The Muslim underdog
September 19th, 2006 by I.C.
As relations between Muslim countries and the West continue to deteriorate — first the furor over the cartoon depictions of Muhammed and now the firestorm stemming from the Pope’s recent comments on Islam — there is an unmistakable sense of polarization in the world, a growing sentiment of “us versus them” between rich Western nations and poorer Islamic ones. Talk of “Islamo-fascism” is becoming more mainstream, and there are accusations that leaders from Muslim countries such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad are new incarnations of Hitler.
While Western leaders remain smug in their technological and economic superiority over countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Palestine — and who could forget the repeated battle cries against Al-Qaeda — what they fail to realize is that there is a strong cultural and historical tradition in Islam of being labelled as the underdog, a tradition that is likely to inspire in Muslim leaders a strong sense of defiance.
This tradition goes back to Muhammed himself. Muhammed was born in Mecca in the year 570; orphaned early in his life, he was raised by an uncle. At the time, Mecca was settled by one large family, the Kuraish, who numbered around several hundred people divided into a dozen clans. Despite being related, some members of the Kuraish were rich while others were poor. Muhammed’s father had been poor, and his caregiver was also poor.
Muhammed’s experiences in stratified Mecca played a key role in his development as a religious leader. His ministry of brotherhood amongst Muslims, charity towards widows and orphans, and heaven for believers (hell for unbelievers) was popular with the young and disaffected, but it was not welcomed by many of his family members who felt a challenge to their control over the city. In 622, the elders of all the Kuraish clans agreed to murder Muhammed. Muhammed received wind of the plot, and escaped from Mecca to the nearby city of Medina. Today, this event is known as the Hijra.
Prior to this, Muhammed had preached forbearance against one’s enemies. But having been treated as a threat by his kin (in addition to almost being killed by them), Muhammed had a new revelation: it is permitted to fight against those who oppress you.
During his time in Medina, Muhammed expanded the Muslim community and began to prepare for war against Mecca. By the late 620s, he had enlarged his army with the help of various Arab tribes, and in 630, Muhammed marched back to Mecca where he and his followers smashed all the idols in the Kaaba and converted the town to Islam.
It is this basic historical archetype — the oppression of Muhammed followed by his eventual triumph — which is now acting as a powerful resonating influence for Muslim leaders all over the world. Just as pre-Islamic Mecca was divided into rich and poor, believers and unbelievers, so do many Muslims perceive the world today as one divided into haves and have-nots, where rich Western unbelievers persecute the Muslim masses for their own ends by propping up puppet governments and taking their oil. And just as Muhammed felt powerless against his enemies and had to flee Mecca, so today do many Muslims feel powerless against the perceived aggression of Western powers.
When Mahmoud Ahmedinejad rails against Western interference in Iran, he taps into a powerful historical schema where confronting power is not only noble, it is blessed by God. The same is true for the speeches now given by the captive Saddam Hussein, by Hamas leaders in Palestine, and even by Osama bin Laden. All now characterize America and the West in ways that recall the Kuraish family: rich, decadent, and persecutors of the faithful.
What Western leaders fail to appreciate is that by threatening Muslim countries with sanctions or by refusing to apologize for offensive cartoons, they are feeding this perception of a powerful oppressor exploiting the weak. Far from bending to this pressure, Muslim leaders will become more defiant as they seek to act out the role of Muhammed in the modern day world.
The growing stormclouds of violence between Europe and America on the one hand and Muslim countries on the other is, at its core, a failure to listen. The burning of embassies and protests in the streets are not simply mindless violence. They are expressions of long-simmering discontent against Western intervention in the Middle East, against corrupt Middle Eastern despots who are supported by Western leaders, against rampant unemployment and social alienation, and against the general feelings of powerlessness that affect the lives of so many people in destitute areas of the world.
Unfortunately, few are listening to these cries and are instead interpreting this regrettable violence as an existential threat aimed at the West. As opposed to seeking the root causes of this growing tension, it appears that Western leaders are doing little more than setting the stage for further confrontation. From Afghanistan to Iraq, from Palestine to Lebanon, a deadly coil of violence snakes its way through the region — and because nothing is done, its reign of terror is far from over.
why should we cretail cartoons so not to offend muslims but its ok to offend christians? or jews? or cannables?
The Muslim underdog? What nonsense. They may like to play the underdog to attract sympathy; but they are, in fact, from some of the wealthiest countries in the world. That more than 60 per cent of the world’s proved oil reserves are in the Middle East, a region wracked by conflict, is a constant source of anxiety for nations that rely on Gulf supplies. In spite of stated efforts to reduce its reliance on Middle East oil, the US has been driven to repeated interventions and support for autocratic regimes to ensure stable energy supplies. — Financial Times, July 5, 2006, p. 8.
If you were to spin the globe and look for real estate critical to building an American Empire, your first stop would have to be the Persian Gulf. The desert sands of this region hold two of every three barrels of oil in the world — Iraq’s reserves alone are equal, by some estimates, to those of Russia, the United States, China and Mexico combined. — Robert Dreyfuss, Mother Jones. March-April 2003
The magic number is 112 billion. That’s how many barrels of oil experts say is oozing through Iraq’s geology — the second largest proven reserves of oil on the planet, just behind Saudi Arabias. — New York Times — Nov. 3, 2002
In the Gulf lie two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves — Financial Times (London) — Dec. 4, 2002
Consider these fact before having sympathy for Muslims, and then dwell on the historic reality that nations tend to export their excess male population to other countries. What is happening with the Muslim drift to the West, as fictitious refugees, is no less than invasion with ambitions of domination. This is the equivalent of letting the Nazis into Britain in 1940 unopposed. All this thanks to cynical socialist politicians who hope the Islam will vote for them. Islam won’t vote for Socialism, Islam will vote for Islam.