A gap to bridge

Muslims will wait and see if the US starts administering justice beyond its own borders, ponders Moez Masoud*

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In His final revelation to humanity God tells us, "O Mankind, We have created you from a male and a female and We have made you into peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of God is the most pious and God-conscious."

People are different. And people have differences. But thus far into globalisation, as humanity's various peoples hurdle back into their ideological "caves" as the philosopher Kant intelligently anticipated -- be those ideologies secular or religious, these differences have brought about fear, suspicion and -- unfortunately -- violence and indiscriminate killing.

Even America, a nation that understandably prides itself on the ideals upon which it was founded, failed to demonstrate self-control in the last decade or so. And the primary victim of this temporary insanity: the Muslim world. Since God-consciousness is hardly the slogan for the post-modern times we live in, humanity's capacity to "know the 'other'" -- this taaruf the Quran encourages -- and our patience to engage in meaningful cross-cultural dialogue has never been more suppressed. Then comes Barack Obama, a multicultural living symbol of America's ability to live up to its ideals. And, so far, his promises only strengthen the symbolism: Obama seems keen to reconcile.

Obama's speech in Cairo today is an opportunity to start the overdue and much-needed dialogue that must take place between the US and the Muslim world. America is uniquely positioned to spearhead this dialogue -- this taaruf -- with Muslims, not only as the world's reigning superpower, but also as a nation where -- in modern times -- the "melting pot" experiment has shown some multicultural success. And Cairo, home to the reputable Al-Azhar University -- Islam's ancient and authentic source of orthodox interpretations of the faith -- is uniquely positioned in representing the majority of the Muslim world.

Whether or not it was intended that Obama's first actual address to Muslims be from Turkey does not deter from the event's symbolism. On the one hand, Turkey remains a symbol of the Ottoman empire, reminding us of Islam's great civilisation, one that -- to use Obama's own words -- "has done so much over so many centuries to shape the world for the better -- including my own country." Of course, Obama's tone of appreciation for the Muslim faith will itself be highly appreciated when reiterated in Cairo. On the other hand, by first addressing the current Turkish government, Obama indicated his welcoming of more representative leadership in the Muslim world. Turkey is, after all, currently run by religious people. It is also run by democracy. Obama seems to see both the possibility and importance of the process of democratisation in the Muslim world being in harmony -- rather than in tension -- with religion.

Then, of course, there is Palestine, arguably the most strategic issue for both the Muslim world and the US. The partiality that previous US administrations have shown towards Israel has made the US extremely unpopular with Muslims. And although I would personally prefer to address this matter from a moral perspective, I will opt to look at it here only pragmatically, since I do not believe that today there can exist such a thing as an "ethical foreign policy". Here's one scenario: if, for example, China takes over as the world's leading economy 20 years from now, the Muslim world will be in a position to align itself either with the US or with China. If America wishes to continue to have an edge over China it will need to win over swing voters, and Muslims account for 25 per cent of the world's population. This, however, will be impossible without the US first making peace with the world of Islam by appealing to a list of Muslim issues. And on top of that list is the issue of Jerusalem. "Let it be said of America that we extended the hand of friendship," as Obama put it in Turkey, is as much an ethical as it is a long-term political and strategic necessity. America needs to be friends with the Muslim world, but this will never happen if it continues to ignore the issues that 99 per cent of Muslims take to heart.

Work needs to be done back home as well. Obama needs to figure out how to explain to ordinary Americans, many of whom currently harbour anti-Muslim sentiments, how to clearly differentiate between the mainstream Muslim majority and the zealot extremist minority. It is highly detrimental for Americans to unjustifiably hold a strongly negative view of a quarter of the planet's inhabitants. It needs to become common knowledge in America that, as a scholar once put it, "terrorism is to jihad what adultery is to marriage", and that classical Islam -- and not "no Islam" -- is the antidote to intolerance and extremism. According to Gallup statistics, the majority of Muslims and half of the American public itself feel that the West does not respect the Muslim world, and Muslims feel that their faith has been singled out for disrespect under the guise of freedom of speech. When treated with justice and respect, the greater majority of the Muslim world is more than happy to peacefully co-exist in and develop a globalised world that recognises and respects the religious and cultural particulars that exist in the world population. As clearly indicated by the verse this article begins with, the Quran teaches that the diversity of mankind is a divinely ordained blessing.

It is interesting to note that in the verse immediately before that, God commands Muslims to avoid suspicion when dealing with others. If America has extended the hand of friendship, then we too are to extend our hand, and, instead of wasting our energy analysing invisible intentions, it would be more fruitful to see Muslims in the days to come articulating various ways in which we can cooperate with the US in key universal issues like lowering unemployment and poverty rates worldwide, protecting human rights and the environment and eradicating terrorism. If Americans truly adhere to core American values, and Muslims to core Muslim values, the world may very well travel a long way forward in a relatively short period of time.

Gallup statistics also show that the majority of the American public believes that Muslims do not respect them. Ironically, the same Gallup polls show that the majority in the Muslim world does in fact respect the West and particularly the democracy and technology-related aspects in the West. This means there is a serious communication gap that needs to be bridged, and Obama might be just the man for the job.

The Muslim world will wait and see how Obama will handle Palestine, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the withdrawal from Iraq. If he fails to get these issues right, Muslims will pay no attention to anything else he does. A prerequisite for peace is justice. And the US needs to start administering justice beyond its own borders. It is time that America sheds behind it what Noam Chomsky wittily called its "distorted morality". On 4 June, Obama will give the talk. Then the Muslim world will wait to see America walk it.

* The writer is an international lecturer on Islam, and the founding director of Al-Tareeq Al-Sah Institute, based in Cairo.