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his speech earlier this month to the United Nations General Assembly,
President Bush said, "…the Sheikh of Al-Azhar University,
the world's oldest Islamic institution of higher learning, declared
that terrorism is a disease, and that Islam prohibits killing innocent
civilians."
Citing Muhammad
Sayyid Tantawi, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, as a voice of
moderate, mainstream Islam is problematic. The problem is that by
the standards of the discourse prevailing in the Middle East, Sheikh
Tantawi is a moderate.
Last summer
the Palestinian suicide bombings inspired a debate in the Muslim
world over whether or not these bombings were sanctioned by Islam.
Tantawi stated: "…the suicide operations are self-defense
and a kind of martyrdom, as long as the intention behind them is
to kill the enemy's soldiers, and not women or children." He
reiterated this position several times. In the debate over suicide
bombings this stand was the middle of the road between the few who
condemned suicide bombings altogether, and those who felt Israeli
civilians were legitimate targets and were disappointed by Tantawi's
position.
(This discussion
from the Arab media and others cited are from the Middle
East Media Research Institute.)
Tantawi's opinion
on this issue has evolved. In 1998 he stated:
It is every
Muslim, Palestinian and Arab's right to blow himself up in the
heart of Israel, an honorable death is better than a life of humiliation.
All religious laws have demanded the use of force against the
enemy and fighting against those who stand by Israel; there is
no escape from fighting, from Jihad, and from [self-]defense,
and whoever refrains from such things is not a believer.
But opposition
to the murder of women and children is the minimum of civilized
behavior and does not suffice as a call for peace and moderation.
Tantawi remains an outspoken advocate of jihad against Israel, stating
that what was taken by force can only be returned by force.
Tantawi's relative
moderation has made him subject to fierce criticism. In 1997 he
met with Israel's Chief Rabbi Israel Lau, and was roundly condemned
because merely meeting the Rabbi was tacit recognition for the "Jewish
entity." Tantawi's public response was not a discourse on the
importance of dialogue between men of faith. In an interview broadcast
on Al Jazeera, Tantawi responding to his critics by saying,
"…anyone who avoids meeting with the enemies in order
to counter their dubious claims and stick fingers into their eyes,
is a coward… I did not ask to meet with the rabbi; he was the
one who asked to meet me and when he left the meeting, his face
looked like his behind… On the personal level, I attacked him,
and proved to him that Islam is the religion of truth."
Some of the
most severe criticism directed at Sheikh Tantawi is from within
the prestigious Al-Azhar University that he leads. An Al-Azhar lecturer
called the meeting with Rabbi Lau "painful for every Muslim."
A group of Al-Azhar scholars disagreed with Tantawi that Islam prohibits
killing enemy civilians.
Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak appointed Sheikh Tantawi to his position, consequently
Tantawi refrains from anti-American vitriol. But the other clerics
at Al-Azhar are not censored in this regard and a group of them
declared that American strikes on Afghanistan are an attack on Islam
itself. Therefore all Muslims are obligated to wage jihad against
America.
A crucial difference
between erstwhile moderate Muslim clerics and extremists is that
moderate clerics limit their vitriol to Israel. But Israel is an
important litmus test. Arab animus against Israel is rooted in a
deeper rage that will ultimately, as the September 11 tragedy demonstrates,
strike out in other directions as well. As long as the Arab peoples
are in the grip of extremist politics, they will be unable to discuss
Israel rationally.
This scarcity
of truly moderate religious figures in the Arab world is indicative
of something fundamentally wrong with the core values of Arab culture.
This is a terrible fate for the ancient and sophisticated Arab civilization
that in its prime led the world in science, culture, and in providing
freedom and equality to its people. The Arab world must face these
problems head-on. While September 11 and the resulting strikes on
Afghanistan have exacerbated Arab anger, they have also spurred
many Arabs to question prevailing orthodoxies.
But as long
as the United States remains blind to the realities of the Middle
East and accepts figures like Tantawi as voices of reason this crucial
debate will be stymied and the United States will unwittingly be
helping to perpetuate the stagnation afflicting the Arab world.
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