The West is not necessarily to blame for Muslim woes

From Husain Haqqani's "Why Muslims always blame the West", International Herald Tribune, October 16, 2004:

"The Palestinian issue and the pre-emptive war in Iraq have undoubtedly accentuated anti-Western sentiment among Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia. But the conduct and rhetoric of Muslim leaders and their failure to address the stagnation of their societies has also fueled the tensions between Islam and the West. Relations between Muslims and the West will continue to deteriorate unless the internal crisis of the Muslim world is also addressed.

"...Instead of hard analysis, which thrives only in a free society, Muslims are generally brought up on propaganda, which is often state-sponsored. This propaganda usually focuses on Muslim humiliation at the hands of others instead of acknowledging the flaws of Muslim leaders and societies. The focus on external enemies causes Muslims to admire power rather than ideas. Warriors, and not scholars or inventors, are generally the heroes of common people. In this simplistic "us vs. them" worldview, both Musharraf and bin Laden are warriors against external enemies.

"...Ironically, a cult of the warrior has defined the Muslim worldview throughout the period of Muslim decline. Muslims have had few victories in the last two centuries, but their admiration for the proverbial sword and spear has only increased. ...The Muslim cult of the warrior explains also the relatively muted response in the Muslim world to atrocities committed by fellow Muslims.

"While the Muslim world's obsession with military power encourages violent attempts to "restore" Muslim honor, the real reasons for Muslim humiliation and backwardness continue to multiply. ...Ironically, Western governments have consistently tried to deal with one manifestation of the cult of the warrior - terrorism - by building up Muslim strongmen who are just another manifestation of the same phenomenon."

From Leon de Winter's “Arab-Islamic World Is a Hostage of Its Own Delusions”, Wall Street Journal Europe August 16, 2004:

"The entire Arab-Islamic world has ignored the humanitarian disasters in Darfur, but they require an explanation for the curious attention the deaths of tens of thousands of black Muslims have received in the West -- which Arab opinion maintains despises Muslims and Africans. According to the Arab-Islamic view the West is not driven by a sincere concern for over a million innocent Muslims, but by oil. …Facts are not important here. What matters is how phenomena are "experienced" and how they fit into the underlying plot that explains the world to the average Arab and Muslim: the Muslim is the victim of conspiracies.

"...Based on this simple idea everything falls into place. It explains why power is in other people's hands, when it should be the ummah that holds sway; it explains the poverty, inferiority, the way the West supposedly tries to tempt pious Muslims with obscenities such as film, television, music, dance and drink; it explains the appalling conditions in the Palestinian territories and the unemployment in Morocco, the lack of modern research and development in the universities; it explains the internal Arab divisions; it explains why a third of all Arabs have less than two dollars a day to spend; it explains why the superior Islamic world is-temporarily-the victim of the inferior West. Satan, devils and spirits are not just symbols. They are actual living phenomena in Islam. The notion of conspiracy is an essential aspect of modern Muslim religious philosophy and of Islamic world history.

"This is what remains, in the perspective of many Arabs and Muslims, of European and American reports in the press and media, of the fundraising campaigns, of our disgust, anger and astonishment at the fate of hundreds of thousands of Islamic victims in Africa. It is unimaginable that we infidels might be inspired by compassion. Because an unbelieving crusader or Jew could never be inspired by compassion. After all, unbelieving crusaders and Jews are too busy ensuring the diabolical downfall of the ummah. While the crusader and Jew may seem compassionate, in fact they are cunning conspirators. So last Sunday, foreign ministers of the 22-member Arab League rejected 'any threats of coercive military intervention in the region or imposing any sanctions on Sudan.'

"Darfur is not just a humanitarian disaster. Darfur shows once again, and more tragically than ever, that the Arab-Islamic world is a hostage of its own delusions and will not lift a finger to prevent the deaths of countless fellow Muslims."

From Salman Rushdie's "A New York state of mind", Salon.com, October 1, 2002:

"One of the things that I have discussed with friends who come from the Middle East or other Muslim countries is how far backwards they've slipped in the last 50 years. If you think about Beirut in the 1950s it was a fantastically open, cultured city. So was Damascus. So was Kabul. So was Tehran. These were all places which had come a long way. And now they seem to have slid back from that moment to something much less likable. And I've tried to say that these are questions which Muslim societies really need to ask themselves. It just won't do to endlessly blame the West. Because these are self-inflicted wounds."