Recent debates on Islam and Islamophobic discourse in the West have just reminded me of some very insightful issues that Maalouf raised in this book. Maalouf starts a discussion on tolerance in Islam and Christianity, and he offers some very interesting findings that we should really think about. Let’s lend an ear to Maalouf:“No religion is completely devoid of intolerance, but if we were to draw up a comparison between the two `rival` faiths we would see that Islam doesn’t come out of it too badly. If my ancestors had been Muslims in a country conquered by Christian armies, instead of Christians in a country conquered by the forces of Islam, I don’t think they would have been allowed to live in their towns and villages, retaining their own religion, for over a thousand years. What in fact happened to the Muslims in Spain? Or those in Sicily? They were all done away with, to the last man, either murdered, driven into exile or forcibly baptized.
“From the outset, and ever since, the history of Islam has reflected a remarkable ability to coexist with others. At the end of the 19th century the population of İstanbul, capital of the chief Muslim state at the time, contained a majority of non-Muslims -- mostly Greeks, Armenians and Jews. Could we imagine Paris, London, Vienna or Berlin, at the same period, with a good half of their population made up non-Christians, whether Muslims or Jews? Even today many Europeans would be shocked to hear the muezzin`s call to prayer floating out over their cities” (p.48).
“The Muslim world, for centuries a leader in the matter of tolerance, now … [finds] itself lagging behind. But this reversal of the `moral balance of power` as between the north and south of the Mediterranean is recent, very recent, and not as complete as some seem to believe” (p.49).
“For me, history as a whole demonstrates that Islam has immense potentialities for coexistence and fruitful interaction with other cultures” (p.50)
Maalouf tells us about a very recent history that we almost forget entirely. The Muslim world might be quite backward in our times, but can we say that the Christian world is the champion of tolerance?
In one of my previous articles, I maintained that Muslims are the new Jews of Europe. And this analogy provoked quite angry reactions amongst some readers. In today’s Europe Muslims may not be sent to gas chambers, but it is obvious that, like Jews, they have become scapegoats. They are excluded, marginalized and turned into objects of hate.
Likewise, Muslims are the new blacks of America. Look at those discussions and arguments used against this so-called mosque at “ground zero.” Look at the discussions about whether the American president is a Muslim or a Christian.
If tolerance of differences is one of the pillars of Western civilization and one of the elements that makes it advanced, I am afraid it is now disappearing. As with all racist, xenophobic and intolerant attitudes, today some segments of Western society believe that their reactions against Muslims and their beliefs are not discriminatory or intolerant. They believe they are defending their “civilization” against the invasion of this “alien” force. They protect democracy by denying the rights of those who do not believe in democracy. They are defending women’s rights and so on.
Discrimination, racism and intolerance, they are all like blind spots in the rear-view mirror. You cannot see where you are actually heading until it becomes too late. Islamophobia is the biggest and most dangerous blind spot of Western civilization today. We understood what anti-Semitism did to humankind after it became too late; can we now understand what Islamophobia is doing before it causes the disasters it promises?
I think Maalouf urges us to be alert about these blind spots, to consider our preconceived notions and rethink the meaning of Western civilization. Can a West that is not capable of tolerance toward Islam and cannot give to Muslims the rights that were once given to Christians by Muslim societies be deemed an advanced civilization? A final word: As Will Rogers once said, “We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.”
