For decades, polls in the Muslim world and the statements of Muslim leaders have shown a variety of resentments about US policies. Muslims share the worldwide view that the US does not live up to its own ideals of international law and democracy. There have also been specific complaints that the US favors Israel over the Palestinians and the Arab world as a whole, that the US exploits the Middle East for its oil and that it hypocritically supports non-democratic governments that accommodate its interests. These attitudes persist. (15)
But now there is also a new feeling about the US that has emerged in the wake of 9-11. This is not so much an intensification of negative feelings toward the US as much as a new perception of American intentions. There now seems to be a perception that the US has entered into a war against Islam itself. (16) More than 70 per cent of Egyptians, Indonesians, Moroccans and Pakistanis believe that the United States is trying to weaken and divide the Islamic world, according to a survey by the World Public Opinion Organization released on April 23, 2007.
It is a harsh reality that tensions between the Islamic world and the West arise from conflicts over political power and interests and not from differences of religion and culture.
Majority of the people in Muslim and western countries believe that Islam-West division is worsening while each side thinks the other disrespects their culture, according to a report on Muslim-Western relations released on January 21, 2008 in Davos, Switzerland.
The report, titled "Islam and the West: Annual Report on the State of Dialogue," conducted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Georgetown University, looks at how Muslim and Western societies perceive and relate to each other at the political, social, economic and cultural levels.
In the preface of the report, John J. DeGioia, President, Georgetown University, points out: “A better future for Muslim-West relations at a global level and within national societies depends on more than dialogue. It demands progress on outstanding conflicts, including an Israeli-Palestinian peace that combines security with self-determination. It also demands greater stability, prosperity and democracy throughout the Middle East, Africa, and South, Central and Southeast Asia. A better future necessitates equal citizenship for Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe, North America and around the world, marked by broad-based economic growth, upward mobility and access to education and healthcare.”
When asked how the West could improve relations with the Muslim world, the most often offered response to Gallup Polls was: respect Islam, stop treating us like we’re inferior, stop degrading Muslims in your media as well as a desire for assistance with technology, jobs and economic development. (17)
To borrow John L. Esposito, diagnosing terrorism as a symptom and Islam as the problem, though popular in some circles, is flawed and has serious risks with dangerous repercussions. It confirms extremist beliefs and fears, alienates the ‘moderate’ Muslim majority, and reinforces a belief that the war against ‘global terrorism’ is really war against Islam. Whether one is ‘radical’ or ‘moderate’, this negative attitude is a widespread perception. (18)
References:
1. "US designates Hekmatyar as a terrorist", Dawn February 20, 2003.
2. Islam in the Post-Cold War Era by Abdus Sattar Ghazali - 1999
3. Ibid.
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