The Islamic states whose history in the preceding century was marked by
friendship for both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union have benefited from a
status made up of unequal parts of Western dependence on oil and a romantic view
of the desert. This has persisted and to it has now been added a virulent
anti-Semitism. Our closest ally, Saudi Arabia, with its guiding doctrine of
Wahhabism, continues to view the West with unremitting enmity. The Islamic cries
of superiority will eventually resemble the histories of other bankrupt systems
whose shrillness concealed their weakness. But one problem demands more
attention. The brutal interludes of our times should end the endless debate of
what makes a farsighted leader and lead us to examine very carefully the human
propensity to become blind followers.
Americans are a resourceful and
cheerful people, quite capable of taking care of themselves, and do not take
kindly to those who try to stop them from enjoying life. Terrorism, the weapon of
the weak, should alert us, not frighten us. We have to say this loud and clear to
friends and foes alike: If one wishes to kill and maim innocents in the pursuit
of a religious goal, he shall be speedily helped to martyrdom.
The
fundamental inappropriateness of Islamic beliefs will eventually lead to
cataclysmic changes in Muslim society. Younger Muslims, the jeunesse
dorée from Mecca to Teheran, wait for an opportunity to depose their
elders. The fact that some of them have chosen to give up their lives for reasons
as varied as those of the Crusaders whom they vilify should not be taken as
symptomatic of the generation as a whole. The Crusaders embarked on conquest for
reasons that ranged from religious devotion to being released from payment of
debts; and being simply unhappy at home or wishing to travel. Among the
terrorists there must be many who find it difficult to contemplate a "nine to
five" existence. The terrorist movement will eventually disintegrate like the
Crusades did.
It is incredible that in the entire world of Islam there is
no thundering voice that describes jihad as an abomination, as a cowardly attack
on the innocent that no religion should sanction. It is telling that there has
not been an important Islamic sage or leader who has stood against this
self-defeating ideology. That Islam seems to have a great appeal among those in
prison tells us a great deal about its future. As a faith it offers a refuge for
a mind in turmoil, but unlike other faiths that preach love of the other, it
turns the mind toward hatred of the other. It may change a belief, but the
chemistry remains the same — toxic and volatile.
This new world of
Islam bears only superficial resemblance to that civilization which held an
honored place in the preservation and dispersion of knowledge when medieval
society was still centered around the Mediterranean. But the absence of Islamic
activity in the formation of nation-states ended such a chapter. After the naval
Battle of Lepanto in 1571 there was no longer any prospect of Islamic competition
with Christian civilization. The language and religion of Arabia survived, but
the Muslim world has been backward ever since. The world moved west, away from
the Mediterranean and toward the Atlantic. It led to a new chapter in world
history in which Islam was only a bystander.
The fact that unremitting
rivalry and warring among Islam's many tribes and states is met with calls for
Islamic unification shows how far that world is from confronting its problems. In
the end, like the person who chooses the right door because all the other doors
have been closed off, the Islamic world must choose the Western path that has
guided the growth and democratic character of Israel.
Of course, we are in
danger individually and in groups — that is nothing new. As a civilization,
the West, with America as its model, is just beginning to make its mark on the
world. After all, Roman civilization lasted for more than a millennium, and did
not even know enough about human reproduction to associate drinking from lead
goblets with infertility. America, contrary to Buchanan, does not depend solely
on reproduction. Its ideas are doing the propagating. It has a great future for
itself and for the entire world.
|
|
