• Our Image in the West

Our Image in the West…Whose Responsibility?

There is no doubt that our Arabs' and Muslims' image in the West poses many questions about the scale of this distortion, how it happened and our responsibility for its aggravation, by escalating or eliminating it, as the matter goes beyond the limits of the image to touch many characteristics of our very existence in this world, at least in this era.

There is a moral responsibility, as our image in the West has a negative or positive impact on the lives of millions of Arab and Muslim immigrants overseas.

Confronting distortion campaigns requires not only denouncing those who carry them out but also entering into discussions which respect facts negative or positive.

No special religious or secular culture may prosper by alienating itself from the world and accepting being condemned as hostile culture.

A question arises when we start talking about our image in the West: what is the importance of this image? This question, however simple it may be, involves an attitude to the West and perception of the importance or unimportance of others. But the answer which serves the objectives of this talk here and now is first of all related to our Islamic Arabi self from several aspects: moral, practical and cultural, rather than 'political' and 'economic', because of the negative connotations attached to these two words, though they cover all human activities if we adopt the human honour approach, which is a remote dream. Now back to our topic, and let's attempt to answer our question about the importance of 'our image in the west'.

From the moral point of view, it is no longer possible to ignore the existence of tens of millions of Arabs and Muslims living in the West Europe, America and Australia who can't be separated from the West's body. Those millions living outside the Arab and Islamic land are affected by any addition negative or positive to the image of Arabs and Muslims as perceived by westerners with whom they live and share their livelihood.

From the practical point of views, we can't perceive any sound mutual exchange of benefits in terms of economy, knowledge and civilization in general among adversaries dominated by hatred based on bad impressions. And we-Arabs and Muslims can't live self-enclosed. This is impossible and undesirable on the part of any rational person, whatever his fears of the West may be.

From the cultural point of view, we can't perceive any cultural development in any national entity in today's world without opening on the wider world, which, in the light of a real revolution in communication and digital media, has actually become a small village in which the specific culture of any community fades if the culture of its members is condemned as hostile to other human beings.

The image is changing and cries going up

Arabs' and Muslims' image in the West has definitely changed in recent years, but for the time being let's leave discussing why and how this happened, focusing on the characteristics of these changes from the voices of Arabs and Muslims living in the West or monitoring what is taking place there.

Last October, Dr. Mahmoud Al- Missiri, Iman and Director of the Islamic Centre in Madrid, said : "The media in the West has for a number of years been carrying out widespread campaigns to tarnish our cultural and religious image in public opinion in the countries concerned and the world at large, using various means to distort the truth, including prejudice, exaggeration, shallowness and repetition to imprint a negative vision about the Arab and Islamic culture in people's minds, resulting in evoking such feelings of hated and fear that prevent any rational voice or logical discourse from telling the bare truth."

On the 'Islamic Unity' website, Dr. Jamal Shaqra, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, writes: " Many American and European media have during the last few years carried such lurid headlines as 'the Muslim Bomb is Coming', 'The Muslim War against Modernization', 'The Crusades are Still Going On', and 'The New Crescent is in Crisis'. John Esposito, Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, USA, noted that these headlines attracted attention and distorted the truth about the Muslim world and its relationship with the West on the one hand, and augmented such degree of total ignorance of the Arabs and Islam, on the other, that many people in the West take it for granted that the Arabs are nothing but Bedouins or oil-rich people living in the desert or 'harem', and that they are impulsive, belligerent and irrational Islam is often equated with holy war, hatred, fanaticism, violence, intolerance and woman abuse'. For that reason, Esposito strongly criticised "The lurid headlines carried by the press in the West in their discussion of the issues of Islam and Islamic civilization. He also severely criticised the academic studies which adopted the same approach and were selective and biased in their discussion of the relations between Islam and the West and on data drawn from anti-Muslim editorials, articles and comments".

As Dr Ahmed Al-Bouhy, Deputy President of the Organization of Islamic Culture in the USA said: "American society has in recent years witnessed fierce attacks on Islam, including Franklin Gaham's new book on Islam which reflected quite clearly his bias against Islam and ignorance of its teachings as indicated by the academic and historical mistakes which the book contained, accusing Islam of intolerance and feeding its followers with a desire for revenge".

