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Pol372 Major Essay

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POL372
“Islam and the West”

Question 4: Is the apparent conflict between Islam and the West based in religion or in politics?

The conflict between the West and the East is a result of a myriad of factors between both civilizations. The tensions that have existed between the Muslim and Christian world have threatened the general stability of world peace and progress. The ideological, religious, and political reasons, all cover the fact that there is a general lack of understanding between both sets of people. Islamists have gained a bad reputation in the west because they are seen as the sworn enemies of Christians, and the same applies to how Muslims view people from the west. On the whole, the war between the West and East has something to do with the world's political order, and this will form the basis of discussion in this paper.

The war that exists between West and East is a result of politics and not the religious differences. Political ambitions have always been at the forefront of the existing conflict because different countries have always had diverse ambitions of controlling the rest of the world. A key moment in the history of the East was the deal that was made by the British at the end of the Second World War concerning the people of Palestine. The establishment of Israel in 1948 further escalated tensions and conflicts with the west, and the problems that exist today, almost have nothing to do with religion (Tausch, 2009). The world events of the past decade and a half, clearly show the origins of the conflict that exists between the west and the east. The invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003 is a perfect example, which shows that the conflict that exists is not a religious war. The decision to invade Iraq was made on the assumption that the then leader of the country, Saddam Hussein, was hiding weapons of mass destruction within his territory. The resolution to invade the country was not made on the basis of religion, but rather for purely political reasons. The invasion of Iraq by the United States was a low point in the history of the relations between the east and the west. It created unnecessary tension and hatred between the two sides of the world, despite the fact that Saddam Hussein was a hardcore dictator in power for many years (Nigosian, 2004). Several people in the east did not support the decision by the United States and her allies to invade Iraq because it was seen as a way of interfering with the internal affairs of the country. The conflict between the east and the west certainly got worse, especially after news broke that neither Iraq, nor Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The implications of this discovery are diverse because it shows that the invasion of the country was truly based on political reasons. There was no moral or religious justification for the actions of the United States in invading Iraq and dismissing their sovereignty (Akyol, 2011). The consequence is that the relations between the east and the west will always be at a low because there is so much distrust of the motives and interests of both sides. Edward Said’s ‘Orientalism’ provides an intriguing overview of how the West views the East. According to Said, the East is inferior to the West, and this justifies some of the actions that western countries take in their foreign policies. The tensions that exist on both sides are the result of failed political plans as opposed to religious differences because the West will never view east as equals. The Islamic religion has no relation to the conflict, even if religious reasons are usually given for some attacks, but it is one of the clearest differences that define the relations between the East and West. The apparent conflict between Islam and the West is certainly based on politics as opposed to religion. That was made clear after the Iraq war when memorandums from different countries showed that governments before the war did not believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (Salamone, 2004). There is clear evidence to suggest that the United States was well aware that invading Iraq was unnecessary, especially with the assumption that there were weapons of mass destruction. Therefore, their consequential reasons for attacking Iraq certainly had nothing to do with religion, and the move only fuelled the existing conflict between the two sides of the world. According to Samuel Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilization,’ the conflict between the east and the west has always been based purely on political reasons (Tausch, 2009). The author stresses that religion is always used as an excuse to hide the real facts of the conflict. The conflict exists because of the abundance of crucial resources in the east that the west needs, and the need for solidifying power amongst a few people. The implications of these decisions mean that conflict is inevitable between both sets of people with religion always been used as an excuse to justify violent actions. The historic clashes between the Arabs and the rest of Europe, especially during the period of the crusades, were an excellent example of how religion was used as an excuse. The driving force behind most crusades was to establish political control and hegemony over Europe. The leaders at the time wanted to bring together different regions into a single kingdom, and that would make it easier to control and govern the people (Turner, 2006). History has been recorded by indicating that the main purpose of the crusades was to eliminate evil by killing off non-Christians. There is not truth is this statement because the primary motive of the crusades was to empower certain individuals. The result was that tensions between the east and the west began to mount as long as religion was used as a scapegoat to hide people’s political ambitions. The period of the crusade offered humanity a crucial lesson by showing that unnecessary killing in the name of religion was unnecessary. These lessons, however, have never been taken to heart, and the West continues to exploit the east without regard for the sovereignty of its peoples. Religion will always be used as a scapegoat to justify a conflict that has been existing for a long time. The war between the West and the al-Qaeda is another recent world event that had perpetuated the existing tensions between the east and the west. The al-Qaeda is a terrorist group associated with terror attacks in different parts of the world (Waines, 2003). The extremists justify their actions by claiming that it is the United States that is prompting the Muslim world into war. The United States is seen as meddling in the affairs of most of these countries, and al-Qaeda is only responding in kind by conducting terror campaigns against Western interests. The terrorist group has gained a progressive reputation throughout the world in its conflict with the West. The majority of the people are starting to see for themselves that indeed the conflict between Islam and the West is not based on religious reasons. The actions of the al-Qaeda over the past decade suggest that the background of the conflict is more than what is seems. The role that western countries play in determining the fate of Arab countries requires closer scrutiny to understand the nature of the conflict. The apparent conflict between Islam and the West is based on politics because the actions of the Islamic State suggest this fact. The extremist and violent behavior of the terror group is a reflection of the