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The real dilemma of Islam and the West

By Hala Mustafa

Recently there have been several incidents evoking – directly or indirectly, subtly or boldly, quietly or loudly – the old-yet-new debate of “Islam versus the West”. Arab political thought and culture have probed the contradictions of this relationship through several paradigms – East-versus-West, modernity-versus-traditionalism, ‘Us’-versus-the-‘Other’, globalism-versus-ethnocentricity – before choosing Islam-versus-the West.

The cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad published last year by a Danish newspaper, which provoked angry reactions and protests in most Arab and Muslim countries, is just one of hundreds of incidents that reflect, if not prove, an inability to communicate and coexist. This lack of coexistence of cultures, religions and civilizations follows waves of hatred and fighting over centuries, with some moments of reconciliation. “Clash versus coexistence” has defined the relationship between Islam and the West, one full of contradictions. From this it is clear that we are living in different worlds, and that moments of “love” or “reconciliation” between the two cultures have been the exception rather than the norm, and have never provided a solid foundation on which to build.

Ancient Islamic civilization experienced eras of cultural achievement and scientific development, preserved by the Andalusian heritage and its great philosophers such as Ibn Rushd, crowned by the West as the great interpreter of Aristotle and Greek philosophy. The historical contradiction that remains in the Arab memory until the present is that what is known as the “renaissance” of this civilization came during what is described as the “dark” Middle Ages in Europe, a period characterized by religious oppression. Later, Islamic civilization spiraled downwards, from thriving to decaying, and from progress to regression, despotism and backwardness. This was just as Europe began its ascent, with great achievements in science, arts and creativity, and promotion of freedom. Industrialism, technological advancement, and human progress on every level led the West to be considered the peak of contemporary civilizations.

This divide was noted by the prominent Arab historian ?Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti in his chronicle Napoleon in Egypt, which recounts the first direct encounter of the Islamic world and the West during France’s expedition into Egypt in the 18th century, an experience he describes as a true “cultural shock.”

Since that time, all other civilizations, including the Islamic one, have been racing to catch up with the West in a painful competition. That is why the Islamic world has been caught between willingness to join the world of progress and its rejection of that world: it feels that it is impossible to overcome this huge gap. Simply, this complex, political and cultural gap reflects until today the real dilemma of this relationship, which was discussed in detail in Bernard Lewis’ prominent work What Went Wrong?

East-West Divide

Not only have scholars in the West explored this divide, but Arab thinkers and writers have undertaken a self-critique of the challenges facing the Arab world in this regard, such as This Age and Its Culture by the prominent Egyptian thinker Zaki Naguib Mahmud, who describes how “while the Europeans were pursuing knowledge and freedom of thought, adopting a scientific and rational approach which would inevitably lead to human progress and achievement, we [the Arab-Muslim world] were reading the old books, memorizing them by heart, then explaining the explanations, writing remarks and explaining the remarks, in a vicious circle that never achieved anything and was a complete waste of effort.”

So, it is not a simple lack of dialogue or understanding between the Islamic world and the West, but a lack of achievement on the part of the former which is still the source of the continuing conflict.

In the 19th century, Egypt was the leader in the drive for modernization in the Arab world, marked by the era of Muhammad 'Ali and his efforts to establish the first modern nation-state in the region. This opened the door to seriously addressing the dilemma in how to deal with the West. Intellectuals of that time provided valuable contributions in this regard. In his famous book Takhlis Al-Ibriz fi Talkhis Bariz, Rifah Tahtawi, a prominent 19th century Egyptian intellectual, promoted cooperation rather than isolation and clashing with the West. The principles of freedom, democracy, pluralism and civil liberties that he acquired while in Europe were at the core of all of his pioneering work. Yet, these enlightened endeavors and determined efforts, echoed by the prominent thinkers and writers of Egypt’s Liberal Age in the first half of the 20th century, have not lasted until the present day, as the Islamic world has experienced ups and downs in progress, modernization and achievement.

Arab Novelists’ Views

Yet it was not just Arab thinkers, intellectuals and politicians who addressed the issue of Islam and the West. Artists and novelists – many of whom had been exposed to European culture – also tackled this complicated relationship in a daring way, breaking all taboos.

