Conflicts Forum

A Conflicts Forum Monograph, by Faisal Devji, November, 2008

This paper makes the argument that militants associated with Al-Qaeda speak from within the world of their enemies and possess no place outside it. Whether these enemies are Western democracies or Muslim liberals, militants derive strength from exploiting their weaknesses and contradictions rather than from some alternative ideology or social order. This accounts for the rapidity of militant mobilization as much as its diversity of recruitment, neither of which depend upon the indoctrination of young Muslims into a wholly foreign movement–however exotic their rhetoric and appearance. This intimacy with the world of their enemies is also what makes many such militants into suicidal individuals rather than the members of a collective movement, since their task is to destroy this world from the inside. The great paradox of violence of the Al-Qaeda variety is that it seeks the fulfilment of its enemies’ ideals rather than proffering any of its own, thus rendering militancy conceptually invisible and immune to attack by the liberal societies whose contradictions it seeks to illustrate.

Read the complete monograph [PDF]

Faisal Devji is Associate Professor of History at The New School for Social Research in New York. He is the author of Landscapes of the Jihad: Militancy, Morality, Modernity (2005), and The Terrorist in Search of Humanity: Militant Islam and Global Politics (2008).

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October and November, 2008

Salafist websites persist in their acute verbal offensive against Hezbollah, Iran and the Shi’i generally - but now with greater ferocity:

Salafist websites have been quick to take advantage of rising sectarian tensions permeating into the sphere of moderate discourse - in the wake of recent remarks by Qaradawi - to expand the attack on Hezbollah and Iran, and to throw their full support behind Qaradawi (for details see Sectarian tension: from extremists to moderates)

This sharpening attack has been accompanied by a new innovation: for the first time, Salafist websites are using Right-wing Arab Christian writings to attack the Shi’i. The use of such Christian authors represents a striking departure for movements who in principle do not recognise diversity of ideas or narrative. Continue reading… »

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By Mark Perry, Bitter Lemons, November 6, 2008

I once asked one of my Palestinian friends what he thought the United States should do to help the peoples of the Middle East. He was incredulous: “Haven’t you done enough?” In retrospect that pained reply seems the perfect answer to my presumption: I’m from America and I’m here to help.

Sadly, the self-congratulation attendant on Barack Obama’s election has seemingly revived this tradition of selfless altruism. As a former Clinton administration official told me several weeks ago: “We’re going back into the Middle East, but this time we’re going to get it right.” That it did not occur to this official that we aren’t exactly “out” of the Middle East is a testament to American optimism–and amnesia. “Really,” he added, “our capacity for doing good is limitless.”

Spare me.

When asked recently to list the five goals of his presidency, then-candidate Obama ticked them off: improving the economy, working for energy independence, providing affordable health care to all Americans, cleaning up the environment and improving education. The Middle East did not make the list. For good reason: it appears that we’ve “done enough.” And for those who claim, with Colin Powell, that “if you break the china, you own it” here’s a bit of news–no we don’t. America is busy dog-paddling its way out of Iraq, is looking for someone to negotiate with in Afghanistan, has so offended the leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia that we are barely on speaking terms and has abandoned the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. We are leaving the china shop in a shambles, but too bad. You don’t “own it” if you can’t pay for it. And we can’t. Continue reading… »

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By Ayman Mohamad, Conflicts Forum, October 15, 2008

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a key Sunni thinker and religious commentator, has accused Iran of being behind a new wave of Shi’i ‘expansion’ that threatens the existence of Sunni Islam in Egypt and other Muslim countries¹. His comments aroused wide controversy for their similarity to those posted on extreme Salafist websites, and has provoked sharp responses from both Sunnis and Shi’i in respect both of its content - and the motive for the change in tone. Qaradawi, until now has been known for espousing the points of commonality, rather than differences, between Sunnis and Shi’i.

In the interview, al-Qaradawi affirmed that they [the Shi’i] are true Muslims; but noted however that they had also embedded new ideas into Islam (an accusation usually associated with heresy). He warned that the Shi’i were infiltrating Sunni society; adding the Shi’i posses both the financial and human resources with which to proselytize in Sunni countries.

The reactions have been extensive - filling the press for two weeks – and equally varied: Some commentators approved, whereas others criticized and rejected his conclusions. Many however have opted to stay silent. Continue reading… »

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September 16, 2008

Salafist websites this week launched a barrage of stinging attacks on Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Predominantly these attacks came from sites linked with Saudi Arabia.

Comment: At the same time that these web sites are attacking these movements, large financial resources are being channeled to the Salafists from Saudi Arabia.

Commentators on the internet suggest that the motivation for this campaign, possibly encouraged by western agencies, is the attempt to divert Sunni Arab anger away from Israel – and to re-direct it to an alternative “enemy”, Iran and its “allies”. “Moderate” Arab leaders are concerned that the growing hostility to Israel undermines their domestic situation by exposing their support for President Abbas as tantamount to collaboration with Israel in oppressing Palestinians living in Gaza. As popular Arab hostility towards Israeli actions directed towards Gaza grows, so street anger towards these regimes rises – and the popularity of Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah increases: This makes “moderate” leaders feel vulnerable.

Commentators on Islamist sites also see this web campaign as an angry reaction to the recent political achievements of Iran, Syria and Islamist movements that have sidelined Saudi Arabia and Egypt and damaged their prestige as traditional regional leaders. President Mubarak has repeatedly warned of growing Iranian influence within the Arab sphere. The denigration campaign is perceived as part of a wider “moderate” programme to contain Iran and all those who are outside the “moderate” camp. Continue reading… »

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By Arun Kundnani, Institute of Race Relations, September 2, 2008

Policy Exchange, the Social Affairs Unit and the Centre for Social Cohesion are driving the political agenda on Muslims in Britain while thinktanks on the left are largely silent.

Over the last two months, a number of writers, journalists and policymakers associated with the Policy Exchange (PX) thinktank have taken up key positions on Boris Johnson’s London mayoral team. The most prominent of these appointments is that of former Times journalist Anthony Browne, who became policy director at City Hall in July 2008. Browne has been PX’s director since 2007 and is tipped for a senior role at Downing Street in any future Cameron government.

Founded in 2002, PX is regarded as having a considerable influence on David Cameron’s repositioning of the Conservatives as progressive and liberal, particularly on issues to do with multiculturalism and the ‘war on terror’. Two events in 2005 transformed the way that Conservatives present themselves on ‘race and immigration’ issues. Their general election defeat in that year led to a reluctance to repeat Michael Howard’s strategy of making immigration a key campaigning issue. And the London bombings a few weeks later shifted the focus from immigration per se onto questions of Muslims in particular, multiculturalism and Britishness - issues that PX has pursued vigorously since then. Continue reading… »

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