This is my research paper I wrote on Islam and Terrorism, make ur own minds.
Simeon Bourim
November 17, 2003
Islam And Terrorism
The western world, and many Americans, since September 9th, 2001Americans have wondered why do they hate us, they being the terrorists (Gonsalaves). Since that date there has been record sale of the Koran, with the people trying to understand why. But like Gonsalaves says, while the effort is good, it is misplaced, it would be as if the Arabs wanted to learn about America by reading the bible, because the USA is a predominately Christian society. In addition, this misconception is not new, Gonsalaves states that even after the Oklahoma City bombings at first most people thought it was a Muslim attack; even a CBS News reporter said, “Oklahoma City, I can tell you, is probably considered one of the largest centers of Islamic radical activity outside the Middle East” (Gonsalaves). In actuality Islam and Christianity have a long history together which sometimes explains why there is such reactions (Huntington).
Islam, and Christianity have been adversaries many times, and many times in history where in direct conflict with each other (Huntington). Many times, when one religion was at a low point, the other took advantage (Huntington). And Huntington continues to say, there is an Islamic come back is in various form of Islamic life, from social to private life, even the number of times they attend a mosque. This Islamic comeback has shaped the world and especially the eastern hemisphere in many ways (Huntington). And Hunting to says “To ignore the impact of the Islamic Resurgence on Eastern hemisphere politics in the date twentieth century is equivalent to ignoring the impact of the Protestant Reformation on European politics in the date sixteenth century.” But with this resurgence came the unity to struggle with many Muslims, and to many it’s a struggle against Israel and the West (Lewis). Many countries in the West also start drawing distinctions between “us” and “them”, many time clumping terrorists and Islam in one bundle (Albright). And there was still the fact the Arabs could not confront Israel in a military fashion anytime soon, so many looked for other ways out, and some found it in small scale, urban based tactics, also known as Terrorism (Lewis).
Modern Terrorism is more or less traced back to the 60’s and the early years of Israel (Moore). Where the failure of post-colonial states inspired Marxism ideas to spread through out the Middle East, this was the time that Terrorism was useful to achieve political goals (Moore). And modern technology was also useful to terrorist; member of the PFPL (Popular Front of Palestinian Liberation) used modern communication devices to their advantage to organize kidnappings, hijackings and bombings, something very different from their rural guerrilla fighting strategies (Moore). But most of the time, these strategies involved a different type of terrorism that we see in the world today, yet just as deadly (Moore). Later, with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan we noticed an evolution in international terrorism; state sponsored terrorist from all over the Middle East fought in Afghanistan, which created a pool of well trained battle hardened veterans who serve in the modern rank of terrorists (Moore). The final step towards modern terrorism was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, it lead to a power vacuum and the lack of conflict or funding relating to the war or Soviet Union soon led to instability to many states around the world, with the help of modern technology these battle hardened veterans become a very strong force (Moore).
The terrorist organizations have become strong enough to actually have a country that is less of a country but more of a terrorist training camp; a country like Afghanistan.
Terrorism has affected the Middle East as much as the Middle East affected Terrorism. The earliest impacts, is when Palestinians end most of their guerrilla war against Israel and switch to a more urban based war (terrorism) to get to their political goals (Moore). But soon with the end of a way for Arabs to destroy Israel in the conventional sense have switched their tactics. But even that, as Moore states has already lost being the center point of terrorism, most groups to increase funding and support have declared war on the west. But there is more than that, the Islamic aspect side of the Middle East has also changed, most states as Huntington puts it, are more Islamic now than they where 15 years ago. He continues to say that Islam has now become a sense of identity and pride for the people of the Middle East and other Islamic nations, more than it has been in the recent past. However, many chose to direct this new sense of identity to fuel a war, a war not with political aims, but with deep religious and even more fundamental ideals (Lewis, Moore).
It seems that the biggest question still lingers, why most of the Islamic Fundamentalism is directed at the West (Gonsalaves). Lewis states, that Islam in itself has brought a tremendous impact on the world, pre-renaissance it has made tremendous advances to the world. When Europe was still in the Dark Ages, the Islamic empire advanced in the field of science, philosophy and art. Nevertheless, Islam, like almost all religions, it can be used to inspire hate, violence and fear (Lewis). Lewis states that many such clerics or anti-west governments use the statement that the West is the enemy of God, but the fact that God has enemies and that he needs human help to get rid of them is not the most convincing of statements. Furthermore, Islam is a monotheistic religion, in which there is only one God, one true force, there is a struggle in human hearts between good and evil, temptation and salvation, and there is no other force with divine or divine-like powers that rivals God (Lewis). However, Islamic Radicals or classic Islam world there is still a struggle or a view between the believers and follower of God against the Infidels or the House of War. Moreover, it’s the duty of every Muslim to either dispatch of them or bring Islam to them, or so say the Radicals (Lewis).
Many still view it as a continuation of the early struggle between Christendom and Islam (Lewis). The balance of power has been swinging back and forth since almost the year 400 AD, but for the last 300 years, Islam it was Islam’s turn to be in retreat, but it looks like that is changing (Huntington). For 300 years, states Lewis, there has been very little contact between the Islamic Empire and the Americas and Western Europe. There have been colonial wars and even at one-point invasions of some of important cities of Islam, but as a whole Islam remained unchanged in its view of the West. However, the post-world war II period brought many changes, with the TV, radio and the influx American and Western ideas (Lewis). This among other things that started to change the Muslim world, ideas entered the country, companies, and technology and finally ideas that made women realize their potential and sons rebel (Lewis). This was usually the final straw for many Islamic patriarch societies. They wanted and need to return to their roots, so they returned to Islam, hence the name fundamentals in fundamentalism (Lewis).
Islamic Fundamentalism, is accepting all Islam sayings and facts as law and truth (Gibbsy). To return to Islamic Fundamentalism is not exactly to denounce modern technology, as Huntington puts it “to modernize, but not necessarily westernize”. But there, organizations like the Al Queda and the HAMAS all draw on the fundamental element of Islam, and denounce all western Ideas (Moore). However as Moore puts it, groups like those also, change their stance form time to time, at first they where just political terrorists fighting first Soviets then the moved to fight Israel and eventually any other western power. However, as Lewis puts it, it doesn’t give reason enough to link west in to one big clump of “evil”. Even though Islamic politically motivated terrorist blame first the America for supporting Israel, the Soviet Union first saved Israel from annihilation, and the United States in the late 50’s forced all western forces to withdraw from occupying Israel (Lewis). Therefore, as Lewis points out, there is a serious flaw in the Israel argument, because no blame is directed at the Soviet Union, and on the other hand, no praise or acknowledgment is given to the USA for insisting on the liberation of Egypt (Lewis).
