,Madeleine Albright, had correctlypredicted thatsuch events were a foretasteof thingsto come;that this is the way thatthe warsof the futurewill be fought.They may be right. But the responseof the Muslimworld will dependon the natureof Muslimleadership; whether the Usamamodel prevails, or thatof Jinnah.The relationshipbetween Islam and the Westwill play a majorpart in influencingthe courseof eventsin the 21s'century. We have establishedthrough the case studies above that there is an ongoing,

61. Destruction,not defacement,was on the minds of the Taliban.Blowing up the Buddhiststat- ues in 2001, especially the marvelousBuddhas in Bamiyan, which had survivedthe ravagesof past rulers, even Jinghiz Khan, enraged people who cared for the culturallegacy of civilization. But for Buddhiststhere was a religious dimensionalso. AlthoughBuddha is not worshippedas a god he is the fountainheadof Buddhism. That is why, along with the Dalai Lama, some of the most important figures of the Buddhistworld attemptedto dissuadethe Taliban.The refusalof the Talibanonce again createdan unmitigatedPR disasterfor Islam on a global level. The events of September11 and the war that followed next month in Afghanistancast a negative pall over Muslims whereverthey lived. 62. Ahmed, Jinnah, Pakistanand Islamic Identity:The Searchfor Saladin. 42 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL sometimessimmering, sometimes explosive, conflict of civilizations;but we havealso illustratedthat thereis a serious and committedmovement towards dialogue. Let us now explorepossible directionsfor the future.

SEARCHINGFOR A POST-KHALDUNIANPARADIGM: GLOBALSOCIETY IN THE 21STCENTURY

With Ibn Khaldun'scycle brokendown - with the interpenetrationof global religiouscultures, with the emergenceof the audio-visualmedia penetrating even the most remoteareas, with the mountingclamor of those who see the signs of the apocalyptic end of time, with the scholarssilenced, with the growingsense of despairat the povertyand inequalityin manyparts of the worldthat challenges the notionof a just God in heavenwho maintainsa balancein humansociety based on justice andorder - we need to developa post-Khaldunianparadigm; a new theoreticaland methodologi- cal frameworkto studyglobal society in the 21St century;to discovera GeneralTheory. Theunexpected and unpredictable expressions of religiousrevivalism today would havesurprised the philosophers and sociologists of themodem age. Certainly Nietzsche, who declaredGod dead63,and even MaxWeber who saw the ProtestantEthic as laying the foundationsfor a stable,safe, capitalist,and bureaucratic world, would have been surprised.For the former,God was back andit seemedwith a vengeance;for the latter He was busy challengingand upsetting the very orderthat He was supposedto cham- pion. PerhapsMarx would be the most surprised.Religion is no longer an "opiate" numbingpeople into docility;if one needs a drugmetaphor, it is more like "speed." Studyingthe mainglobal religionsin interplay,sometimes clashing, sometimes in alliance,can providea clue.4 Of these, Islamremains the most misunderstood.All the religionsare in need of understanding,as they areusually viewed throughthe lens of stereotypeand caricature,perhaps none more so thanIslam. Islam continues to get a bad press and evoke hostilityglobally. The thesis about the clash of civilizations,which remainsinfluential in some circles,rests on the assumptionthat the warsof this new centurywill be foughtalong religiouslines. It is thereforelogical andurgent to understandwhat factors are respon- sible for the emergenceof religion,and how religionwill be playinga role in deciding

