The Threat To Islam

Asia's moderate Muslim nations must put their own houses in order if
they want to stop the rise of militant fundamentalists in their midst

By KARIM RASLAN
Karim Raslan is a lawyer and regionally syndicated columnist based in
Kuala Lumpur


I Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington, author of The Clash of
Civilizations, was wrong. The real conflict ignited by the terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center is not between Islam and an
American-led, Judeo-Christian front. The greater challenge is the
struggle within the Islamic community between moderate Muslims and
fundamentalist extremists. This battle for the hearts and minds of
believers will be fought on two fronts: the first is theological and
educational, and the second concerns socio-economic issues and the
civil society agenda. Moderate Muslim nations, including Indonesia and
Malaysia, face critical challenges.

Fundamentalist Muslims believe that all civil institutions and human
activity must be subordinate to divine law as revealed in the Holy
Koran. They are guided in part by the teachings of the 18th-century
Arab preacher, Abdul Wahab. The "Wahabis," funded by the Saudi
government,reject local religious practices and innovations. They
vilify Shi'ite Muslims and Sufi sects and treat them as kaffirs, or
nonbelievers. Their rhetoric, propagated in the religious schools of
Pakistan, has been the source of the Taliban's ideologicalfervor.
Concepts such as jihad are interpreted purely in terms of hatred and
militancy, chiefly aimed at the U.S. and Shi'ites in Iran. The Wahabis'
intolerance has destroyed the rich diversity and discourse within the
faith.

Indonesia, the world's largest Islamic nation, will be critical to the
Muslim world's struggle against extremism. President Megawati
Sukarnoputri has just begun a visit to the U.S. Coming so soon after
the brutal assault, her trip is a reminder of the many millions of
moderate Muslims who reject the intolerant Wahabi ideology championed
by Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Indonesia is one of the few
surviving centers of indigenous, non-Arabic Islamic tradition.

With a tolerant and innovative tradition, Indonesia has staved off the
Saudi-sponsored Wahabi missionaries. But the popular mood can shift
overnight. Leaders such as Megawati are taking great political risks in
denouncing terrorism as barbaric and indiscriminate. They could enrage
the conservative religious establishment and provoke unscrupulous
opponents, who are willing to employ religious rhetoric to further
their careers.

Moderate Islamic democracies such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh
and Turkey are equally threatened by the terrorist attacks. These
nations must confront the deep flaws that have fueled the rise of
Islamic extremism within their borders. Political repression,
corruption and mismanagement have alienated many people from the ideas
of democracy, progress and modernity. Ineffective governments have
failed to tackle poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth.

The principles of secularism, gender equality and liberalism have become
tainted by corruption and decadence. The attacks in the U.S. should be
a wake-up call to moderate Islamic nations. These nations must address
their internal weaknesses. Only then can they halt the slide towards
Islamic militancy and extremism. Intolerance and bigotry in the
seminaries must be stopped, along with the pernicious teachings of the
Wahabis. Meanwhile, moderate Muslims can look to Indonesia. The
country's Islamic scholars understand that the Holy Koran is compatible
with democracy, human rights, gender equality and social justice.

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