Hashem Saleh: On the Need for 'Deconstructing' Islamism . . .

Hashem Saleh

Al-Sharq Al-Awsat

London, August 30, 2013

Memri

In the article "Arab Intellectual Calls For Theological-Cognitive Revolution To Extricate Arab World From Backwardness, Crises, And Internecine Warfare," Memri (Special Dispatch No. 5433, September 4, 2013) introduces another liberal Muslim thinker, the Syrian Hashem Saleh, currently living in Morocco. I've excerpted from Memri's excerpts:

[T]here are currently terrifying clashes . . . in . . . [Arab] countries -- because the . . . {Muslim Brotherhood, among other Islamist groups,} is holding back . . . progress towards modernity, tolerance and liberty . . . . How then can we make peace with ourselves? How can we solve the problem of religious and sectarian struggles while we are still stuck in the theological stage of takfir [accusing the other Muslims of apostasy] . . . ? When two Germans meet in China or Japan or at the ends of the earth, do you think that the first question that pops into their minds is the other's religion -- whether he is a Protestant or [perhaps] a stubborn Catholic? Absolutely not! This does not enter their minds at all, while this would be the first question to pop into the mind of a Syrian or Lebanese, or any Arab, upon encountering a [fellow Arab] in Paris . . . . The reason for this is that Germany solved the problem of sectarianism -- first of all from a theoretical standpoint . . . and subsequently from a political standpoint . . . . [However], we need only return to the 17th century in order to find a mire of destructive religious wars, when a Protestant could not countenance a Catholic, and vise versa. They fought and slaughtered each other over [the issue of] identity, as we are currently doing. This [intolerance] continued to plague them for the entire duration of the 18th century. Otherwise, the need for the Enlightenment would not have arisen . . . . Must we wait 200 years in order to solve the problem of sectarianism? The answer is no, [and this] for two reasons. First, because we are living in the era of the information revolution, which abbreviates times and distances. Therefore, something that once took 200 [years] to digest can [now] be digested in half a century. Second, because we are [currently] immersed in global modernity, and development is therefore accelerated. The Western and Eastern superpowers keep an eye on us and we can do or say nothing [without their knowledge]. Until recently, in particular before September 11, [2001], the sheikhs in the mosques could malign other faiths [and say] whatever they fancied, without criticism {but no longer} . . . . There is a third reason as well -- namely that the achievements of the advanced countries are available to us, thus sparing us the necessity to invent or reinvent anything . . . . Nevertheless, this does not mean that the sectarian problem . . . will be solved within two or three years. This is a huge and critical historical problem that will not be easily solved, [certainly] not in the space of one or two generations. I wish I were wrong, but what increases my pessimism is that, hitherto, it has been taboo in the Muslim world to apply the method of critical historical [analysis and use it to challenge] our entrenchment in tradition . . . . Without applying the deconstructionist method to tradition, we will not be able to rid ourselves of the alienating takfiri approach to religion that excludes the other.

May there be more such Muslim intellectuals as Hashem Saleh! I think, however, that his analogy between the current-day violence in Islam and the early-modern wars of religion in the West does not strictly hold. Christianity has had its brutal phases, but its core texts generally emphasize peaceful relations, even love of enemies! Strange doctrine, but there it is. Consequently, Christian violence is due to radicalism at the extremes of the religion. Islam has a bigger problem, for its core texts legitimize violent force in spreading Islamic belief. Islamism is thus radicalism at the core of Islam.

Violence in Islam will therefore be harder to 'deconstruct' . . .