In Defense of Islam
by Russ Douthat
FEBRUARY 18, 2015 3:50 PM
http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/in-defense-of-islam/?comments#permid=14182439
The current debate on whether ISIS represents a significant theological stream in Islam or is just a perversion of Islam, is really missing the point.
ISIS is just the latest manifestation of a centuries long split between Sunnis and Shiites within Islam itself. That split has been smoldering beneath the surface in the "balance of power" among Middle East states. Only with the blundering intervention by the US into that conflict, with our ill-fated wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even before, with our unquestioning support of Saudi Arabia (for purely economic purposes, nothing to do with "fostering democracy" and "advancing the cause of human rights") did that internal Islamic conflict explode to the surface again.
We, "the West", cannot resolve that conflict - we cannot "defeat ISIS". The best we can do is to insulate ourselves as much as possible from the collateral damage (terrorist attacks, hostage takings, etc). Resolution of the Sunni/Shia conflict can only be brought about in the Islamic world itself - hopefully by some implicit, or better, explicit coexistence, similar to the coexistence between Orthodox and Protestant Christian beliefs. The problem right now is that, similar to the long wars among Orthodox and Protestant dominated empires in the Middle Ages, the Sunni/Shia conflict currently still has strong political overtones. Thus, only when religion/Islam is relegated to a non-political sphere in Islamic countries will there be any hope of "defeating ISIS".
ISIS is just the latest manifestation of a centuries long split between Sunnis and Shiites within Islam itself. That split has been smoldering beneath the surface in the "balance of power" among Middle East states. Only with the blundering intervention by the US into that conflict, with our ill-fated wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even before, with our unquestioning support of Saudi Arabia (for purely economic purposes, nothing to do with "fostering democracy" and "advancing the cause of human rights") did that internal Islamic conflict explode to the surface again.
We, "the West", cannot resolve that conflict - we cannot "defeat ISIS". The best we can do is to insulate ourselves as much as possible from the collateral damage (terrorist attacks, hostage takings, etc). Resolution of the Sunni/Shia conflict can only be brought about in the Islamic world itself - hopefully by some implicit, or better, explicit coexistence, similar to the coexistence between Orthodox and Protestant Christian beliefs. The problem right now is that, similar to the long wars among Orthodox and Protestant dominated empires in the Middle Ages, the Sunni/Shia conflict currently still has strong political overtones. Thus, only when religion/Islam is relegated to a non-political sphere in Islamic countries will there be any hope of "defeating ISIS".
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