Islam and the Middle East:
Reflections on Religious Intolerance

By Emil Homerin

For many Americans today, the word "Muslim" invokes images of an Arab terrorist. It is one of many limiting stereotypes about Muslims, Arabs, and Islam that, tragically, have been reinforced by the September 11 attacks.

As we work to find a just solution to the crisis sparked last fall, it is important to remember that Muslim militants are a tiny faction denounced by most Muslims. We also should remember that all people-Muslim and non-Muslim-sometimes dehumanize others for their own selfish desires.

Just as we can too easily rely on shorthand labels, some Arabs and Muslims, too, have their stereotypes of "others." Their notions, fantasies, and prejudices, more often than not, focus on the "West." Much of that hostility toward the West undoubtedly stems from colonial experiences but, by no means, all of it.

Why would individuals turn to such violence?

At least two thirds of the world's population faces, on a daily basis, severely limited political freedoms, unbelievable poverty, and the absence of significant opportunities for improvement. Living in countries with totalitarian regimes, fragmented civil societies, and economies in collapse, many Muslims fear annihilation.

Militant Islamic groups, including Hamas, the followers of Osama bin Laden, and the Taliban draw on despair, while presenting their visions of a triumphal Islam that will protect their communities from the insidious attacks of the secular and satanic West.

Their real enemies are not the Christians, Jews, and infidels of old, but secular democracy. Particularly troublesome for religious fundamentalists of all sorts is government by the people and freedom of religion. These propositions imply the possibility of experimentation and change, and thus pose a direct challenge to any who claim to hold an absolute religious truth.

In an extraordinary passage seldom mentioned by scholars, Muslim or non-Muslim, the Koran (5:48) justifies the need for diversity:

"For each of you, We have made a law and a course of action. Had God wished, He would have made you one community, but He tests you by what He has given you. So vie with one another in doing good deeds!"

We certainly "vie with one another" but rarely in doing good, and this depressing truth must give us pause.

For the sake of everyone, we must responsibly investigate these crimes and seek justice in a rational and humane fashion.

If this crisis is to be resolved with justice, and if we are going to prevent terrorism in the future, we must seriously address the fundamental issues of world poverty and prejudice, inequality, and the absence of basic freedoms.

Homerin, chair of the Department of Religion and Classics, specializes in Islamic religion, culture, and history. He is the translator and editor of Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verse, Saintly Life.

This essay is adapted from a campus presentation Homerin made in October. Copyright 2001 by Th. Emil Homerin. Used by permission.

For a full text of his remarks, see www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V64N2/homerin.html.

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