Muslims have been under serious criticism lately. The turmoil ignited by the anti-Islam movie has stirred a profound debate among intellectuals worldwide, especially Muslim ones.In Egypt, for instance, the majority of Egyptians were very angry towards this movie and some Muslims took the matter into their own hands and started protesting next to the US Embassy. However, the protests escalated and tension and aggressiveness was felt in the air. Acts of aggression were a sensible evolution to these sentiments. However, one might ask, why the US Embassy? The main reason, I believe, is that the Egyptian people have been set on this anti-American sentiment for a long time now. Its first recent example was during the last days of Hosni Mubarak as he tried to portray an image of the Jan. 25 revolution as an American conspiracy, and some Egyptians unfortunately believed him. The same tactic was used by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) generals to legitimize crushing their opposition, especially young revolutionary liberals and leftists. Therefore, it was somehow expected that anger would be aimed at the United States representative in Egypt, the US Embassy. Moreover, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafi groups utilized these sentiments to their favor and as the competition for right-wing voters increased, so did the tone of aggression towards the United Sates. The world was shocked with the situation in Egypt and unfortunately it sparked many other similar reactions, some of them ending in unnecessary tragedies, such as in Libya.
A two-fold problem
However, this is a two-fold problem. On the one hand, there is the Egyptian perception of the US and the latter’s role in reinforcing this perception. On the other hand, there is another danger, the radical understanding of Islam. In Egypt, extremism has become a trade. This trade has been championed by the rise of radical sheikhs, who perceive Islam as a hostile religion. The anti-Islam movie was an unpleasant example to show the world that Egypt has changed. Unlike countries like Turkey, where Sufism and religious moderation is dominant, Egypt has become more fertile for Wahhabi ideas imported from the Gulf and extreme literalism in interpreting Islam.
“And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth easily, and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they say [words of] peace.” (Quran 25:63)
The world chose to focus its attention on Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Sudan and ignored Turkey, which showed maturity and responsibility in reacting to the same atrocities. During my visit to Turkey, I remember I was introduced to many important facts regarding Turkey, politics and Islam.
The first was that the dominant Islamic school of jurisprudence in Turkey is the Hanafi school, which is regarded as the most liberal one. The second fact is that Sufism is still dominant in Turkish culture and Sufi tariqas (orders) are strong and organized. Turkey’s religious authorities, such as the leader of the Gülen movement, Fethullah Gülen, and the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Görmez, whom I have had the honor of meeting before, are great examples of responsibility and tolerance as they both criticized aggressive reactions by some Muslims.
The third is that political groups with Islamic orientations in Turkey have never faced the oppression of the state with violence; they always resisted peacefully. The fourth fact was that the leading religious scholar, Bediüzzaman Said Nursi (1878–1960), challenged the ferociousness of the secular state with his strong belief in democracy and “hürriyet,” which is the Turkish word for freedom or liberty.
The Turkish leadership as well, such as the leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, showed great composure and a strong attitude in dealing with the crisis. However, as it is well known, this was not the case in Egypt. The rise of the Hanbali school, Salafism and Wahhabism in recent years is very evident. Sufism is in serious decline in Egypt and the influential al-Azhar University, which embodies the teachings of Sufism, has lost its ground and is being infiltrated by its opponents from rigid Islamic schools. “Islamism” and violence are still assimilated in the minds of very few Islamists. Democracy has been accepted by the majority of Islamists, but the belief in liberal democracy is quite omitted from the Egyptian political arena.
There are political as well as social reasons surrounding the deteriorating relationship between the Middle East, especially Egypt, and the West, especially the US. Even though the political reasons are usually articulated in international debate, social ones seem to be absent. There is a huge necessity for Egyptian social and political actors to understand that the world is on the edge of entering a sea of conflict. Therefore, it is up to the political and social, especially religious, leaders to take a responsible stance beyond their political gains. The world also needs to understand that they are dealing with a different Egypt now. This is not the Azharite moderate Islamic country anymore. This is a country in transition and its major features have not yet been defined.
*Ahmed M. Abou Hussein is an MPPA policy analyst at the Egyptian Decentralization Initiative (EDI).
(Today’s Zaman)
