Why do you think Islam has turned increasingly militant?
I think Islam has been militant from the beginning. Later on, its degreeof militancy fluctuated with a number of factors, one of them being the powerequation with its rivals. Today, Islam lives in the shadow of Western (andlocally in South Asia, Hindu) economic and cultural supremacy, which gives it anincentive for militant opposition to the West. At the same time, itsdemographic strength and access to specific military (guerrilla)instrumentsgive it the self-confidence to transform its dissastisfaction into action.So, we are seeing a peak in Islamic militancy.
There is a view that many of the militant groups are a reaction to the decayin their own societies and that this is because Muslims have turned away fromtheir religion.
I disagree. There has been plenty of decadence in many periods and areasof Muslim history, some of them provoking militant "purification"within the community, others coinciding with aggression against non-Muslims, andothers not accompanied by a vigorous Islamic action in any sense. Also,what Islamic militants call "decadence", and to which theywould react e.g. by killing "apostates", may be somethingentirely different from what outsiders would call decadence, e.g. peacefulcoexistence with non-Muslims can already qualify as treason to Islam, witnessthe murder ofEgyptian president Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel.
Why is the Quran invoked by the militants for their violent brand ofpolitics?
Because the Quran does contain ample injunctions to hostility and war againstthe unbelievers.
Can the violence also be attributed to suppression of dissent in large partsof the Muslim world?
That suppression of dissent is a tradition instituted by the Prophet himself,who had a number of his critics murdered or executed. It is true that thissuppression of dissent often remained in force when Muslim regimes turnedsecular and then turned against the Islamists themselves, witness Syria'spresident Assad sr.'s bloody oppression of Islamicmilitancy, or Turkey'soutlawing the Islamist party.
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Why is the Muslim ire directed particularly against the US? Is it becausethe US has propped up authoritarian regimes in the Muslim world to secure itsbusiness interests?
That is part of the reason. There is just no end to the brutality andstupidity of American foreign policy. But note thatNATO's bombing ofSerbia has not led to any similar revenge operation by Serbs, only Islam waswilling as well as able to do it.
To what extent has the Palestine Question added to the anti-US sentiment?
We cannot blame the US for failing to impose the perfect solution on the MiddleEast, for unfortunately, there is no solution which will be just and satisfyingto everyone concerned. But it is obvious that American one-sided supportto Israel is perhaps the biggest source of Muslim anger.
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There is a popular perception that Islam is resistant to change? Do youagree and why?
By definition, Islam wants to perpetuate the policies and beliefs followed bythe Prophet and his companions. To be sure, all religions have deeprespect for their founder and their ancestral traditions, they all resist changeto some extent.But I must add that Christianity has come a long waye.g. in shedding its anti-Semitism, and the Hinduism has made great strides indiminishing gender and caste inequality. Islam is more resistant to changebecause it is so closely linked to the literal Quran and Hadith, like aself-described "seamless garment": change one rule and thewhole fabric of Islam will unravel.
Does this resistance to change stem from the immutability of Quran, as wellas because Islam makes no distinction between personal and public domain?
Well, Christianity and Hinduism are more broad-based, having a very compositebody of scripture. This allows reformers to play off one chapter againstanother, to trump traditionalist injunctions with more progressive ones withoutexplicitly going against scripture. Islam is also a political religion toa far greater extent, explicitly aiming at the creation of an Islamic statewhich should ultimately encompass the whole world.
What do you think are the reasons why democracy is absent in large parts ofMuslim society? Why have most Muslim states been unable to separate the Churchfrom the State?
Democracy is not given in Quran and Hadith. Even where parliaments are setup, they are allowed only to take decisions within the boundaries laid down byscripture. Islam is intrinsically theocratic.
Why is the condition of women in Muslim societies subservient to men?Considering Quranic injunctions -- and their very narrow interpretations--aboutpolygamy, divorce, dress code, etc., what are the ways out for women?
The royal way out is collective apostasy from Islam. Meanwhilme, inpractical terms, efforts to emancipate women all while paying lip service toIslam should be encouraged. We cannot expectwomen to wait until thefinal religious revolution flushes out Islam itself from people's minds.So, in the meantime, I don't mind if they try to get their way by means of whitelies such as: "if read properly, the Quran is against polygamy".But ultimately, there is no reason why people should go on believing in theprophetic claims of Mohammed. To be sure, I am convinced that religionwill remain relevant. But it cannot remain a dogmatic religion based onirrational beliefs. It is time for a religiosity that is in tune withscience and mental freedom. That will take care of current problems ofobscurantist laws and violent fanaticism.
(Dr. Koenraad Elst, 42,is a Belgian Indologist. His latestcontributions to the communalism debate are The Saffron Swastika (Voice ofIndia, 2001) and Decolonizing the Hindu Mind (Rupa 2001) )