63. When Nietzsche declaredGod was dead, dubbedhimself the Anti-Christ,preached the nobil- ity of barbarismand cruelty,he underestimatedthe power of ideas to directpolitical events: the Nazis were inspiredby this poisonous philosophy.Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, translated by WalterKaufmann, (New York:Vintage, 1966) and FriedrichNietzsche, Twilightof the Idols: The Anti-Christ,translated by R. J. Hollingdale, (Middlesex, England:Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1972). Nietzsche's philosophic successor MartinHeidegger continuedthe tradition,becoming and remain- ing an enthusiasticNazi to the end. 64. As an indicationof the interestin religion in 2001 alone, several of the most popularjournals like Newsweek,Time and US News and WorldReport have featuredcover storieson religion (see their April issues). Also see KarenArmstrong, The Battle for God: Fundamentalismin Judaism,Christian- ity and Islam (London: HarperCollins,2000); Eck, A New Religious America: How A "Christian Country"Has Become the World'smost ReligiouslyDiverse Nation; Bruce David Forbes and Jeffrey Continuedon Next Page MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 43 political developmentsin this century.However, we need to penetratebeneath the sensationalistnature of these theoriesand discoveralternative ways of understanding society.We do not suggestthat we accepteach other's,or all, religionsuncritically but thatwe understandthem in orderto makesense of whatis happeningin globalsociety. In this connectioncertain important questions need to be asked which are of immediateand urgent relevance to the worldcivilizations. Different civilizations look differentlyat the idea of the divine.Muslims are often attackedin the mediafor what is calledrevivalism or the resurgenceof Islam,but religious revivalism is takingplace globally,in Judaism,Christianity, in Hindu,and in Buddhistsocieties. The "rediscov- ery"of the divine is notedeven in Westernscientific and intellectualcircles once dis- missive of religion.65We need to know how the differentworld civilizationsview themselvesand each other;we need to know whatthey see as theirvision of the com- ing time;we need to view theirideas of "theend of time." This raisesour first set of questions:Why is therea revivalof religions, andhow are people negotiatingthe idea of God or the divine?Is the revivala consequenceof the processesof and transformationsresulting from globalization?Is the explanation to be foundin the weakeningof traditionalstructures - like the family and the nation state- as individualslook to religionto providecertainty in an uncertainworld, conti- nuity in a changingone. Is it an attemptto (re)create'asabiyya in orderto (re)build "humancivilization? But can we apply Khalduniantheories to non-Muslimciviliza- tions? Indeed,can they be appliedto Muslim societies when thereare no significant cyclical- or even linear- movementsof tribalor ruralpeople taking place anymorein the way Khaldundescribed them? A secondset of questionsto raise,which has a globalresonance after September 11, is: why is the understandingof the divine often distortedthrough the prism of violence?Why are people killing and rapingin the name of the divine?No religion encouragesviolence of this kind,and yet we see examplesthroughout the worldtoday on our television sets and read aboutthem in the news. Why are people not able to focus on the compassionand goodness in the idea of the divine?This failurehas global implicationsfor the so-called "clashof civilizations." Third,we needto ask:what is to be done aboutit? Canthere be genuinedialogue across religions and nationalboundaries that negatesthe idea of a clash of civilizations?How can this be implementedin a practicalway, which will affectthe thinking