Since the 1970s, novelists such as the Syrian Kolit Khory have reflected the deep crisis, as reflected within the Arab-Muslim world. In her novel Passed Summer, the Arab characters recognized the backwardness and oppression of their own societies, which led them to escape to the West. There, they were impressed by what they found, but were unable to integrate into the new societies, so isolated themselves. Yet, when they returned home, they did not have the courage to change and modernize or confront the oppression of society, and were left paralyzed, unable to turn their dreams into reality. This story embodies, to a large extent, the impotence of the contemporary Arab-Muslim world.

Another view is provided by Syrian novelist Hanna Mina, who presents in Spring and Autumn the failing relationship between a deteriorated civilization and a developed one, a relationship that cannot be mended without possessing the courage to confront internal challenges, which is why Ms Mina had the hero of the novel realize that the real struggle for freedom and progress should begin in his homeland. A similar view was presented by Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih in his masterpiece Season of Migration to the North in which the author expressed the tension that rests inside any member of the Arab-Muslim world and asked infinite questions which remain unanswered: Should Arab culture melt within Western civilization? Should it withdraw or open up to others? And, if the answer is to open up, then how?

The same questions have been raised by Egyptian writer Bahaa Taher in his novel I Had a Dream Last Night, in which he portrayed the moment of rejecting the West. But later, in his novel Love in Exile, Bahaa revised his attitude through his hero rediscovering the Western world and beginning to see it from a relative, rather than absolute, perspective. In the West, he found the values of honesty, justice, freedom and love, which made him see the bright side of the world he had previously rejected. This time, the space of the “absolute” shrinks and the space of the “relative” expands.

The problematic relationship between the Islamic world and the West is not only depicted by contemporary writers. In fact, the best reflection of it was expressed by the great early liberal thinkers, writers and novelists, with distinguished contributions by Egyptians, including The Days by Taha Husain, Bird from the East by Tawfiq al-Hakim, The Lantern of Umm Hashim by Yahya Haqqi, and many others.

Understanding One’s Society

It is a very long journey towards a beach where the waves of the Islamic world and the West meet. But they will never merge unless self-reconciliation is reached by those on both sides. In The Lantern of Umm Hashim, the Egyptian hero, who was educated in the West, found that being loyal and true to one’s community did not mean one had to praise and uphold all the traditional and backwards aspects of society, or to use the conflict with the West as an excuse to reject all its values. But rather than change society in a shocking or abrupt way, one must love and understand one’s own society to shepherd it to progress and advancement. The hero is portrayed as the advocate of science, logic and love, in contrast to the traditional, dogmatic image of the hero or savior that prevails in the Islamic world and is widely used to justify backwardness, unfairness, and oppression—in short, to defend the status quo.

While a large part of the common Arab attitude seems to be that progress is based on acquiring military or nuclear power, or depends on isolation and automatic rejection of the West, the true sources of progress are achievement, hard work and the values of democracy, freedom, individuality, rule of law, and civil liberties. Though these values may differ from one society, civilization or culture to another, this does not mean that barriers should be created and that we should be destined to live in different worlds. On the contrary, more effort must be devoted to overcoming these walls; while the phases of change and transformation are difficult, they are not impossible.

Before Umm Hashim’s hero discovered the right balance, he had experienced these difficult stages. In his novel, Haqqi brought to life these moments that not just individuals, but society as a whole, must pass through to lay open the deeply-rooted contrast between Islamic and Western mentalities. The contradictions of the relationship between the Arab hero and his European girlfriend become apparent as Haqqi describes simply yet eloquently, “while he talks about marriage… she talks about love, and while he speaks about the future, she speaks of the present moment. What she fears most is constraint, and what he fears most is freedom.”

Isn’t the fear of freedom still the real dilemma of Arab-Muslim society?

 

Hala Mustafa is editor of Democracy Review in Cairo. Petroleumworld not necessaril share these views.

Editor's Note: The preceding article appeared as the editorial in the April edition of Cairo's Democracy Review. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers.

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Petroleumworld 06/25/06

Copyright ©2006 Hala Mustafa/Cairo's Democracy Review. All Rights Reserved.

 

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