West, Muslims told to forget past
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With the war on terror risking putting a wedge between the Western and Islamic worlds, scholar and former foreign minister Alwi Shihab said both sides must let go of pasts dating back to the Middle Ages, as it was there that their animosity was rooted.
A former visiting professor on Islam at Harvard University in the U.S., Alwi said the spread of terrorism showed how the current world was "interdependent but far from integrated".
Blocking integration, he said, were lingering feelings in the Western and Islamic worlds over their respective pasts.
He said that Christians in the West continued to view Islam as a "threat and their worst enemy".
"That mentality from the Middle Ages lingers in the back of the minds of Westerners," he said during a seminar on Islam and terrorism hosted by the Indonesian Council of World Affairs on Monday.
He referred to the criticism last year by several senior U.S. politicians of remarks by U.S. President George W. Bush that Islam is a peaceful religion. These politicians said Islam was a violent religion and that Prophet Muhammad was a warrior.
"It is time to enlighten the West about Islam," Alwi said, partly blaming the misunderstanding among Westerners on Muslims' failure to explain their religion.
Muslims too, he said, should stop dreaming about rebuilding an Islamic empire that once was the cradle of the world during the Middle Ages.
"For almost a millennium and a half, Islam and the West could be viewed as two civilizations interacting in conflict and dialog," he said.
But in order for the two sides to coexist in harmony it is important to think in terms of the present conditions underlying their existence, he said.
"A reimposition of the concept and structures of a Western- centered imperialist hegemony on the one hand, and a nostalgic memory of a past age of power and glory on the other will not provide the answers needed for humanity in the new millennium," Alwi said.
The threat of terrorism has put under the spotlight the relationship between the West and Islam.
Alwi pointed to radicalism and injustice as the root causes of terrorism, with neither factor standing on their own.
He said fear of a new Western hegemony, supported by a radical view of Islam, could turn into terrorism.
"They (radicals) feel that they represent Muslims who are frustrated by the unjust treatment of the Western world," he told reporters after the seminar.
But radicalism should not be mistaken for terrorism, he added.
He said the danger of mixing the two terms was that it would be false to say that religion promoted terrorism: "The teaching of terrorism is not found in any religion."
"Islam teaches self-defense and so they (terrorists) believe that they are acting in self-defense. However, does self-defense have to involve killing people?"
Analysts have warned of a surge in radicalism if the U.S. attacks Iraq in defiance of worldwide protests, including in Washington.
They say the war plans are hard to justify even among moderate Muslims, and could deepen anti-American sentiments among hard- liners.
Alwi said a U.S. attack on Iraq could not be considered an act of terror if it had the backing of the United Nations.