One 'Islam', Many 'Islams': Understanding the Arab-Islamic Perspective on 11 September in a Globalising World

Abstract

This paper is intended to unpack the Arab-Islamic perspective vis-h-vis the tragic events on 11 September 2001. To this end, the paper will attempt to distance itself from the hollow hype of dichotomous and essentialist representations of the events in terms of a 'clash' of cultures or of civilisations, pitting a monolithic 'Islam' against a homogeneous 'West'. It will later become clear that 'Islam' is diffuse rather than unitary; thus, to speak of a single Arab-Islamic perspective smacks of reductionism and Orientalism. Thus far the narratives predicated on a polarity of 'Islam' versus 'West' have served only to divert focus away from a vital line of inquiry: a consideration of the events of 11 September as symptoms of a democratic deficit and crisis of legitimacy within many an Arab polity. Acts of terror and desperation may have exogenous roots. This paper, however, situates the roots of 11 September endogenously, by drawing attention to the chasm between the rulers and the ruled in Arab society as one way of attending to an area on which there is much silence: misgovernment in the Arab world. The overall tenor of the paper is self-criticism, not self-exoneration.