Islam, the West, and Ethnonationalism A Comparative Analysis of Contemporary Central and South Asia

Abstract

Western analysis, due to its dangerous oversimplification of Islam and other
matters in the Muslim world, has traditionally seen the appearance of any
indigenous movement calling for change and improvement in the name of Islam
as a major threat. Muslims continue to be viewed in the stereotypical perspective
of the “us-against-them” syndrome, a practice which prevents a proper
comprehension of the dynamics and dilemmas faced by Muslims in the
postcolonial era. The Western media and, to some extent, academia thrive on
such themes as minority rights, nuclear proliferation, human rights, and
democracy, which they use as barometers. Based on the data which they collect,
they then pass sweeping decrees about Muslim countries. Internal diversity and
conflict receive a great deal of attention, whereas human achievements and
civilizational artifacts are considered as “foreign” to the Muslim ethos. Islam
as a religion is reduced to so-called “fundamentalism” and a mere puritanical
and/or coercive theological orthodoxy. Moreover, no distinction is made between
Islam as a religion and Muslim cultures and societies, nor between Muslim
aspirations for unity and the realities of national and ethnic differentiation. The
result is a Western view which both distorts and demonizes a large part of the
Muslim world.
As if this were not enough, Muslims in the post-Cold War era are now being
presented and “imagined” as the next enemy. Among the factors responsible for
this are a) the multiple nature of the Muslim world, given its geostrategic location
right next to Europe; b) Islam as the second major religion in the West; and c)
the assertion of a new generation of Muslim expatriate communities at a time ...