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Islam and the West: At Odds: Culture Clash

This peice outlines the argument for Samuel Huntington's idea of the "Clash of Civilizations."

When looking at these definitions it is apparent that there is in fact a clash of civilizations occurring between the West and Islam. Those from the West and Muslims in the Middle East do not identify each other as sharing a common history, and certainly do not descend from the same geographic area. In addition, the West and Islam do not share common customs, languages, or religions. When looking further into the customs and religion of the West we can see that our society is built upon Christianity. This is evident in the principle of the separation of Church and State (Lewis 1). Differences in customs can be seen in the West's belief in ideals such as democracy and liberalism (Huntington 8).

If our civilizations are innately different, this can result in a clash due to the disparity in the fundamentally different ways we look at the world. One belief of the Islam that plays into this different viewpoint is that of good and evil. Muslims believe that they are the soldiers of God and they have a duty to dispel the world of evil. There are two houses in Islam: the House of Islam and the House of Unbelief. All that is within the house of Islam is of God and therefore good. In contrast, the House of Unbelief holds evil. If it is the duty of soldiers of God to eliminate the House of Unbelief, than Islam should encompass the world (Lewis 2).

However, it does not and this is a serious insult to Muslims. It is absurd that they should be dominated by infidels (Lewis 5). This insult is built on a struggle thousands of years old between the West and the Arab world. Islam was spreading until, in 1683, the Turks failed to capture Vienna for the second time, loosing any hope of conquering Europe and expanding further (Lewis 2). It is then that the seeds of rage for the West were laid. Western imperialism becomes synonymous with a missionary pushing western ideals and destroying Islam (Lewis 5). Then, these western ideals and customs begin to pervade the Islamic world, forcing the Muslim to lose control of his own country. Finally, these ideas invaded the Muslim world to the extent that the Muslim man no longer had control over his own home as women and children were liberated (Lewis 3).

When a conflict such as this occurs, countries of similar civilizations adopt what is called the "kin-country syndrome" (Huntington 6). For instance, the creation of Israel has bonded Middle Eastern nations under a common struggle against what they believe to be a government that oppresses Palestinian Muslims. During times of conflict especially, similar nations come together in common defense of what they believe is their whole way of life coming under attack (Huntington 6).

Once nations have banded together under a common identity, they aim to increase their civilization's security through economic and military power (Huntington 8). For example, recently Iran has been in a struggle to acquire nuclear weapons. Perhaps Iran is doing this under the Gulf War idea, "Don't fight the United States unless you have nuclear weapons." These types of situations only escalate the tension between civilizations further.

In the past, it has been the policy of the West, particularly the U.S., to encourage certain leaders in countries which we feel may be threat to our security. The leaders we back usually have western ideals on politics, society, and economics. The West supports these leaders because we hope that they will make an effort to modernize and Westernize Islamic nations. However, history has shown that many of these leaders turn out to be tyrannical and corrupt in their dealings with finances (Lewis 7). When these leaders are overthrown, as in the case of the Shah of Iran, a more extremist Muslim leader takes hold and rejects anything Western and in turn, anything modern. This leaves us back at square one where our civilizations continue to differ, and inevitably conflict.

Islam and the West are at odds. Without a concerted effort on the part of the Muslim world to modernize, our civilizations will never see eye to eye. As long as Islam and the West continue to exist, separate in culture and ethnicity, conflicts will continue to arise and blood will continue to be spilled.

Works Cited

Huntington, Samuel P. "The Clash of Civilizations?" Foreign Affairs Vol. 72, No. 3

(Summer 1993): 22.

Lewis, Bernard. "The Roots of Muslim Rage." The Atalantic Monthly (September 1990):

47.

Said, Edward W. "The Clash of Ignorance," The Nation 273 (October 22, 2001): 11.

Zakaria, Fareed. "Why Do They Hate Us?" Understanding the War on Terror Eds. James

F. Hoge, Jr. and Gideon Rose. New York: Foreign Affairs, 2005: 116-133.