An ugly
and ancient aspect of Islamic culture recently triggered violent demonstrations
throughout the world. The cause was a low-budget film ("The Innocence of
Moslems") made by an Egyptian-American Coptic Christian. A minority of
Moslems have always been particularly sensitive about their religion and how it
should be practiced. These conservatives have gone by many names over the
centuries. The most common tags these days are Salafists and Wahhabis. These
fanatic minorities have exercised an influence on Islamic culture far larger
than their numbers (usually less than 10-20 percent) would suggest.
Criticism
of Islam was also forbidden by these conservatives, particularly by foreigners.
In the past these conservatives have used persuasion and coercion to force the
majority to resist change of any sort. Thus the early practice of Moslem
scholars translating ancient Greek, Roman and other books into Arabic and then
discussing all these new ideas was brought to a halt. The conservatives
considered these foreign ideas and concepts poisonous and unIslamic. Thus after
a few centuries of being a beacon of knowledge, the Islamic world began to
fade. The Turks revived it for a while, by conquering most of the Middle East,
but even the Turks eventually found themselves dragged down by corruption and
opposition to new ideas. What used to be the wealthiest region in the world
became one of the poorest. Were it not for the Western world developing an
appetite for oil, which Arabia had a lot of the Middle East would be the
poorest region in the world.
Not all
Moslems quietly accepted this static thinking and the poverty (economic,
intellectual and cultural) that went along with it. They were often joined in
this resistance by non-Moslems still living in the region. But the Islamic
conservatives almost always managed to muster enough force to halt change,
often with much bloodshed. This brought with it frequent bouts of Islamic
terrorism, as some of the Islamic conservatives sought to express their
opposition to change in the most violent way possible. That Islamic terrorism
has been flaring up for over a thousand years. It's nothing new, not at all.
This
brings us back to "The Innocence of Moslems" and why it was created
by an Egyptian Christian who had fled his homeland. He's one of many, actually.
Some 1,500 years ago most Egyptians were Christians, nearly all of them
belonging to the local Coptic sects. Then the Moslems invaded in the 7th
century and used threats and financial incentives to encourage conversion to
Islam. After three centuries of this, Moslems were the majority. Ever since,
Egyptian Moslems have sought, often with violence, to convert the remaining
Egyptian Christians (currently about ten percent of the population). Some
converted, but increasingly over the last century, Copts have simply fled the
country. Those who left had bitter, and ancient, memories of Moslem
persecution. That apparently led to making the "The Innocence of
Moslems" (allegedly financed by Copts in Egypt).
In
response the Egyptian government issued arrest warrants for seven Copts
(including the man believed behind the film) and an American clergyman noted
for his anti-Moslem attitudes. All eight are accused of having something to do
with the film. This is a largely symbolic gesture, as all those being sought by
the police are outside the country. Copts living outside Egypt frequently say
unkind things about Egypt and Islam, but these comments are usually ignored
inside Egypt. Meanwhile, a senior Pakistani government official has offered
$100,000 of his own money for whoever kills the Egyptian-American man
responsible for the film.
Islamic
terrorism often gets explained away as being a reaction to Western imperialism,
or colonialism or simply cultural differences. No one, especially in the
Islamic world, wants to admit that the cause of it all is religious fanatics
who would rather appear righteous than be righteous.
No comments:
Post a Comment