Freedom and justice in Islam
| By John S. Pinto Part 2 In the last issue of Asian Wisconzine, my discussion centered on the difference between liberty and justice in the Arab world. To summarize, liberty was a political term, not a legal term, and equality referred to true believers in Islam. The western concept of freedom is the same as justice in the Arab world. Unlike western kings, the sultans of the Middle East could not rule by decree, but had to engage in extensive consultation. This largely democratic form of governing has led to today's dictatorships in the Middle East. The changes in governing were undertaken, for the most part, by Middle Eastern rulers who had become aware that their societies were losing ground to the Western world. They made drastic changes that led to disastrous results. They increased the power of the ruler and placed at his disposal the whole modern apparatus of control, repression and indoctrination. At the same time, those forces in traditional society that had limited the autocracy of the ruler were severely limited or destroyed. The system, with all its shortcomings, used the scribes, bazaar merchants, the guilds, the country gentry, the military establishment and the religious establishment to limit the autocracy of the ruler. With modernization, a new ruling class emerged. It ruled from the center and used the apparatus of the state for its own purposes. In 1940, France surrendered to the Nazis and the Nazis took over much of the former French colonies in the Middle East. Syria and Iraq were key Nazi targets. Political parties formed. They later transformed into what became the Baath Party. In 1945, after World War II ended, the westerners left and the Soviets moved in. They introduced communist-style political practices. This was easy to do, since the modernization efforts had all the necessary ingredients in place for the communists to rule. This type of repressive government has endured until today. Many Middle Easterners were painfully aware of this break with the past. This led to an Islamic reawakening and was the genesis of a series of movements. The first of these is known as Wahabi. Wahabis believe that the root of Arab-Islamic troubles is the infidel. They want to go back to what they call pure, original Islam. However, their version of Islam bears little resemblance to Islam as it existed in earlier times. Despite this, with the rise of the House of Saud and their control of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, Wahabism acquired a new importance: the discovery of vast reserves of oil in the Middle East. This gave the Wahabis great wealth and power. They have founded schools all over the world and have become a major force in Muslim immigrant communities. In addition, they are able to fund all sorts of other troublemakers throughout the world. Another movement that had a great impact was the Iranian revolution. It created massive social, economic and ideological changes in Iran. These changes have influenced Muslims, not only in the Middle East, but all over the world. The third phase of the Islamic revival has become the organization called Al-Qaeda. Founded by Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaeda fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with American help. However, they do not see it this way. In bin Laden's words, “In this final phase of the ongoing struggle, the world of the infidels was divided between two superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union. Now we have defeated and destroyed the more difficult and more dangerous of the two. Dealing with the pampered and effeminate Americans will be easy.” This series of events and the thinking that caused them have to be considered when we think about the Middle East. The question we have to ask ourselves is: Do we want a modern, free and peaceful Middle East or do we want the volatile and violent Middle East of the last 50 years? |
John Pinto's column