Israel Matzav

Is the Muslim world waking up to its own violent nature?

Blogger Micah Halpern notes with some satisfaction that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Hamas spokesman Dr. Ghazi Hamad have issued very critical statements about Islam's dependence on violence in the last couple of weeks. He attributes Islam's violent nature to its 'unity uber alles,' its inability to admit mistakes.

One of my biggest and most often repeated critiques of the Arab world is their own lack of critique, their own lack of self-criticism. One of the most significant weaknesses of Arab-leadership, Arab intelligentsia and the Arab masses has been that they have all, blindly and boldly, followed the move to extremism.

As fractured and as divided as they are internally, the Arab world has always determined to present a cohesive, united front to the rest of the world. Now, suddenly, we are beginning to see cracks in the facade of Arab harmony and unity. Distinct voices are being heard, publicly and in the press, speaking lovingly of their people but critical of the direction the Arab world has taken.

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Truly, this is one of the first times in a very long time that I am hearing material of this critical nature coming out of the Middle East. The best and only serious self-critique we have heard has, until now, come from ex-pat Muslims musing from the safety of the West, in interviews given to al-Hayat, the largest Arabic London-based newspaper, posturing on al Jazeera or even penning op-eds for The New York Times.

The Muslim world had fallen victim to its own violence. The radical Muslim world intended for violence to be a response to the non-Muslim world. And it was. But now that violence has spread and engulfs the world it was supposed to protect.

Muslim terror and violence will continue to haunt us in the West, but first it will haunt and destroy Arab culture and society. First it will cause the Arab world to implode and self-destruct.

The threat of Muslim violence to the Western world is real, but it is not existential. The true tragedy is that the Muslim world has attached so much value to the warped myth of Arab unity uber alis that is has empowered the myth to destroy the value of human life.

While I agree with him that the Arab world is lacking in internal critical analyses, I fear that Halpern is latching onto a very weak branch. While Islam may be ready to take small steps to confront its own internal violence (let's see if anyone is willing to do what needs to be done to keep Hamas and Fatah apart), I'm afraid that they still fail to grasp that glorifying violence against non-Muslims only leads to violence becoming the solution to all disputes, including internal disputes. The Islamic world is a long way from doing away with its violent culture. I don't expect it to happen in our lifetimes.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:28 PM