Islam and the West: Can the Gulf Be Bridged?
A January 22, 2008 article (entitled Poll: Rift widens
between Islam and the West) published by the United Press International revealed that between March and September 2007, a Gallup poll of about one thousand people taken across Europe, Canada, the United States and Israel for the World Economic Forum showed that the rift between Islam and the West is getting ever wider. The poll showed, further, that the West-Islam divide was especially acute in Europe than in the other countries mentioned. Although the report did not disclose any hidden facts, there can be several factors to account for this turn of events.
Although, Islam and the dominant religion of the West, Christianity, have several things in common such as belief in one God, angels, prophets, eternal salvation in heaven or paradise, among others, there are equally sharp differences between them. The general laxity in moral chastity in Christianity, the concept of forgiveness of sins and repentance, the Christian political theory of the separation of church and state, the supremacy of human rights over religion and culture have not all been very much appreciated by Mohammedans.
Such differences, though, have not literally led to serious escalation of tensions until the beginning of the 21st century when on the fateful day of September 11, 2001, the United States experienced its worst terrorist blow at the World Trade Centre and parts the Pentagon building, fuelled by an Islamic jihadist mission. Israel itself experiences, almost daily, its share of jihadist suicide missions and rocket firing into its cities. It may, therefore, be quite surprising that respondents in both Israel and the United States said that they believe closer interaction between the West and Islam will lead to a thaw in tensions. European respondents, however, believed that any attempt at increasing interaction with Islam will rather escalate tensions.
It is all right to understand the feelings of Canadians over the possibility of easing tensions by advocating close interaction with Muslims, for Canada has never been attacked any group of Islamic fundamentalists. On the other hand, it should have rather been expected that Americans and Israelis would have sided with their European respondents but they did not and that is what brings about a surprising revelation. Despite the carnage Americans experienced in New York in 2001 and that of Israel over many years, residents from the two countries still feel that cooperation between them and Muslims is beneficial. And while some Americans may feel relatively safe considering the United States to be far from most Islamic countries, it is not so with Israel.
If we are to reason that the proximity between Europe and the Arab world makes the former more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, this position could be given more credence by the experiences of the Jewish state since its creation in 1948. That the close interaction between Muslims and Jews in that relatively small piece of land in the Middle East has bred more terrorist acts than is experienced in most parts of the world cannot be disputed. Europeans may have taken a cue from Israel’s experiences and those of their own, such as the London bombing and the Madrid train bombing in 2004. Consequently, many of them would not want to have any close interaction with Muslims in general.
Several events in the beginning of this century have contributed in no small way in widening the rift between Islam and the West. Many Muslims were not generally enthusiastic about Osama bin Laden’s outrage against the Americans in the scale that it took but in course of time some seemed to have rallied behind the world’ most wanted man as they saw him as a champion of Islamic ideals against the western infidels. Some Muslims interpreted the West’s war against terrorism as a declaration of war on Islam. First Afghanistan fell to western nations, followed by Iraqa