Obama and the Muslim world

President Barrack Obama addressed the Muslim world from the pulpit of the Cairo University a few hours ago. Exhorting Islam's hoary past, its myriad and rich contributions in making of the human civilization as we know today, as well as their inability to address some fundamental issues facing the world today, Obama brought out the dichotomy cutting across the Muslim world- that of their zealous adherence to their tradition and faith and that of confronting modernity and progress as defined by the West. Rather than commenting on Obama's speech, let me articulate my thoughts about the Muslim world, their complex world view and their even more complicated engagement with the non-muslim world.


From the 10th century till about 15th-16th century, the Muslim people where not only the most powerful, but where also intellectually, academically, and culturally much more advanced than their European counterparts, who were still rolling in the dark middle ages. That was the period which saw Islam spreading in all directions from its Arabic epi-center, taking with them not only their faith in One Allah and His Prophet, but also their art, science, culture and politics to distant lands. They came and conquered India, they swept through East Asian countries, they spread over Africa and interestingly they also conquered vast stretches of Europe, including Spain and France. It was the golden era of Islam. It is also reported that the works and philosophy of ancient Greece- that of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, were preserved by the Arab intellectuals of the Muslim world, before passing them on to European hands, which would ultimately play a major role as a precursor to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment. It would not be an exaggeration to state that Islam was the dominating power of the world in those centuries.


But then with the rise of European Colonial powers, together with the explosion of ideas during the period of Renaissance, slowly but surely the baton of dominance passed on from the Muslim/Arab hands to the Christian/European hands. The Muslims also faced some crushing and humiliating defeats at the hands of the Europeans, especially in Europe and Eurasia. In Europe, political power got concentrated in the hands of the Church. But at the same time new world changing ideas in science and philosophy, influenced by the spirit of rationalism and skepticism of Aristotle and Plato, started rocking the new epi-center of world power- Europe. 


While Europe witnessed increasing conflict between the Faith and the Reason in those centuries and ideas like liberty, rationality, sovereignty, democracy, freedom were born of that tumultuous wedlock between the Church and Free thought,  the Muslim world quietly retreated into their ghetto, sulking in their loss of power, defensive and determined to remain free from European influence. Uninhibited pursuit of knowledge and an invigorating intellectual life, which was how Islamic civilization can be characterized between 8th-15th century was all but replaced by indoctrinated and dogmatic understanding of the Holy Quran, and a civilization based on it. Uncertainty and loss of power in the political domain led to certitude and exclusivity in religion.The separation of Europe  and the culture of European Enlightenment and the Arab world with its own understanding of the world, rooted in their interpretation of the Holy Quran, was almost complete. Perhaps some vestiges of interaction remained in the periodic clashes of the two sides, but that only increased the feelings of hostility and bitterness. 


Over the last few centuries majority of the followers of Islam have defined their identity based on a defensive mindset with regards to their faith. In their forced exclusion, they have rigorously created this division of Us vs. Them- the faithful vs the infidels. This differentiation was central to their self-identity. The difference in the attitude of the Muslims of the 9th-10th century, who at the height of their glory and power, self-confident and sure of their faith, were far more liberal and tolerant of diverse ideas, and even learning from and preserving those foreign ideas, and the Islam of 17th,18th and 19th century which was hostile to outside influence, parochial and inward looking, cannot be more striking.


But the world started changing very quickly from the middle of 19th century and by 20th century the two sides were again face to face. But clearly the Europeans and European ideas where ruling the world. All the major political ideologies of 20th century- Nationalism, Socialism, Communism, Nazism, Fascism- were born in Europe, as did all the major scientific break throughs and discoveries. The big colonial powers were European, in fact, large Muslim populated areas were colonies of Christian European powers- mainly British, but also Portuguese, French and Spanish.That is the proud and zealous Muslims, who were not completely reconciled to their humiliating defeat by the Christian Europeans, now vastly superior and definitely more powerful, where again confronting each other. Though a few centuries have passed, the tides of resentment have not really ebbed between the two worlds and the tension could always be felt under the surface. 


When we look at the events of the world today with this back ground, we would have a clearer perspective and a better understanding of them. 

June 5th 2009.