Know Thine Adversary
Much as people of good will cling to the belief that if only people care enough, take the trouble to know one another, express a willingness to come together for the common purpose of living in peace, all will be well.Religion is thought by many of its adherents as having a modifying effect on instinctual human emotions - those primordial impulsive reactions to strangers - teaching the faithful to welcome the stranger as a friend. Moderation in behaviour as in all worldly things is said to be the key to a life well lived.
What to do, however, when your moderate behaviour comes up against the reality of someone else's instinctive withdrawal, suspicion, arousal to anger? Withdraw. Go another route. Avoid contact. The world has many human beings whose atavistic reaction to those clearly from without their tribe, their culture, their traditions, is hostility.
Some cultural traditions encourage revulsion of others, some religions denounce the authenticity of other religions.
Muslims around the world are crying foul at their perception of Islamophobia, a condition which they ascribe to ignorance of the true meaning of Islam, which encourages brotherly love and holds dear the condition of peace between nations. Belied by almost thirty decades of Islamic jihad, where Muslim terrorists have struck in Spain, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Iraq, Britain, the United States, China, Israel, and elsewhere on the map.
Yet moderate Muslims decry the suspicion that wafts their way, engulfing them in suspicion and claim themselves to be victims of misunderstood qualities of Islam, as a life-affirming religion, one that encourages its adherents to be good citizens of the world. The dichotomy plays out on the world stage, day by day. Prove it, the critics of Islam say, provoking Muslim frustration, and in the minds of some proving there is no justice toward Islam.
Yet the anger and violence unleashed against the West and its interests goes on unabated, despite that a ruling hierarchy of Islamic clerics has issued its verdict on Islamist jihad, ruling it to be illegal, against the precepts of Islam, an affront to Allah. And well they might do so, since the overwhelming majority of victims falling prey to violent martyrdom-seeking jihadists are other Muslims.
The message of peace and global brotherhood is somehow not being absorbed by the global Muslim demographic most susceptible to the strangely atrocious allure of militant jihad. And it is not only young and disaffected men from the Middle East who crave to work out their frustrations with life, and target helpless civilians in their quest to prove their Islamist credentials.
The Center for Social Cohesion, based in London, has released the results of a study, titled "Islam on Campus: A Survey of UK Student Opinion". There are some religious and social values that appear universal among young Muslims, leading to the possibility that those values transcend borders, social conditions, level of education and maturity of years and insight.
The report revealed that roughly a third of campus Muslims in the survey gave support to the idea that it is permissible to kill in the name of religion. Conflictingly, a slightly larger portion of Muslim students felt Islam was fully compatible with secularism. Yet they give great support to the vision of Islamic Sharia law, along with the forward-looking ideal of a global Islamic rule, the concept of a global Caliphate re-visited.
These conclusions don't appear to sit very comfortably with the views of university heads who feel academic institutions should be supporting communalism, where people of all faiths and backgrounds should live in open harmony; the atmosphere of mutual tolerance most conducive to a learning environment.
Yet the facts drawn from the survey revealed that 32% of those surveyed felt killing for religion is justifiable, and that number almost doubled, to 60%, in the opinion of those students who were active in Islamic student organizations on campus. Whereas, strikingly, a mere 2% of non-Muslim students considered killing in the name of any religion to be justified.
And the vast majority of students polled, some 79%, claim to have respect for Jews, with 7% saying they felt "very little or no respect at all". The results of the survey were said to be "...deeply alarming", by one of the report's authors, researcher Hanna Stuart. "Students in higher education are the future leaders of their communities."
So what is it exactly within Islam that confers upon impressionable, yet educated young people the impression that to kill in the name of Islam is acceptable? Islam, the religion of peace and goodly tolerant relations with others? Clearly, the sacred writings as interpreted by modern-day scholars and clerics leaves much to be desired.
The original prescriptive behaviours directed at tribal enmities appear never to have been re-addressed to reflect an enlightened response to modern global society.
The report's authors drew the alarmed but under the circumstances, understandable conclusion that empowering groups like the Federation of Student Islamic Societies with their fanatical and conservative interpretation of Islam is proving to be inimical to society at large.
Giving them free rein on campus lends them a "stamp of approval", rendering complicit value to their extremism. University authorities, it was pointed out, must take steps to reduce such influences.
The results of the study, reflect the reality that a significant number of students "appear to hold beliefs which contravene liberal, democratic values", the results of which are deeply embarrassing for those claiming that extremism does not exist in British universities.
Well, they can be embarrassed alongside all the irate Muslim letter-writers to the editors of various newspapers around the world, blaming Islamist extremism on Western insults to Islam.
Labels: Political Realities, Religion, Viewpoint
posted by Pieface @ Monday, July 28, 2008
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