Clash of Civilisations: Myth or Reality
By Abu Hisham Al-Idrisi
Introduction
The end of the Cold War and the events of September 11th have engendered an intense and ever-increasing focus from academics and observers about the heterogenic and conflictual relations between the West and Islam.
At the same time, the powerful Western media machine has produced selective coverage of the Muslim world that has emphasised only its negative aspects: absence of democracy, human rights abuses and terrorism, all manifestly defective in any nation yet all demonstrably legacies of the Cold War and of post-colonial states that have failed to achieve development at all levels.
Rather than enlightening their readers, sensationalist headlines and unbalanced commentaries in Western media are evidence of a systematic failure of critical thinking about how to deal with a large portion of the world’s population, one that has over the centuries contributed in a positive way to the human and scientific development of Western civilisation itself.
The “Islamic” Nuclear Threat
A simple example can be seen in the notion of the “Islamic” nuclear threat, a concept that is now deeply anchored in the Western psyche, especially now that Pakistan has successfully tested a nuclear bomb in the context of a frenzied arms race with its neighbour, India.
I oppose these weapons of mass destruction, and do not regard it as praiseworthy for Muslims to possess nuclear weapons, which do not differentiate between belligerent combatants and children in playgrounds.
Therefore it is more than enough for the Pakistani bomb to be called Pakistani and not Islamic, as it is enough for other Weapons of Mass Destruction to be called by the names of the nations that develop and hold them – American, British, French, Chinese – rather than by any religious label: Christian, Hindu or Jewish – or secular.
The Politics of Fear and “The Other”
This paranoid condition has been further compounded during the recent campaign to invade Iraq, when the main reason invoked for the war was the alleged possession, by the Iraqis, of nuclear capabilities; an allegation that has not only proven false, but also unmasked the disgrace of reliance on “secret evidence”.
At the heart of the matter is, as always, “the other”.
Today a globally triumphant Western civilisation no longer characterises “the other” in terms of skin colour. Instead “the other” is now defined in terms of religion and a dissimilar way of life.
- The West versus Islam
- The West versus the Rest
- Them and Us
- Civilisation versus Barbarism
It is likewise illogical to place Islam, which is a monotheist religion comparable to Christianity and Judaism, in opposition to the West, which is by turns a strategic region, a geographical division, or a metaphorical expression of political and economic values.
Islam and the West: A False Duality
Bernard Lewis and the Problem of Definitions
In his 1990 Tanner lecture, Europe and Islam, Bernard Lewis discussed the difficulty of comparing Islam and the West as equivalent concepts.
Islam is not a geographic location; it is a religion. Yet for Muslims, religion encompasses the whole of life, including civil, criminal and constitutional dimensions.
Islam Is Not Monolithic
Islam itself is not a monolithic construct. It means different things for different people.
Islam has:
- No clergy
- No councils or synods
- No canon laws or canon courts
- No equivalent to the institutional Church
No person or organisation holds exclusive rights for articulating or interpreting Islam.
Historical Memory and Civilizational Conflict
The answer to the question of why Western thinkers articulate theories of a clash of civilisations is complicated and rooted in historical, geopolitical and psychological factors.
The West possesses a strong, though selective, historical memory. By making Islam “the enemy,” it retrieves long sequences of history from the Crusades to colonial wars and frames them as parallels to contemporary events.
As Fernand Braudel observed, Islam created and lived jihad just as Christianity created and lived the Crusades.
Global Domination and Strategic Power
Western civilisation, in at least one of its manifestations, aims at global domination. Documents associated with the Project for the New American Century openly advocated American global leadership through military strength and strategic intervention.
The result is an asymmetric confrontation aimed at subduing “the other” and removing its cultural traits and differences.
The Search for a New Enemy
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western decision makers faced a strategic void and sought a new enemy. Islam conveniently fulfilled this role.
This mentality reflects an old Arabic proverb:
“When a merchant goes bankrupt, he looks in his old registers.”
The confrontational attitude surrounding the clash of civilizations may therefore reflect the failure of the West to achieve universal acceptance of its ideals.
Religion, Civilization, and Identity
The Algerian intellectual Malek Bennabi argued that religion is one of the factors that creates civilization rather than merely reacting to historical developments.
Likewise, Maximilian Weber connected Protestantism to the rise of industrial capitalism in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
This raises urgent questions:
- Will religion shape future international relations?
- Will Muslims become scapegoats in Western societies?
- Will Islam continue to serve as fuel for populist politics?