American TV channels presented many programmes attacking Islam, e.g. the daily programme "Orally Factor", which kept hosting some professors and analysts who claim to be specialized in Islamic thought. The guests addressed some Islamic terms, such as 'martyrdom' and 'houris with black, gazelle like eyes' sarcastically and in a manner which is derogatory of the Islamic faith, without giving any equal chance for Muslims to refute these accusations and show that those guests were liars and ignorant. Additionally, a report entitled 'Reactionary Islam' has recently been published in the USA. In a notorious attempt to arouse Western and American public opinion against Muslims, the report writer, Jayson Livingord said : "Eighty per cent of the mosques in America are controlled by Arabs', we therefore do not expect of America's Muslims to keep their promises or look friendly, as what is expected of the followers of the Mohammedan school is betrayal, treason and breaking promises"

In Berlin, Ghassan Abou Hamad writes on a website: "Among the media hype is what the American historian Bernard Lewis has recently expected that "Europe will become Islamic and part of the Maghrib till the end of the current century." Lewis developed his new theory on the basis of the demographic changes which Europe is currently witnessing, pointing to "the waves of migration from the Arab East to Western Europe". In an interview with the German daily Die Welt, he said : "Europeans get married late and have few children. The contrary appears gradually true, as reflected in strong Turkish presence in Germany, strong Arab presence in France and Muslim Pakistani presence in Britain. These get married early and have many children. In the context of the current development, Europe will become a Muslim continent and part of the Maghrib at the end of the twenty first century."

Once again, back to Dr Jamal Shaqra, who, writing about the above point (creating myths to fuel fear of Muslims is an ancient craft), refers to what ex-President Richard Nixon says in his book 'capture the Moment' that Islam is a tremendous force, and that the increasing number of Muslims and the financial power they enjoy pose a serious challenge to the West. Nixon adds that, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West is forced to forge a new alliance with Moscow to confront a hostile, aggressive Muslim world, as Islam and the West in his opinion are incompatible. Muslims, he maintains, view the world as divided into two irreconcilable camps: the land of Islam and the land of war. He urged that the West be prepared for a decisive confrontation with the Muslim world, which poses a major foreign policy challenge to the USA in the twenty first century. The same opinion was expressed by Charles Crothamer in his article 'The New Cresent of the Crisis' in the Washing Post on 6 February 1990.

An Attempt to Explain

These are samples of outcries at attacks on the Arabs and Muslims and their religion in the Western media. Added to this are some Western intellectual and academic activities. However, anyone who follows these activities if they are made available can't conclude that most of these activities are dedicated to this end alone, as they are other fair opinions in the West offering a different discourse based on rationality, logic and historical and cognitive justice about the Arabs and Muslims. A perfect example of this is John Esposito, previously referred to, as one of the Western proponents of the truth of Islamic culture in the face of defamation campaigns referred to in the above samples.

Undoubtedly, some circles in the West are prejudiced and determined to distort the truth about the Muslims and Arabs as far as beliefs and culture are concerned, but this remains a specific, probably a limited, trend and not a general Western attitude towards the Arabs and Muslims. This trend may have a bigger influence on life in the West than its real size for some reasons we are responsible for and these will be discussed later. However, it remains part of the West and not the whole thereof. We have then to enquire about the motives and reasons for that trend, and by necessity about our role in this respect.

To identify the motives of those involved in tarnishing our image in the west, we may need to turn to another sample of the voices of Arabs and Muslims living in the West and suffering from what is happening as if they were living it.

An interpretation of this phenomenon is given by Dr Jamal Shaqra: "In the age of globalization, a group of politicians, thinkers and strategists in the USA in general, and the West in particular, have adopted the idea of the conflict of civilizations and Islam's threat to Western civilization, and warned of imminent danger of Islamic attack on the West and its civilization. However, another group in the West have not been deceived by these opinions and look at the alleged Islamic threat to the West as a myth similar to the cold war myth created by the West itself.

In this connection, Dr Jaafar Abdulsalam, Secretary General of the Association of Muslim Universities writes : "Things have reached the point where some thinkers in the West argue that the conflict between Islam and the West is one of civilization due to the teachings of the Holy Quran and Sunnah (Prophet's Tradition), as Islam, as seen by those orientalists, commits its followers to jihad and the force of swords against non Muslims to make them elate that they bear witness that there is no Good but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Accordingly, many Western orientalists and thinkers proposed false theories about Islam, an example of which is the book 'Islamic Fundamentalism', whose author, Bernard Lewis, was awarded a major prize in social studies. Among the author's allegations is that Muslims pose a tripartite threat : political cultural and demographic to Western civilization, and that an imminent dispute will break out between the West and Muslims, and most of the Muslim world is dominated by a state of overall hatred to the West, and in particular to America.

We accept what is true and reject what is false

From the above samples of Arab monitoring of the phenomenon of attacks on Islam and Muslims in the West, may conclude that behind these attacks is a group of fanatics found in every religion. We don t deny that such a group exists among us Arabs and Muslims as well. This group is usually divided into two categories: the first is crude and superficial, and the second is learned and supported by a lot of knowledge which they employ for their fanatic ends. A prime example of the latter category may be the American orientalist Bernard Lewis who does not hide his attitudes. He represents a case with whom we have to be vigilant as he conceals his Interpretations amidst many matters which are subject to discussion. It may not therefore be useful to deal with him from the logic of rejection or cancellation but from the logic of confrontation: we accept what is true and reject what is false, and we unmask erroneous interpretations.

In his book 'The Crisis of Islam: A Holy War and Unholy Terrorism' Bernard Lewis writes: "Most Muslims are not fundamentalists; most fundamentalists are not terrorists, either; however, most terrorists in our times are Muslims and are proud of being identified as such. Muslims rightfully complain that the media describes terrorist movements and acts as 'Muslim' and wonder why Irish or Basque terrorists are not described as 'Christian' ? The answer is simple and obvious: they do not describe themselves as such. Muslims' complaint is understandable, but it must be addressed to those who make rather than carry the news. Thus far, Lewis' defence may be understandable, with one professional reservation: news making is not neutral. However, Lewis quickly expresses his prejudice as he adds: "Osama Bin Laden and his followers in Al-Qaeda may not represent Islam, particularly in view of the fact many of their statements and acts clash directly with basic Islamic principles and teachings, but they grew up within Muslim civilization, exactly as Hitler and the Nazis did within the Christian world, and must be viewed within their specific cultural, religious and historical framework"

Lewis' pretension to objectivity makes this contradiction quite clear, as civilization and its cultural, religious and historical facts can't and shouldn’t t be judged objectively on the basis of the behaviour of an individual, group or even a generation. Nobody says or should say, and it is unacceptable to say, that Hitler, as referred to by Lewis, represented the Christian world or Western civilization.

In the context of the distortion campaign we are looking at here, Lewis is a complex example which requires knowledge and skill to discover. It is not sufficient to reply saying that he has Zionist attitudes. What is important is to discuss his ideas and find a neutral Western forum to present convincing facts and information. I don t think this is impossible; on the contrary, it is possible and available if we insist on revealing facts to the Western public. The example of Edward Said is not far away from us or from the West. Our responsibility, however, does not stop here; there is a basic starting point which is often neglected : dealing with the phenomena which emerged voluntarily or involuntarily from within us.

In order not to give them pretexts

There is no doubt that the image of the Arabs and Muslims in the Western media and some research reports has suffered serious distortion. Let's agree that behind much of such distortion are anti Arab and Muslim writers and thinkers, for a number of reasons : political and racial, but some are triggered by the logic of historical revenge. But stopping here does not serve as self justification or shirking responsibility. The increasing number of vicious attacks blamed, justly or unjustly, on Arabs and Muslims. Whether these are the mastermind or just tools, our countermove to discard such distortion requires that we categorically denounce such vicious attacks in which humans are slain and decapitated before video cameras. Similarly, Arabs and Muslims themselves should launch counter campaigns to shed such distortion through the Arab and Western media alike by renouncing such brutal mutilation of human beings, particularly if those involved are peaceful civilians, women and children who have nothing to do with what befalls the Arabs and Muslims, be they victims of the Madrid train, Ossetia schoolchildren in Russia or the kidnapping of relief or humanitarian aid workers or journalists. Such counter campaigns are necessary to discard the distortion not only of the image of the Arabs and Muslims but also of the tolerant Islamic faith and Arab traditions and values which all do not approve of the abuse of man, dead or alive or terrorizing peaceful people.

This is a moral, living, cultural, religious and secular issue, which requires clear cut, sweeping Arab and Muslim public opinion which springs from within and spreads outside.

Sulaiman Al-Askary

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