Continuedfrom Previous Page H. Mahan(eds.), Religion and Popular Culturein America (Berkeley,CA: Universityof Califomia Press, 2001); Douglas Johnstonand Cynthia Sampson (eds.), Religion, The Missing Dimension of Statecraft (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); Mische and Merkling (eds.), Towardsa Global Civilization?The Contributionof Religions, already cited; Huston Smith, Why Religion Matters:The Fate of the HumanSpirit in an Age of Disbelief (San Francisco:Harper, 2001); and RobertWuthnow, After Heaven: Spiritualityin America since the 1950s (Berkeley,CA: Univer- sity of CaliforniaPress, 2001). 65. PatrickGlynn, God: TheEvidence - TheReconciliation of Faith and Reason in a Postsecular World(Rocklin, CA: Forum:Prima Publishing, 1999). 44 * MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL and behaviorof people? These are questionswhich would not have occurrednaturally to Ibn Khaldun. His was a Muslim world, admittedlydisintegrating in one part but strong in other parts,and there was nothingbut Islamon the horizon.For us, the dialogueof civilization is a necessarypre-condition to global harmony.But dialogueby itself is no solu- tion.There has to be dialoguethat leads to the understandingof othercivilizations. For this, we haveto move beyond,for example,Islam and understand the religionsit interactswith: Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. Muslims are living as neigh- bors with these othercivilizations, and are often isolatedand don't understandthem. The same is trueof otherfaiths looking at Islam.Too manynon-Muslims see Islamas caricatureand as distortedimages from press reporting.With understandingcomes sympathyand compassiontowards those who do not belong to our groupor community or religion.This is where scholarsand thinkerswho can transcendreligious and nationalpositions and reach out become crucial to the global debate that is taking place.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion:What can be done to encouragedialogue? The firststeps are to try to understandthe world we live in and the way it is forming.In the short-termthe prospectsfor a harmoniousrelationship between Islam and the West look uncertain, even pessimistic.In the longer-terma greatdeal will dependon whetherthose who encouragedialogue and understandingwill succeedor not. The commonproblems - whichaffect everyone regardless of race,nationality or religionin this shrinkingworld need to be identifiedto strengthenthe idea of dialogue: drugand alcohol abuse,divorce, teenage violence and crime,ethnic andracist prejudice,the problemsof the aged andthe poor;the challengeof the growingsense of anarchyand rampant materialism; the sexualdebasement of womenand children;the depletionof ournatural resources and ecological concerns.66 On all these issues many Muslimsfind supportfor taking a strong, enlightenedposition in Islam. This is the real Islamicjihad and,if it is properlyharnessed and understood, it can providefresh, sorely neededstrength to these most crucialof global issues. Muslimsface aninternal challenge. Reducing a sophisticatedcivilization to simple ritualsencourages simple answers: reaching for guns andexplosives, for instance.For Muslimsto confrontthe world with poise and confidenceis to re-discoverand even begin to repairthe mainspringsof Islamiccivilization. They need to re-buildan idea of Islam which includesjustice, integrity,tolerance and the quest for knowledge- the classic Islamic civilization - not just the insistence on the rituals;not just the five pillarsof Islambut the entirebuilding.

66. For an articulateand scholarly book on just how serious the destructionof the planet is see StuartL. Pimm, The WorldAccording to Pimm: A ScientistAudits the Earth (New York:Mc-Graw Hill, 2001). MIDDLEEAST JOURNAL * 45

The Westmust put pressure on Muslimgovernments - andit interactswith most of them overtlyor covertly- to "get theiract together,"to ensurejustice and provide clean administration.It must send serious signals to the ordinaryMuslim people - throughits media,through seminars, conferences, meetings - thatit does not consider Islam as the enemy, howevermuch it may disagreewith certainaspects of behavior carriedout by Muslims. This discussionis merelyexploratory suggesting directions for research.Serious and urgentre-thinking is requiredby the scholars,policy plannersand policy makers in the corridorsof power- not only in Washington,London, Moscow and Paris,but also in Cairo,Kabul, and Tehran. We need to be thinkingin termsof what Ibn Khalduncalled "humancivilization" or, to use the contemporaryphrase, globally. We may not like words such as postmodernismand globalization,but only with the compassionateunderstanding of othercivilizations, through the developmentof the scholarshipof inclusion,can we resolve some of the deleteriousconsequences of globalizationsuch as the increasing gap betweenthe rich and the poor and the growingsense of despairespecially in the latter.The tragicconfrontation among the greatfaiths taking place in the Balkans,the MiddleEast, and SouthAsia, the mindlesscycle of violence, mustbe checkedin this centurythrough the dialogueof civilizations. The events of September11 appearedto push the worldtowards the idea of the clash of civilizations,but they also conveyedthe urgencyof the call for dialogue.The creativeparticipation in the dialogueof civilizations, to find an internalbalance between traditionand the world increasinglydominated by technologicalchanges, the committedsearch for global solutionsto the globalproblems confronting human society, andthe questfor a just andpeaceful order will be the challengehuman civilization faces in the 21st century.