Clash of Civilizations: A self-fulfilling Prophecy

Submitted by Jeeshan (Singapore), Aug 2, 2007 at 04:26

I read this article with interest and found the position adopted fairly simplisitc, in the way the world is neatly divided into Muslims and non-Muslims. That is certainly an imaginary division. There are close to six million Muslims in America alone. What is deemed as the West cannot equate unequivocally to Christendom, which I believe the writer of the article is aware of. Moreover, the article implies a homogenous Muslim world, which is a sure fallacy for anyone who has lived in different Muslim countries.

Instead of looking at a war between civilizations, I think the problems of Islamic extremism are confined to the few who are fueled with radical nonsense and utilize religion as a tool to gain support. In reality their margin for success is quite narrow. Historically, there were instances of such radicalism early in Islamic civilizations (The Khwarij). Such violence stemming from Muslim radicals must certainly be put to stop.

I believe, Muslims (the term moderate Muslims is ridiculous) should be more active in weeding out such extremisms within their own communities. Furthermore, I would like to reassure the writer of the article that there is no global jihad. If there is, the scale of conflict, I am sure, will be far different.

Admittedly, I am not a fan of Daniel Pipes, but I do agree with his third option of American Troops playing a support role rather than getting in-between sectarian violence. However, the notion of the Clash of Civilizations is certainly, something, that at this point is not going to help make matters better. Yes, there will always be irreconcilable differences between different religions. It does not mean we have to kill one another because of it. Let common sense prevail.

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