To encourage positive change in the Islamic world toward greater democracy,modernity, and compatibility with the contemporary international world order,the United States and the West need to consider very carefully which elements,trends, and forces within Islam they intend to strengthen; what the goals and values of their various potential allies and protégés really are; and what the broader consequences of advancing their respective agendas are likely to be. A mixed approach composed of the following elements is likely to be the most effective:
• Support the modernists first:
— Publish and distribute their works at subsidized cost.
— Encourage them to write for mass audiences and for youth.
— Introduce their views into the curriculum of Islamic education.
— Give them a public platform.
— Make their opinions and judgments on fundamental questions of religious interpretation available to a mass audience in competition with those of the fundamentalists and traditionalists, who have Web sites,publishing houses, schools, institutes, and many other vehicles for disseminating their views.
— Position secularism and modernism as a “counterculture” option for disaffected Islamic youth.
— Facilitate and encourage an awareness of their pre- and non-Islamic history and culture, in the media and the curricula of relevant countries.
— Assist in the development of independent civic organizations, to promote civic culture and provide a space for ordinary citizens to educate themselves about the political process and to articulate their views.
• Support the traditionalists against the fundamentalists:
— Publicize traditionalist criticism of fundamentalist violence and extremism;encourage disagreements between traditionalists and fundamentalists.
— Discourage alliances between traditionalists and fundamentalists.
— Encourage cooperation between modernists and the traditionalists who are closer to the modernist end of the spectrum.
— Where appropriate, educate the traditionalists to equip them better for debates against fundamentalists. Fundamentalists are often rhetorically
superior, while traditionalists practice a politically inarticulate “folk Islam.” In such places as Central Asia, they may need to be educated and trained in orthodox Islam to be able to stand their ground.
— Increase the presence and profile of modernists in traditionalist institutions.
— Discriminate between different sectors of traditionalism. Encourage those with a greater affinity to modernism, such as the Hanafi law school, versus others. Encourage them to issue religious opinions and popularize these to weaken the authority of backward Wahhabiinspired religious rulings. This relates to funding: Wahhabi money goes to the support of the conservative Hanbali school. It also relates to knowledge: More-backward parts of the Muslim world are not aware of advances in the application and interpretation of Islamic law.
— Encourage the popularity and acceptance of Sufism.
• Confront and oppose the fundamentalists:
— Challenge their interpretation of Islam and expose inaccuracies.
— Reveal their linkages to illegal groups and activities.
— Publicize the consequences of their violent acts.
— Demonstrate their inability to rule, to achieve positive development of their countries and communities.
— Address these messages especially to young people, to pious traditionalist populations, to Muslim minorities in the West, and to women.
— Avoid showing respect or admiration for the violent feats of fundamentalist extremists and terrorists. Cast them as disturbed and cowardly,
not as evil heroes.
— Encourage journalists to investigate issues of corruption, hypocrisy, and immorality in fundamentalist and terrorist circles.
— Encourage divisions among fundamentalists.
• Selectively support secularists:
— Encourage recognition of fundamentalism as a shared enemy, discourage secularist alliance with anti-U.S. forces on such grounds as nationalism and leftist ideology.
— Support the idea that religion and the state can be separate in Islam too and that this does not endanger the faith but, in fact, may strengthen it.
Whichever approach or mix of approaches is chosen, we recommend that it be done with careful deliberation, in knowledge of the symbolic weight of certain issues; the meaning likely to be assigned to the alignment of U.S. policymakers with particular positions on these issues; the consequences of these alignments for other Islamic actors, including the risk of endangering or discrediting the very groups and people we are seeking to help; and the opportunity costs and possible unintended consequences of affiliations and postures that may seem appropriate in the short term.
The notion that the outside world should try to encourage a moderate, democratic interpretation and presentation of Islam has been in circulation for some decades but gained great urgency after September 11, 2001.
, he appears with Khawaja Asif and actually endorses his views in opening
Beghairat quam
