Caught In the New Wind

A few days ago, I met with a friend who recently made a return trip to Istanbul from New York. To my surprise, this friend has become more religious and more of a “true believer”. My friend has now grown a full beard, wears a hat to cover his hair and from what I could observe, does not choose Gap products to wear anymore. Considering Istanbul’s culture and his previously secular (but not irreligious) upbringing, my friend’s new lifestyle is seen as a negative transformation and he is seen as a “lost soul” to radical religious beliefs. In Istanbul, it is not religion or the increase at the rate of mosque attendance that people are afraid of, but the spread of religious radicalism. Similarities existed during the Roman era when the emperors were expected to exercise piety and temperance.[i]

We are talking about a society that is 99% Muslim by faith so people are raised and mature in a very much a faith-based culture. When considering actual practice, Istanbul and perhaps Turkey in general, falls much shorter than the above-mentioned percentage. My friend did mention the unorthodoxy of the people as a sign of the decadence for our society. I’d like to dedicate this blog to my friend because I see his religiosity as another side of modernity and will attempt to explain, in a short narrative, the rise of Islam in politics and as a new form of identity. For the record, my friend did tell me that his religiosity is very much spiritual and non-political. However, I will follow the Lewis and Levonton paradigm[ii] to show how my friend’s new views on life are products of political and socio-economical developments of our era.

The rise of Political Islam has a long history going back to the Wahhabis in Arabia. Further back into the past, Ibn Taymiyyah can be said to have been the first puritanical preacher of Islam who won adherence as a response to the devastation wrought by the Mongols. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, societies experiencing conflict and struggle are prone to religious/cultural conservatism. No wonder that Ibn Taymiyyah attracted a following after the Mongol conquests and the Wahhabis rallied behind partly what they considered Ottoman religious deviances. This puritanical Wahhabis imagined a perfect community of the first generation of Muslims and recognized the first four caliphs as the Islamic golden age. For them, the Islamic practices were later corrupted by influences of the surrounding cultures and traditions. Shiites and Sufis, thereby, became potential targets and apostates. Prophet Muhammad’s tomb in Medina was shattered and Shiite pilgrims in southern Iraq were attacked and killed. Muhammad Ali’s army from Egypt was able to contain this new Arabian radicalism until the emergence of modern Saudi Arabia.

European imperialism did open the doors for new interpretations and solutions while the lands populated by Muslims were failing to resist approaching foreign armies. Other than colonizing, imperialism did help our world to become inter-connected. With the invention of the telegraph, steam engine, spread of newspapers and quicker ways of travel, longer distances became closer than ever. As diverse Muslim peoples around the world were brought under European control, the Ottoman Empire as the last Muslim empire standing, fashioned itself as the Caliphate under the reign of sultan Abdul Hamid II. A global ummah was being created which had no precedence in history. Although he propagated the unity of Muslims during his long reign, by the beginning of World War I, there was no great revolt against Europeans when the Ottomans made a call for a jihad to destabilize European colonies in North Africa and Asia. Abdul Hamid, however, planted the seeds for the ideology of Pan-Islam[iii], which I believe, was picked up and radicalized by Al-Qaeda.

From the end of World War I to the 1980s, the Middle Eastern politics were influenced by secular ideologies. Kemalism still reigns in Turkey. Until the 1979 revolution, Iran was ruled by the Shah who imposed Western modernity upon the populace. Further east, Pakistan was established as a secular state and Afghanistan was ruled by Zahir Shah until 1973. In Egypt, Nasser dreamed of a Pan-Arab union as a response to artificial borders drawn by the Europeans after the World War I. At first, he had the support of the Muslim Brotherhood, but after an attempt on his life, he saw the Brotherhood as a dangerous opposition and imprisoned its members. Hitherto, the situation in Syria remains under the rule of the secular Al-Assad family. The Gulf countries are monarchical and in Algeria, National Liberation Front still holds sway in politics. Besides secular and nationalist nature of these newly created countries, one common feature that has triggered the rise of Islam since the 1980s is that these new regimes were totalitarian and did not tolerate opposition. Turkey, until 1950, was ruled by a single-party system. Egypt was a monarchy until 1952 after which Nasser picked up until 1970. Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak followed until January 25^th, 2011. For the last 40 years, Syria has been under the swing of Al-Assad family. Iraq was under the one-man show of Saddam Hussein until the 2003 invasion.  These regimes were oppressive and did not tolerate criticism against the state’s policies. Political parties were closed down in Turkey, Ayatollah Khomeini exiled, Sayyid Qutb imprisoned and thousands were massacred in Hama in 1982. State suppression of people’s ideas and lack of freedom of speech radicalized movements even further.

Besides the role of the state, other event paved the way for Political Islam. The 1979 Iranian Revolution was the first of its kind. Muslim Brotherhoods emerged in other parts of the Middle East. Defeats at the hands of Israel by Arab nationalist armies led them to search alternative ideologies with the magic of victory. Hamas and Hezbollah were born as Arab governments gave up their material support for the Palestinians. Saudi Arabian oil was used to finance schools and madrasahs in order to spread Wahhabi doctrine. Taliban came to power after the Soviet withdrawal and Necmettin Erbakan used Islam to gain support in Turkish politics. Wars were fought in Chechnya, Bosnia, and Palestine between Muslims and non-Muslims. The US enjoyed good relations with the Arab regimes. Although Iraq was bombed during the Gulf War, neighboring Arab states supported the US and American troops were stationed on Saudi soil for further deterrence. And then, there was the 9/11.

Tragic events of 9/11 led the US into two wars in the Middle East and the world’s attention was once again centered on this geographic entity. Radical Islam was on the news. The US was after an organization that was both global and puritanical. By some, Osama Bin Ladin was a hero because he was the only one who stood up to US’ policies across the region. Denmark’s Prophet cartoons and Pope Benedict’s remarks about the prophet were encountered by angry demonstrators and embassy attacks by those who feared that their faiths and communities across the world were being targeted. In Israel, second intifada and phenomenon of suicide bombings by Hamas made the headlines. Everywhere one could look, there were problems involving Muslim populations. Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” theory seemed to be true.[iv]

Naturally, the world headlines affected diaspora muslims as Islam makes up part of their identities. Their experiences in the host countries they live in and the positions of their home countries in global politics, usually termed as “East vs. West” led to victimization and hostility.

What is the role of Muslim diaspora? The Muslim Diaspora across Europe and the Americas became part of global politics. It is quite likely that identity crises occur for immigrants and their descendants who struggle between what they are taught at home and who they have to be in public. For Muslims of various backgrounds, a new Islamic identity has emerged. A Turk, a Pakistani, and an Arab who feel lost in the diaspora can unite under a Muslim identity. This is due to globalization, feeling of homesickness and the expectations of family and the host nation. Of course, this Muslim identity strips the individual from his previous cultural background in order to feel comfortable with the other Muslims who are culturally different. This creates a cultureless, or sometimes anti-cultural, global and nationally transcendent form of identity[v] that has no precedence in history and product of the modern world. From the new identity’s perspective, it is given a traditional garb by referring to the Prophet and the successive four caliphs. At the end, a globally aware, anti-cultural, Salafist-like and anti-western Muslim is created.

I can share my friend’s perspective on the “irreligiousness” of Istanbulites. That is because I have lived abroad, had an opportunity to look at things from outside, study history and intermingled with other Muslims while undertaking my academic studies in New York. At times, I see Istanbul as a city stuck within the boundaries set by modernity. This, without a doubt, does influence the life of the faithful and require the believers to adjust their practices. This point was also made during my conversation with a Yemeni student back in 2011 who was born in the US and who viewed the cultural practices of today’s Yemen as corrupt and un-Islamic. Historically speaking, however, Islam itself may have come from God, but it came at a certain time, to a specific culture and it took life within a geographic entity. Beliefs and practices are subject to the occurrence of physical and material events.[vi] Accordingly, they adjust themselves to changing circumstances in order to survive. So far in my life, I have yet to see a thing that does not change over 1400 years.

As for my friend, I see his new life style as another current within modernity. The important thing is not being a practicing Muslim, a drunk Muslim, or a rich Muslim but understanding and respecting the choices made by others. In this sense, I side with Sayyid Ahmad in stressing the importance of the ethical side of Islam.[vii]