Muslim Psyche After September 11, 2001

The tragedy of September 11, 2001, in which nearly 4000 innocent American civilians were killed in the twin towers in New York, was a major international political crisis that made significant economic, cultural and religious ripples around the world. It had special social and psychological repercussions for Muslims because the American government announced that the 19 hijackers of the planes belonged to the Muslim world. One billion Muslims, individually and collectively, have reacted to that crisis in their own unique way depending upon their personality and the community and country to which they belong. When we reflect upon the reactions of Muslims from different parts of the world we see certain tendencies emerging in the last few years.

The majority of Muslims, who are peace-loving citizens, feel caught between George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden, both right-wing militant religious fundamentalists who have given birth to the cycle of violence between the Muslim and the Western world. Many Muslims who were sympathetic to the innocent American families who lost their dear ones in the tragedy became angry and resentful when the American government over-reacted by attacking Afghanistan and Iraq and killing thousands of innocent Muslims. They were extremely disappointed when Americans elected Bush for a second term, even after realizing that he had built his case of pre-emptive war on Iraq on the false premise of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Since September 11, 2001, Muslims who travel internationally have been experiencing a wide range of anxieties and uncertainties when crossing borders. Such anxieties are intensified during air travel especially for the citizens of countries like Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

There has been a gradual rise of negative sentiments against America among Muslims who hold America responsible for supporting kings, generals and dictators like the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussain, Pervaiz Musharraf and the Saudi kings. They feel that America’s war on terrorism is less for democracy and human rights and more for holy oil.

After September 11, 2001 a large number of Muslims have become reflective as the crisis hit them in their emotional core. They were forced to review their Muslim identity and their view of their religion. Many Muslims, for the first time in their lives, started reading Quran seriously to ascertain whether Islam was a peace loving or a violent religion and to discover the real meaning of jihad. There has been a series of books published by Muslim scholars offering different, even contradictory interpretations of Islam, Quran and Muslim history. The present crisis has forced Muslims to take positions for or against “suicide bombers� trained and exported from Muslim countries. They have had to clarify their position on insurgents in Iraq—are they “terrorists� or “freedom fighters�?

We can divide Muslims worldwide into four groups reflecting four different traditions in the Islamic world and Muslim history.

1. SPIRITUAL TRADITION

There have been Muslims throughout the centuries that followed the spiritual tradition and were known as mystics and sufis. Those people wanted to get in touch with the essence of Mohammad’s teachings. There was a group of people in Mohammad’s life who were known as ashaab-e-soof as they had withdrawn from the materialistic world and dedicated their lives to the spiritual teachings of Islam.

Muslim sufis have been influenced by two spiritual traditions. The first tradition was of Christian saints and Jewish Kabbalists while the second was of Hindu sadhus and sants. The followers of the first tradition believed in the philosophy of hama-as-oast—that the whole universe was created by God—while followers of the later tradition believed in the philosophy of hama oast—All That Exists Is God. Sufis that followed the later tradition were not accepted by mainstream Muslims and were persecuted for their beliefs. One such example was the famous sufi poet Mansoor Hallaj who was killed for saying “anal-Haq�, [I am Truth, I am God] considered blasphemous by other Muslims.

The sufi tradition of Islam might have been criticized by the traditional maulanas but they achieved great popularity amongst the masses, as sufis had a very non-judgmental and accepting attitude towards people of different traditions. Students of Indian history are well aware that Muslim sufis attracted thousands of lower-caste Hindus who joined Islam, which offered peace, respect and equality, unavailable to them in the Hindu caste system.

Sufis were humanistic and peace-loving people. Many Muslims believe that the sufi tradition reflects the true spirit of Islam.


2. PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITION

Alongside the spiritual tradition there was also a well-developed philosophical tradition of Islam. That tradition reached its climax when Greek philosophy and mythology was translated into Arabic. There were a number of Arab and Persian Muslim philosophers like Al-Kindi, Al-Razi, Al-Farabi, Al-Rushd and Ibn-e-Khuldun, who made wonderful contributions to Muslim and world literature. Avicenna created medical textbooks which were used in Western universities for centuries. As the dialogue continued, Muslim philosophers diverged into two groups. The first group believed that philosophy, science and mathematics were more important for human evolution than the revealed truth in scriptures. That school of thought remained an integral part of the mainstream of Muslim philosophy for a long time but then the writings of Al-Ghazali, the representative of the second group, turned the tide. He believed that in a conflict between science and scriptures, philosophy and revealed truth of prophets, Muslims should follow the scriptures. Since that time a large number of Muslims have viewed the contributions of science, mathematics and philosophy with suspicion. They became reluctant to accept the secular teachings of the Western world as they saw them as undermining their faith in Mohammad, Quran and Islamic teachings. There were a number of reformers who challenged Ghazali’s teachings but never became part of the mainstream Muslim tradition. In the recent past leaders like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, founder of the Aligarh University in India for Muslims, Mohammad Iqbal who dreamt of a separate state of Pakistan for Muslims, Abdus Salam, winner of a Nobel Prize for his contributions to science, and Eqbal Ahmed, who dreamt of establishing a progressive university in Pakistan, were some of the progressive Muslim scholars who encouraged Muslims to study literature created in the contemporary world. The philosophical tradition of Islam has remained at the periphery in the last few hundred years. Scholars and intellectuals, who played a major role in the first few hundred years of Muslim history, have been pushed into the background by the traditionalists, who have a more fundamentalist view of life. The free thinkers in the Muslim world have become increasingly nervous, fearing the social and political repercussions from their communities.


