Huntington's thesis on Islam is too simplistic: Expert
Huntington's thesis on Islam is too simplistic: Expert
JAKARTA (JP): Samuel Huntington's theory on the potential
"clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West is too
simplistic, an American academic said.
Robert W. Hefner told a conference on Islam that he believes
Huntington's belief that Islam poses a great danger to the West
and that the two will clash to be misguided.
The three-day conference also featured American professor
Peter L. Berger and discussed the development of Islam and
modernity in Southeast Asia, the various challenges it is exposed
to, and its future.
Hefner and Berger, both professors at Boston University,
agreed that process of secularization, depoliticization and
pluralism greatly affect Moslem communities.
Hefner pointed out that Huntington's thesis was founded on
mistaken assumptions and that he was intellectually ill-equipped
to draw such a conclusion on Islam and the West.
It would therefore be irrelevant to respond to him with the
fervor that many Moslem communities have so far shown, he
asserted.
He pointed out that Huntington had mistakenly clumped various
Moslem communities under the word "Islam", and the heterogeneous
Western cultures under the "West".
The diverse communities of both Moslem and the West may engage
in a "clash of civilizations", but not Islam as the divine
revelation, Hefner was quoted by Antara as saying.
Furthermore, he said, Huntington did not have the capacity to
engage in "intellectual exploration".
"He's too old for that...(the thesis was) a product of a post
power syndrome," he said, adding that Huntington has a limited
background on Islamic.
He added that many experts on Islam don't agree with his
overly simplistic thesis.
Hefner, who presented a paper entitled Modernity and the
Challenge of Pluralism: Some Indonesian Lessons, said the real
challenge Islam faces is pluralism.
"Modernization brings pluralism, and pluralism presents
believers with difficult but important choices," he said.
"In an era when certain Western and Moslem leaders speak of a
clash of civilizations, it's useful to remind ourselves of the
challenges we face, and that there are people working for civic
tolerance and pluralism."
Hefner and Berger discussed at length the various impacts of
modernity and pluralism, as well as social and political
development, on religions.
Berger told the conference that "the primary challenge of
modernity to religion is not secularization but pluralism."
"Pluralism produces a lot of cognitive dissonance," he said.
"Religion, for obvious reasons, is particularly prone to the
psychological tensions that this brings about."
The process is beneficial in the sense that "the challenges of
modernity make possible a reassessment of one's faith" which can
lead to a fresh understanding of matters.
Berger said he believed that "Islam will occupy an
increasingly important place in the confrontation between
religion and modernity." As to the challenge of pluralism, "Islam
had previous experiences with it and had found ways to confront
it in very creative ways," Berger said.
The three-day meeting concluded yesterday. One of the last
speakers was Mohammed Ariff, a professor of economics at the
University of Malaysia. He spoke about the role of the market in
the Islamic paradigm.
Ariff said that the Islamic economy is essentially a market
economy, which respects individual rights to engage in economic
activities. "The role of the market in the Islamic economy,
however, differs from that in secular system," he asserted. (swe)