Democracy, Secularism, and Double Standards
The article criticizes Western hypocrisy regarding democracy in the Muslim world.
“Virtual silence has greeted the reversal of a democratic election in Algeria.”
Sir James Goldsmith argued that the West cannot accept a democratic rejection of its own ideas.
Similarly, Oliver Roy observed:
“When the West has to choose between democracy and secularism, it will always choose secularism and not democracy.”
Averroes and the Difficulty of Understanding Cultures
Borges’ Interpretation of Averroes
The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges explored cultural misunderstanding in his story Averroes’ Search.
Averroes struggled to understand Aristotle’s concepts of tragedy and comedy because Islamic societies lacked a theatrical tradition.
Borges used this story as a metaphor for the human inability to fully comprehend cultures outside one’s own experience.
“We have had the experience, but missed the meaning.”
The challenge before humanity is how to convert experience into understanding and avoid the inevitability of civilizational conflict.
Islamic Contributions to Western Civilization
Historical evidence demonstrates that the Islamic world played a major role in the Renaissance of the West through cultural exchange, science, philosophy and education.
The Influence of Averroes
Averroes strongly influenced European philosophy from the Middle Ages until the sixteenth century.
Thomas Aquinas himself was deeply influenced by Aristotelianism and Averroes’ commentaries, despite later ecclesiastical opposition.
The influence of Averroes remained particularly strong in Italy and helped establish early foundations of modern intellectual thought.
Personal Reflections on Tolerance
The author recounts growing up in Algeria during the tensions of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1967.
Near the football field in his village stood a Jewish cemetery. Despite widespread anger toward Israel, local Muslim children carefully avoided stepping on graves out of respect for the dead.
This memory serves as a symbol of Islamic tolerance and coexistence.
Edward Said and Orientalism
The article recalls Edward Said’s critique of Western portrayals of Islam in Orientalism.
“The West’s almost obsessive emphasis on terrorism and fanaticism in the Arab world is a form of exorcism.”
Said argued that Western societies project their own internal fears and violence onto Islam while ignoring similar elements within their own cultures.
Literature and the Image of Muslims
The article highlights numerous examples of negative depictions of Muslims in Western literature:
- The Chanson de Roland
- Dante’s Inferno
- Melville’s Moby-Dick
- Dickens’ colonial writings
- Shakespeare’s Othello
These literary representations contributed to enduring stereotypes concerning Islam and Muslims.
Dialogue Between Religions
Despite centuries of conflict, the twentieth century witnessed significant efforts toward dialogue between monotheistic religions.
One of the most important moments occurred in 1965 when the Catholic Church officially renounced the historical accusation against Jews regarding the death of Jesus.
This development opened a new era of dialogue among the “children of Abraham.”
Islam and Shared Abrahamic Heritage
Islam historically recognized Judaism and Christianity as part of a shared monotheistic heritage.
The Qur’an contains numerous references to Biblical prophets and praises many of them.
It also includes extensive references to Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
For centuries, Arab Christians and Muslims coexisted throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
Algeria and Religious Coexistence
The article highlights the long-standing Jewish and Christian presence in Algeria and North Africa.
It recalls the Trappist Monastery of Tibherine, where monks lived peacefully among Muslims for generations before the tragic murders carried out by extremists in 1996.
The response of forgiveness and compassion shown afterward symbolized the possibility of interfaith solidarity even amid violence.
The Importance of Dialogue
Dialogue remains essential in an age marked by globalization, migration, identity crises and political conflict.
True dialogue builds bridges between peoples and religions, dissolves otherness and creates understanding rooted in shared humanity.
The essence of Islam, the author argues, is reflected in the Qur’anic verse:
“O humankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other.”
Conclusion
The theory of the clash of civilizations ultimately rests upon simplifications, stereotypes and political interests.
History demonstrates that civilizations are capable not only of conflict but also of exchange, coexistence and mutual enrichment.
Peace depends on dialogue, tolerance and the restoration of common ground between religions and cultures.
Salaam. Peace.
Referenced Works
- Malek Bennabi – Les conditions de la renaissance
- Jorge Luis Borges – Labyrinths
- Fernand Braudel – The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World
- Dante Alighieri – The Divine Comedy
- Edward Said – Orientalism
- James Goldsmith – The Trap
- Bernard Lewis – Europe and Islam
- Oliver Roy – The New Central Asia
- William Shakespeare – Othello
- Max Weber – The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism