29 Nov. - 5 Dec. 2001
Issue No.562
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 29 Nov. - 5 Dec. 2001 Issue No.562 |
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The clash of understanding
Tahsin Bashir* believes civilisations can achieve harmony
Writers throughout the Arab world have waded into an intense ideological battle over Samuel Huntington's "clash of civilisations" thesis. The heat of this battle reflects, principally, a certain pettiness -- both in the ideas of the expression's progenitor, and in the emotional responses of many Arab thinkers.
Amidst the hubbub, one central point seems to have escaped advocates and detractors alike: the very concept of a clash of civilisations is a trap. Huntington has never even bothered to define the term "civilisation," preferring instead to take advantage of the instinctive pull it exerts at a time of intellectual vacuum in the post-Cold War international arena. As historical constructs, civilisations are complex phenomena, consisting of multifaceted processes and relations that encompass vast landscapes. They cannot be concentrated into convenient, easy-to-swallow capsules that emphasise only one of their many sides. In our part of the world, thinkers have let their indignation at Huntington's characterisations of "Islam" blind them to a simple fact: such a great tradition as Islam -- its culture, religion, societies, political systems -- does not lend itself to mechanical reductionism.
Within and between all civilisations, transformations and clashes take place. Civilisations are not given to stable, sterile relationships; they result from dynamic interactions among human beings and their various attempts to wrench meaning from a world otherwise dominated by chaos and disorder.
Today, all civilisations are undergoing difficult and bewildering changes. The end of history has not come to pass; human beings have not ceased to think or to believe, no matter what our outlook -- whether pragmatic, allowing for experimentation and exploration, or rooted in our perception of the past and its impact on our confusing life. Both trends of thought are undergoing radical modifications. The literalists, who base their claim to a monopoly of the truth on their interpretation of historical texts, find challenges emanating from new quarters: those who re-read these texts and put forth alternative interpretations. Those who claim that science is the only key to knowledge and action alike must confront the very human ability to believe in abstract values, endow life with symbolic meaning, and enrich the mind and the heart with new forms of art and literature designed to bring about a greater sense of shared humanity.
This conflict has always been with us, although now it appears to have reached a crisis of our own creation. Conflict is an essential part of being alive as human beings, continuously striving to innovate and to surpass the goals we have set ourselves. The "clash of civilisations" is essentially a clash of understanding. It permeates even our attempts to define the terms of comprehension and establish criteria of perception and measurement. If our definitions are vague and our terms of reference vaguely defined, misunderstanding must be the result.
The challenge before us in the Arab and Islamic world is not to debate the merits or faults of the Taliban or other schools of Islamist action that revolve around highly selective textual interpretations and engage only with previous theologians. It is, rather, to be candid with ourselves in seeking answers to the questions that plague us from within. We owe it to ourselves to wonder what has happened to the glorious traditions that shone from the great centres of Islam and allowed Muslims to modernise and enrich human experience. Al-Azhar itself was a source of enlightenment, a means of creative interaction with the rest of the world. Rifa'a El- Tahtawi and Mohamed Abduh opened the doors of the future, and let fresh air into the arid caves of history the Muslims' rulers had imposed upon them. The moderate, open thinking they advocated took as its source the fundamental element of Islam as embodied in God's first injunction to the Prophet Mohamed: Iqra' ("Read"), which emphasises the importance of learning. This tradition of Islam accepts, interacts with and advocates science, technology and human rights within an Islamic order of value.
If our generation can face the world strengthened by this outlook, then the clash of understanding will gradually give way to global understanding. This is the challenge we face.
*The writer is a veteran diplomat and political analyst.
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