CA clash of civilizations
Ashok V Desai
The Pew Research Center, a Washington
think-tank, is about six years old. It is chaired by Madeleine Albright, former
Secretary of State under President Clinton, and John C Danforth, a former
senator. It does opinion surveys across the world. Most of them are US-centred:
recent ones, for instance, related to public opinion in the US on whether American
states should impose compulsory inoculation against cancer, and on how
Hispanics in the US view the need to know English. The samples are generally
small, and given the subjects on which the respondents often pronounce, cannot
be random. The 2006 survey covered 14,030 people in 13 countries. They must
consist of relatively literate people more or less exposed to the outside
world. Despite this caveat, its recent survey of attitudes of and towards
Muslims is of great interest.
Whilst the
opinion is not overwhelming, it is remarkable in how many countries a majority
think that the relations between Muslims and the west are bad. Roughly
two-thirds of the people in major West European countries think so, as do
Muslims living there. More than half of Americans think so, as do people in
Muslim countries like Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia. About the only
people disagreeing with this general impression of bad blood are Muslims in
Spain.
Just what do
western non-Muslims resent in Muslims? They commonly think that Muslims are
arrogant, violent and fanatic. These negative views have solid majorities in
most countries (including India); but they are less pronounced in the US,
Britain and France. People in Muslim countries, on the other hand, suspect
westerners of being arrogant and violent, to which they add selfish.
The unfavourable
western view of Muslims is connected with a view of their religion. A majority
of the British, Germans, Russians and Spaniards think that there is a conflict
between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society. In other words,
the Christians who inhabit these countries think that the attitudes and
practices of Muslims disqualify them from living in western society. And
surprisingly, a large number of people in Muslim countries share their view –
47 per cent in Pakistan, 43 per cent in Indonesia, and 28 per cent in Egypt for
instance. Muslims think that a liberal society corrupts them; non-Muslims think
Muslims are misfits in liberal societies.
The connection
between Islam and terrorism must surely vitiate many a western mind. But not
every Muslim is a terrorist or supporter of terrorism. Solid majorities of
people in Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia are against suicide bombings in any
circumstances. The opposition is less pronounced in countries closer to Israel;
it does not command a majority in Egypt and Jordan. Still, support for
occasional suicide bombings has declined in most Muslim countries. Attitudes
have much to do with close experience. In Pakistan, whose President has been
the target of suicide attacks, the proportion of people in its favour has
fallen from 33 per cent in 2002 to 14 per cent now. In any case, anything
between 41 and 65 per cent of the people in Muslim countries simply do not
believe that those who carried out 9/11 attacks were Arabs.
Generally, a
large majority amongst non-Muslims in West European countries thinks that Muslims
do not respect women. This impression must obviously be based on the well
publicized woes of Muslim girls in western countries who wanted to marry men
they loved. But in general, the traditional Muslim view of a woman as being at
the father’s disposal before marriage and husband’s after marriage, together
with the Islamic institution of divorce on demand for men only, meet western
disapproval.
The reciprocal
view is not that common, but a majority of people in Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan
and Pakistan think that westerners are not respectful of women. If one regards
women as treasures to be carefully guarded by fathers and husbands, then I
guess this view is understandable. But a majority of Muslims living in France,
Spain and Germany think quite favourably of westerners’ treatment of women.
What I found
remarkable was that Pew bothered to ask Muslims and westerners about one
another. No one seeks westerners’ opinion about the Hindus, although
stereotypes of widow burning, holy cow and female infanticide are rife in the
west. If traditional Hindus were asked about the west, they would be equally
outspoken about its lewdness and selfishness. What have Muslims done which
Hindus did not – or conversely, what did Hindus do to avoid the opprobrium
invited by the Muslims?
A Hindu would be
inclined to the view that his practices are not so objectionable as Muslim
ones. Certainly, outside his own country, the Hindu practises his religion
largely privately. And even where his temples are conspicuous, the practices
surrounding them are not. Collective rites are less common and more circumspect
amongst the Hindus.
But the strange
and the bizarre are the staple of the media. If western media were so inclined,
they could find much in Hinduism that is one or the other. There must be some
reason why they do not use Hindus for diversion and provocation as they do
Muslims.
To my mind, the
reason lies in our political allegiances. When it was a Soviet client, India
was no more objectionable in social terms. But western media abounded with
negative stories about India. Today, warts could easily be found on India’s
face, but no one looks for them.
The reason is
that we are now allies of the west. Not that Muslim nations are not; none of
them, except Iran, dares cock a snook at the US. They may not be as great
friends of the west as India, but that is not because they do not want to be.
Musharraf would give an arm and a leg to get as close to Bush as Manmohan
Singh; it is just that he is not allowed to. All allies get a good press in the
west, and the western public believes its press.
What, then, is
the Muslims’ sin? It is that they cannot accept Israel’s fate for the
Palestininans: Israel would rather that Palestinians disappeared from this
earth. If they would not, it would rather that neighbouring Arab countries took
the Palestinians off its hands. Until either of those eventualities occurs, it
would rather that the Palestinians accepted the hell that it has created for
them. Muslims everywhere think that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is
unfair. Indians also used to think so; but once the BJP came to power, we saw
which side our bread was buttered on, and changed sides. Now George W and
Manmohan S are buddies, and let the devil – or Israel – take the Palestinians.
So the cold war
between Islam and Christianity will continue until the Palestinian question is
resolved. And since we are talking of outlandish solutions, there are some that
would appeal to Muslims. They would involve transplanting Israel somewhere else
– in Atacama, Gobi, Sahara, New Mexico, Namibia, El Khali, Marwar, any desert.
For while Israelis are terrible at getting on with their neighbours, they have
a special affinity with flora. They will make any desert bloom. But next time,
it would be important to ensure that the desert harbours no humans.
