diane,
I know very little about Islamic/Arabic countries but a little and your
characterization, the characterization of behavior as proscribed in the
Q'uran is an ideal much the way the American ideals of liberty, justice ,
equality, faith, hope, and charity are ideals. Furthermore these are ideals
for Islamic people amongst themselves, I read a book once on Islamic law in
which the rather successful cohabitation of the different religious
communities (Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu) within the framework of
shari'a law was described. Islam did not persecute or proscribe the practice
of other religions within the framework of recognizing that here and now,
shari'a law was god's law on earth. But the idea that Islam is grounded
in "peace, community, tolerance, and mutual respect." is certainly partial
since we all know that Islam also has the central notion of "jihad" in which
the religious and the political are likewise indeterminate. As I understand
it the code you refer to refers to Muslims behavior amongst themselves
while the jihad refers to behavior toward infidels (at one time as political
conquest) and defintely toward idolaters of Islam itself, great Satans
(khomeini) who profane sacred places (McDonalds in Saudi Arabia). And if
you die in the Holy War it's straight to a wonderfully sensual and
definitely not ethereal heaven. So I wouldn't go so far as to call Islam a
pacifist order.
It's important to recognize that an anthropologist wrote this. As I read
it he is describing how bin Laden figures within a certain sentiment, maybe
borrowing from Bourdieu I could call it a certain "historical
predisposition" that exists among the Islamic world stretching from
Indonesia to Morocco. A historical predisposition that affects some of the
people all of the time and all (well make that most) of the people some of
the time. I read the quote as saying that bin Laden rides that historic
metatheme in the way Khomeini did and that members of Islam do understand
his behavior that way. He is not a Charly Manson of Islam. He is a hero
for many Muslims throughout North Africa and the rest of the Islamic world
from what I've read in USIA reports and other materials. The percentage
that join that historical predisposition in the coming decades seems to me
to be a function of the way the U.S. responds to this situation and I'm
afraid that the Bush government, riding the prevailing climate of blood
lust, will increase that percentage. Maybe that won't be an inignificant
factor if those supporters tip the scales of political power in their own
countries and stage fundamentalist revolutions. If that happens I think it
will just be one surprise after another for everyone. As one of my friends
said, the leaders will dial 911 and no one will answer. 9/11.
Paul H. Dillon
----- Original Message -----
From: Diane Hodges <dhodges@ceo.cudenver.edu>
To: <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 8:07 PM
Subject: Re(2): a contrast [another point of view]
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu writes:
> > He should rather be thought of as someone who would do
> >>anything to protect Islam.
>
> from what i have been reading, Islam is a pacifist order, a theology
> grounded in peace, community, tolerance, and mutual respect.
> it is also reported that globally, most Muslims do not endorse terrorism
> in any form,
> and believe that Islamic faiths are threatened only by fanaticism and
> extremism.
>
>
> hm.
> diane
>
>
****************************************************************************
********
> "Waves of hands, hesitations at street corners, someone dropping a
> cigarette in a gutter - all are stories. But which is the true story? That
> I do not know. Hence I keep my phrases hung like clothes in a cupboard,
> waiting for someone to wear them. Thus waiting, thus speculating, making
> this note and then another, I do not cling to life."
> Virginia Woolf, The Waves, 1931.
>
> (...life clings to me...)
>
****************************************************************************
*********
> diane celia hodges
> university of british columbia, centre for the study of curriculum and
> instruction
> vancouver, bc
> mailing address: 46 broadview avenue, montreal, qc, H9R 3Z2
>
>
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