Globalization and Muslim Identity Challenges and Prospects

Providing five definitions, author Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk describes how most Muslims understand “globalization” as an ongoing and ancient concept that is in its most rapid stage of development. Using the theories of scholars such as Francis Fukuyama and Samuel P. Huntington, Abushouk chronicles historical clashes between what have been termed as “Western” and Muslim civilizations, as well as the long successful rule of the Islamic state starting with the 7th century. The West perceives the recent re-assertion of Islamic identity in the Muslim world as a direct threat to democracy, partially because, he asserts, the West relies on the “myth of the necessary enemy” as a tool for achieving global domination. Current Muslim aversion to Western notions of “globalization,” which equate the secular and democratic with the functional and legitimate, is rooted in this history of conflict between the two civilizations and the perpetual misunderstanding that follows. Abushouk attributes much of this misunderstanding to a profound Western dismissal of Islam as inherently corrupt and oppressive to women. A post-9/11 political climate forces many Muslims and non-Muslims into a “terrorist” identity, simply because they do not embrace the values of “Anglo-American capitalism.” Abushouk concludes by stating that the Muslim imperative is to convince the West that Islam is a peaceful religion, one not historically based in violence, but on “human ethics, on knowledge and its humanitarian utilization, and on a positive interaction with other civilizations.” – YaleGlobal