Islam Under Siege

Abstract

Ahmed’s Islam Under Siege is among the most popular books of the post-9/11 period both in the West and in the Muslim world. The subtitle of thebook poses as its summary: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World.This multifaceted book addresses a wide audience, including thoseAmericans in the Midwest who fearfully reflect upon the proverbial question“Why do they hate us?,” Muslims who incessantly lament the acrimoniousreality of Islam being associated with terrorism, and intellectuals whostrive to discern the underlying factors of the crisis between Muslims and theWest. Ahmed responds to the query “Could acts of violence be relegatedmerely to Muslim societies?” by adeptly elucidating the underlying factorsof the Muslim world’s crisis and the West’s failure to understand Islam. In ahistorical context, he ponders the emergence of what he coins the “posthonor”world in which we live, and finally offers a road map to global peace.To alleviate extremist behavior and the rise of terrorism, he stresses theindispensability of – sine qua non – dialogue. He invites Muslims to acquirea self-critical retrospective insight so that they can apprehend their contributionto today’s quagmire, and calls on non-Muslims to exercise more discernmentin understanding the complexities in Muslims’ lives.The fulcrum of his argument is the notion of `asabiyah and its convolutedform, dubbed “hyper-asabiyya,” which he states creates an extremistdemeanor in the Muslim world and ultimately results in violence. The term`asabiyah refers to social cohesion, as described by the medieval socialphilosopher Ibn Khaldun, and is accrued in a society that is based on justice,compassion, and knowledge. The need to maintain it against thethreat of any danger to the established social solidarity engenders a hyperbolicform of `asabiyah, namely, “hyper-asabiyya.” Given that `asabiyah’smain goal is to protect and preserve the society’s “honor,” the trepidationover losing honor or any loss of honor spurs a voracious desire to maintainor recover that honor. This inherent urge to preserve the “core” orregain what is already lost intensifies the emergence of “hyper-asabiyya.”In other words, the breakdown of `asabiyah (a lack of social cohesion)engenders “hyper-asabiyya,” which is characterized by control and violence.Hence, ironically, while “hyper-asabiyya” arises because of the lackof `asabiyah, the former is an exaggerated form of the latter ...