3. FUNDAMENTALIST TRADITION

Muslims who follow this tradition have been gaining power in religious and political institutions over the centuries, especially in the recent past. These Muslims have been trying to adopt and practise Islam as it was lived 1500 years ago. They believe that the teachings of Islam are complete, final and eternal and do not need to change with the passage of time. They are not willing to include the knowledge and wisdom of the last fifteen hundred years in their beliefs and practices. The followers of this tradition have gained religious power because of the establishment of religious institutions like mosques and madrasas all over the Muslim world. Through those institutions they are able to influence ordinary Muslims who are naïve and not well educated. The fundamentalist tradition in the Muslim world has been promoted by the Wahabi sect of Saudi Arabia who have been funding these madrassas, causing many peace-loving Muslims to wonder why America has been supporting Saudi monarchs. It is also interesting that although according to American media most of the hijacker pilots of September 11 were from Saudi Arabia, America attacked Afghanistan and Iraq rather than Saudi Arabia, a major supplier of oil.


4. POLITICAL TRADITION

The political tradition in Islam tried to gain legal and constitutional power in different parts of the world. For a long time Islamic rulers attempted to colonize parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. They fought holy wars and gained power in a number of countries. The Muslim Mughal Empire in India was one such group that reigned for generations. After gaining political power some Muslim rulers adopted liberal policies and respected other religious minorities, while there were others of a fundamentalist philosophy who became dictators, making very difficult the lives of common people, especially women and minorities. Some Muslim rulers became autocratic monarchs in the Middle East. In the last few decades a number of Muslim leaders, such as Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan and Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Afghanistan, have tried to create theocratic states by introducing Islamic laws to the constitution. Those repressive laws have been of great concern to all international communities who respect the United Nations Charter of Human Rights.

It is interesting to note that a few decades ago there emerged a number of secular leaders in the Muslim world including Kamal Ataturk in Turkey, Mohammad Ali Jinnah in India, Gamal Nasser in Egypt and Mohammad Mosaddagh in Iran, whereupon America and Britain intervened with support for religious fundamentalists and dictators. The CIA toppled Mosaddagh’s government and brought Raza Shah Pahlavi of Iran into power. Nasser was brought down by Britain. In Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was removed and General Zia-ul-Haq was installed as dictator to fight Communism in Afghanistan, offering support to Osama bin Laden who had been recruited by the CIA and imported from Saudi Arabia. The same Afghani soldiers that were loved by America and called mujahedeen when they were fighting Communists were hated by the West and called taliban when they attacked America.


FUTURE DIRECTION FOR MUSLIMS

It appears that since the 9/11 tragedy, the world’s Muslims have been forced to do some soul-searching. Many Muslims who did not previously consider religion as a major factor in their day to day life have been asked to define themselves from ideological, religious and political points of view. After George Bush’s speech stating that if you are not with us you are against us, peace-loving Muslims feel caught between extreme positions as they are in favor of neither Bush nor Osama.

I feel that Muslims in the 21st century are at a crossroads. They have to choose which tradition they want to follow. When I view Muslims all over the world, I see them following the following three traditions.

1. Some Muslims are supporting the Traditionalist and the Fundamentalist groups. They are choosing to follow the path of Osama bin Laden and trying to win elections in different parts of the Muslim world. Such election results, for example in Palestine and Lebanon, created a crisis for Western governments which always preached democracy as the solution for the Arab and Muslim Worlds. They were not sure how to react when a community chose political and religious leaders who do not respect the rights of women and minorities, and who are, moreover, militant.

2. There are other Muslims who follow the liberal tradition. They believe in the teachings of Mohammad and Islam but also in the separation of mosque and the state, politics and religion. They want to practise their religion in their private lives but prefer secular laws for the state, in which followers of all religions are respected.

3. Humanists. These are the Muslims who have left the tradition of Islam and are now following humanistic values. They believe not only in freedom of religion but also freedom from religion. They believe that all citizens of a nation should be equal in the eyes of the law and that all members of the community should enjoy equal opportunities, rights and privileges. They want Muslim communities all over the world to respect human rights.

Amongst different and contradictory interpretations of Islamic teachings, the question of real Islam remains unanswered. It will be interesting to see which group of Muslims—fundamentalists, liberals or humanists—gains power intellectually, ideologically and politically and shapes the future of the Muslim world in the next few decades. Since Sep 11, 2001 all Muslims individually and collectively are under close observation by the international community. The whole world is anxiously waiting to see whether Muslim countries will take a regressive position and create theocratic states or take a progressive approach and join the twenty-first century by educating their children and ensuring that their constitutions respect the human rights of all of their citizens, especially women and minorities.