injustice that the Muslim world tolerates from the west. The reason is that the Islamic State fighters justify their actions as a way of creating a free world and getting rid of Western influence (Hourani & Ruthven, 2003). Since its inception, the group has managed to take control of large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, and they still plan on extending further into other territories. The other general argument that supports the notion that the conflict is political rather than religious is the apparent lack of democracy in the Muslim world. The western countries assert that the tensions that exist are a result of the lack of proper representation of the Muslim people by their leaders. The majority the countries in the Arab world are either monarchy or have supreme leaders at the top of the government organization. There are no clear democratic structures to govern the counties, resulting in apparent conflict because people have become discontent. The conflict with the West comes about as a result of the intervention from the concerned countries in the Muslim world to stop the conflict. Western countries always appear to be noble in their quest for peace when they send troops or resources to help quell some of the wars in the Muslim world (Kobeisy, 2004). The reality, however, is that western countries are more interested in supporting regimes that meet their demands rather than end the wars. The Arab countries do have numerous resources that are of interest to western countries, chief among them being oil. That results in the continuous perpetuation of conflict because the western countries never have a sincere interest in ending the bloody fights. The war, consequently, is a result of the internal disputes among the Muslims, who always prompt Western intervention. The absence of democracy in most of these countries comes at a heavy price because the monarchs will never be fully interested in representing the will of their people. Instead, they consolidate their power and try as best as they can to remain there, for their current families and future generations. That sparks outrage among the ordinary citizens who start to fight with their superiors in the quest for freedom and sovereignty in their respective countries. Political reasons are certainly behind the motivation for the conflict that exists between Islam and western countries. Western countries rarely intervene in the affairs of other nations on the basis of religion or any other humanitarian causes (Hedayetullah, 2006). Most of these governments set objectives that are in line with developing and growing their countries rather than guarantee freedom and justice across the world. These political reasons fuel the conflict that exists between both sides of the world because each faction has a sole motivation of protecting their interests. The disregard for the circumstances of life in the Muslim world by Western countries creates conflict between the two sides. The war between the West and the East is also as a result of the continuous interference of western countries in the Muslim world. The aspect that makes this action, even worse is the fact that the western countries support the brutal regimes that are against the spread of democracy. Western countries do not regard the state of life in the countries in the Muslim world as long as their demands are met by these regimes. The consequence is a conflict because most of the people living in these countries view West with disrespect and mistrust for their role in their domestic affairs. Extremist groups that have popped up all over the Islamic world are also as a result of the lack of democracy in these regions. There are no stable governments to mind the interests of the people, resulting in the rise of groups such as the Islamic State, who aim to create a ‘perfect Islam nation’ (Smith, 2006). The absence of democracy, consequently, is a major reason behind the conflict that exists in the Muslim world. The reason is that extremist groups are constantly rising to fight the autocratic regimes. Religion is just used as an excuse for waging war between Islam and the West because it is the perfect guise to cover up for political actions. The United States, in particular, argue that the Islamic religion has set a bad example for people living in Muslim countries. Religion is also used as an excuse in an influential manner by suggesting that some of the interventions from the Western countries aim at spreading peace and love. The political actions of Western countries consequently give them away because religion is never a sole focus of their activities in the Muslim world. The background of Saddam Hussein’s situation offers a good example of the role that western countries play in interfering with nations of the Muslim World (Goldschmidt & Lawrence, 2005). In the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was never removed from power despite his authoritarian regime making lives difficult for its citizens. Life in Iraq during Saddam’s tenure was characterized by unlawful detentions and judicial killings. The United States would have removed Saddam Hussein from power in the first conflict, but they did not because it was not in their best interests. Saddam Hussein was allowed to retain his power despite his appalling human rights record because he was serving the political interests of the United States. The conflict that exists between Islam and the Western world, consequently, is a result of the frustrations of the West supporting authoritarian regimes. Religion certainly is used as an excuse because it makes the process of intervening in the affairs of another country by the west easier (Esposito, 2004). Religion would only be considered to be a significant factor in the conflict if western countries were upholding moral and ethical values by removing the brutal, authoritarian regimes. The majority of the leaders in the Muslim world, however, have very close ties with their western counterparts that their removal from power becomes unlikely. The Western countries are only interested in satisfying their demands, and war has been selected as an appropriate way of gaining the resources of other countries. The conflict that exists has nothing to do with religion, but everything to do with growth and progress in Western countries. That is the reason the conflict is so bloody because the people living in the Muslim world are aware of the West’s indifference to their plight (Bennett, 2010). That automatically makes western countries direct enemies with the Muslim people because all they want to do is to exploit their resources without any regard for their liberties. The conflict between the West and East is likely to continue raging on into the future. The best way of ending these conflicts will be from a political point of view as opposed to a religious solution. The resources that these countries have not benefitted their people because authoritarian regimes reserve them for western nations. One of the best solutions to ending the conflict that exists in the Muslim world is by removing the authoritarian regimes that currently exist against the will of most of the people. The monarchies that are present throughout the Arab world have become outdated and irrelevant in propping up the Muslim society (Lewis, 2004). A change is inevitable whereby democratically elected leaders assume office and set about creating hegemony. The relations between the West and East might have a slight hope of getting better if the new governments treat their citizens with more loyalty than Western countries.

References
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