Poverty encourages fundamentalism to grow

Poverty encourages fundamentalism to grow

Muhammad Nafik, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Understanding Islam and fundamentalism has become a widespread
preoccupation since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11
last year. German Muslim scholar Bassam Tibi, a professor of
international relations at University of Gottingen, was in town
last week as a speaker of an international seminar on Islam and
the West. Excerpts with the Syrian-born scholar follow:
Question: What is the image of Islam and Muslims after the Sept.
11, 2001 tragedy in the United States?

There are some misconceptions about Islam, which existed prior
to the tragedy. The Sept. 11, 2001 event gave credibility to
these misconceptions, such as Islam being perceived as a religion
of war and radicalism.

It is important in the West to distinguish between Islam and
political Islam. Political Islam is an interpretation of Islam
which may incorporate these misconceptions, while Islam is a
religion of tolerance, peace and mutual understanding. Political
Islam is a politization of Islam it makes out of Islamic face and
the political ideology of confrontation.

I have made more than 2,000 interviews with fundamentalists
and I have concluded that they believe they are the true Muslims
but others like you and I are not.

When we come outside the world of Islam, you have an Islam and
Islamism that is the ideology of political Islam. Islamism
comprises a minority among Muslims but it is a threat to
followers of other religions and Muslims themselves.
Will fundamentalism or Islamism grow in the future?

A French scholar says Islamism will be on the decline. This is
not true. Islamism is there and its best breeding ground is
conflict. If there is a conflict -- be it economic, social or
political -- they (the fundamentalists) will use it to get
support. If the United States goes ahead with its plan to attack
Iraq, the fundamentalists would be very happy. They can mobilize
support against the West, using this as a lame excuse.

Therefore, I am against the plan to attack Iraq because if
this happens, there will be a crisis in the Middle East and this
will help cultivate fundamentalism as they get support from other
people. The economic crisis is also a source of breeding for
fundamentalism.

Take Algeria or Morocco, where poor people who are jobless
intellectuals have been offered help from the fundamentalists to
solve their problems provided that they support the establishment
of an Islamic system. Therefore, in the short term there should
be no military confrontations between the West and Islamic states
like Iraq. Poverty and unemployment also support fundamentalism.

Since Sept. 11, fundamentalism has been growing. I have talked
to young people, even those in the European Diaspora, who are not
integrated and have problems. They consider Osama bin Laden the
Che Guevara of Islam. This is very dangerous as bin Laden is not
a true Muslim because his understanding of Islam is not in line
with a peaceful and tolerant religion.
Could you further explain religious tolerance in Islam?

There is a Western rule of democracy that we agree to
disagree. You have your own position and I have my own position.
This is similar to Prophet Muhammad's hadith (traditional
collections of stories related to his words and deeds):
"Diversity in the Muslim community is a sign of well-being." But
many fundamentalists, like bin Laden, do not practice the hadith
and say "you disagree with me, you are kafir (infidel)". It is
not Islamic.

So it is now important to educate people on Islamic noble
values to enable them to know which is Islamic and non-Islamic.
What is the effective strategy to counter fundamentalism and
terrorism?

There are short and long term strategies needed to deal with
fundamentalism. In the short term, education is very important to
make people aware that fundamentalism is a threat to Muslims and
their countries. In the long term, we need to design economic and
social policies to improve living conditions.

But I think the military approach to fight fundamentalism will
only have a little impact.

To counter terrorism in the West, there is a dual strategy,
which is through a dialog and security approach. The majority of
Muslims are peaceful. You should have a dialog with Muslim
communities and have to take a security approach against
terrorists because we cannot talk to them.

So, peace talks for Muslims and security action for
terrorists. Those who are violent, we have to stop them and those
who are not violent, we can talk to them and try to educate them
that Islam is not a religion of hate.

Are fundamentalists also terrorists? If not, how can we
differentiate between both?

There are fundamentalists who are not terrorists and there are
fundamentalists who are terrorists. So you cannot fight
fundamentalism only with military means. To distinguish them, you
should ask them several questions. You can ask fundamentalists
whether they agree with the use of force or violence to pursue
their goals. If they say "yes", they are terrorists.

The West says the war on terrorism is not the war on Islam. Do
you agree with this?

It is true because many Islamic states are fighting against
terrorism as well. They include Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey,
which are all very important Islamic states. Without these three
Islamic states, the war on Afghanistan could not have been
possible.

Do you believe that Bin Laden was behind the terrorist attacks
on New York and Pentagon last year?

There is enough evidence. The Sept. 11 tragedy was prepared
for five years in Germany, not in the Islamic world. The Al-Qudus
mosque in Hamburg was the place where Islamists there used to
meet. There was a connection between these people and
Afghanistan. They had regularly flown to Afghanistan. They
received money from the bin Laden connections and military
training as well.

Three of the pilots in the four planes (involved in the
attacks) came from Hamburg. And there is evidence that they were
related to the al-Qaeda network. They (the attackers) were Arabs
living in Germany. So the evidence is there ... This is also what
most young Muslims believe in Europe. But elderly Muslims there
believe that the attacks were not the work of Bin Laden. They say
it was the conspiracy against Islam by Israeli intelligence in
order to urge America to fight against Islam.