Confronting Religious Extremism in the New Silk Web
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Confronting Religious Extremism in the New Silk Web Confronting Religious Extremism in the New Silk Web Charles Magee RAMSEY① （Department of Religious Studies, Forman Christian College） Abstract: The rise in religious extremism is highly documented, but not well understood. The most frequently cited explanations are economic and sociological. However, the specific role of religion has received far less attention and is often glossed within social-scientific analysis. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the rise of religious ideology in pre-modern Indian Muslim thought and to draw attention to the importance of religious narratives in causing and possibly resolving violent religious extremism in Southwest Asia. This historic setting, more than any other, informs the trajectory of competing religious expressions of Islam. Two positions are considered because of their polar responses to similar phenomenon. These proceed from the same school of thought, and overlap considerably in the use of interpretative methodologies, yet they articulate radically different visions for fidelity to Islam. One has been used to legitimize and mobilize extremist violence in order to establish a righteous society, the other to advocate for a pluralistic participation with the secular state. Their shared roots allow for a juxtaposition that allows for a cursory description of the challenges faced within the Muslim community to retain fidelity to some most cherished values. It is argued that within the Muslim religious intellectual tradition there are ample resources to support a dynamic and pluralistic society. The identification and promotion of these values is essential to halting the spread of violent extremism. Interventions need to promote proponents of this narrative ① Dr. Charles Magee RAMSEY, assistant professor of Religion and Public Policy, Department of Religious Studies at Forman Christian College, Lahore, Pakistan. 59 Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia) Vol. 9, No. 4, 2015 and avoid practices that further alienate and limit the natural outworking of this dialogue within Muslim communities. Key Words: Islam; Shanghai Cooperation Organization; Pakistan; Extremism; Governance; The New Silk Web Introduction Statements from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (September 2014), are indicative of a growing threat to regional security in Central and Southern Asia. This volatile area has experienced substantial political upheavals in the past decade, and the need for state-level security coordination was a central reason for the formation of the SCO (Frost, A., 2009). However, the link established between security and religious extremism adds a new layer to this highly complex international conglomeration. The tenor of the situation was made clear by China’s President Xi Jinping’s call for SCO “to focus on combating religion-involved extremism” (Tiezzi, S., 2014: September 13). Consequently, religious extremism has been specifically underscored as a challenge to China’s development plans and international relations in the region, and as a challenge to be confronted through governmental cooperation. The proposed expansion of SCO membership to South and Southwest Asian nations is recognition of the need for state-level cooperation to ensure political stability. Increased turmoil predicted by the departure of US forces from Afghanistan has added impetus for Pakistan, India, and Iran to become more actively involved in the SCO. The protracted civil war in Syria, now spreading into Iraq, also has political repercussions in this region. There is broad recognition that these conflicts are interrelated. President Xi Jinping’s call for state-level cooperation against religious extremism underscores the severity of this threat to the region. It also recognizes the trans-cultural and trans-regional nature of religious extremism stemming from certain factions in Muslim communities, and the implications of this for the network of nations along what Adam 60 Confronting Religious Extremism in the New Silk Web Webb, Professor of Political Science at Hopkins Nanjing, has termed the “New Silk Web”. China has taken steps to revitalize the ancient maritime and overland silk routes which will bring increased capital and trade into the region along with greater Chinese influence. Pakistan, for example, has been granted $46 Billion for the development of an economic corridor linking the two countries, and this in addition to the deep water Gwadar Port in the Indian Ocean. Similar projects are being processed by the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank across the SCO region, particularly in areas near the Xinjiang border, an area predominantly populated by Muslims. The rise in religious extremism in Muslim communities is highly documented, but not well understood. There is a considerable literature that examines the current situation through the progression of events from the last half of the twentieth century and before. These broadly converge around the end of colonialism in the 1950s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. The most frequently cited explanations are economic and sociological. However, the specific role of religion has received far less attention and is often glossed within social-scientific analysis (Ahmed, A., 2013: 96-133). The hermeneutical foundations, or interpretative lenses, appropriated to stimulate, legitimize, and sustain an extremist religious ideology that tolerates terrorism as a political means is yet to garner similar coverage. Strategies attempting to mitigate and reverse the tide of extremist violence have largely sought to address grievances through political and economic change. These are certainly important factors, however, strategies will achieve only limited success unless these recognize and address the interpretative narrative that is understood to legitimate and promote “unholy terror” (Lewis, B., 2004: 137). The aim of this article is to elucidate the rise of religious ideology in pre-modern Indian Muslim thought and to draw attention to the importance of religious narratives in causing and possibly resolving violent religious extremism. This historic setting, at the convergence of China, Central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent, informs the trajectory of competing religious 61 Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia) Vol. 9, No. 4, 2015 expressions of Islam. Two positions are considered because of their polar responses to similar phenomena. These proceed from the same school of thought, and overlap considerably in the use of interpretative methodologies, yet they articulate radically different visions for fidelity to Islam. One has been used to legitimize and mobilize extremist violence in order to establish a righteous society, the other to advocate for a pluralistic participation with the secular state. Their shared roots allow for a juxtaposition that allows for a cursory description of the challenges faced within the Muslim community to retain fidelity to some most cherished values. It is argued that within the Muslim religious intellectual tradition there are ample resources to support a dynamic and pluralistic society. The identification and promotion of these values is essential to halting the spread of violent extremism. Interventions need to promote advocates of this narrative and avoid practices that alienate and limit the natural outworking of this dialogue within Muslim communities. Failure to do this will result in the creation of parallel systems of education and governance that establish a state within a state, and ultimately undermine the institutional frameworks required to sustain the intended economic development (Sikand, Y., 2006: 15-20). Crisis in Islamic Civilization? Contemporary literature frequently refers to regions with historically large Muslim population as constituents of an Islamic civilization. Marshall Hodgson’s differentiation between Islamic and Islamicate is helpful (Hodgson, M., 1974: 3-71). The former refers to a core set of beliefs, which will be summarized below; the latter to diverse cultural elements associated, with varying degrees of overlap, in the region between where Western and Chinese civilizations meet. Though precise definitions and boundaries differ, the area covered therein includes Central and Southwest Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. The term “Islamicate” underscores the diversity of ethnicities, languages, and religious 62 Confronting Religious Extremism in the New Silk Web expressions in this region while recognizing the overarching Muslim heritage and shared cultural values. Appreciation of the peculiarities of this region is vital, as is the recognition that this is a hinge civilization that connects Europe, Africa, and Asia. The ancient Silk Route, its thoroughfares and alleys, crisscrossed much of what is now modern Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and India, which is basically the roster of the SCO. And, according to China’s new development plans, these will again become more closely interconnected as major nodes in the New Silk Web. Thus, to draw from ‘Ali Allawi’s assessment, it is vital to comprehend the “crisis” in Islamicate civilization (Allawi, A., 2009: 1-21). Bernard Lewis, who like Allawi wrote from Princeton, described the inherent danger of this crisis. In 2004, he forewarned the religious extremism referenced by President Xi Jinping at the SCO summit. Lewis wrote: Sooner or later [extremist groups] will