The Source of the Problem: Both Islam and the West Have Forgotten Their Roots (A Philosophical Study of the Charlie Hebdo Shooting)

Abstract

Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. XL, No.3, Spring 2017 The Source of the Problem: Both Islam and the West Have Forgotten Their Roots (A Philosophical Study of the Charlie Hebdo Shooting)* Sayed Hassan Akhlaq1 Introduction In 2015, the entire world particularly Europe (especially the French speaking areas of Europe, e.g. France and the French speaking part of Belgium) witnessed very tragic and shocking attacks by extremist Muslims. Though the Islamic notion of Jihad played a central role in explaining the religious aspect of the events, Jihad did not play an explicit role in the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 7, 2015, that was in response to cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad. This paper addresses this specific event, the relevant Islamic idea, and the destroyed potential for two civilizations, French and Muslim, to work toward mutual understanding and constructive dialogue based on philosophical analyses. It focuses on this case for two reasons: Since Muslims are very sensitive to mocking the Prophet, this case touches a wider range of Muslims; also, it indicates a major conflict between Islamic culture which is based on venerating the 74 *An earlier version of this paper was presented in the conference “Perceptions of Islam in the West and its Effects on Relations between Islamic Countries and the West”, April 15-16 2016, conducted by the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, Villanova University. 1 The author is a research fellow at the Catholic University of America, in Washington DC. He earned his PhD in philosophy in 2009 from Allameh Tabatabaii University in Tehran, Iran, and completed his Islamic studies (Hawzeh Elmieh) in Mashhad. He has published four books, numerous chapters, editorials, and encyclopedia and dictionary entries. Acting as an academic adviser to the Afghanistan Academy of Sciences in 2010, he lectured at several universities in Iran during 2007-2010. Since moving to the US in 2011, he has given scholarly lectures all over the States to Muslims as well as to academia. He is also a member of the American Academy of Religion and the American Philosophical Association. 75 holy Prophet and European modernity which openly mocks and rejects the special place of holy texts, images, and persons. Shocking and catastrophic events can be examined by external conditions as well as internal states. The tragic and dreadful events of Paris are not exceptions; they are related to inner and outer factors and if they are neglected we remain far from the nature of the tragedy. No doubt the attack occurred under the name of Islam. Also Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly magazine, was featuring secular, atheist, far-left-wing, and anti-racist ideology. In other words, the attack in some way was linked with Islam and the magazine’s cartoons and jokes with the Western culture rooted in the eighteenth century Enlightenment. Historically, the Western positive turn toward Islam after a very long period of negative approaches in the West, happened through the Enlightenment. Also, Islam historically is among the few religions which have showed high degrees of tolerance to others and which have a great esteem for the Enlightenment’s self-sufficient rationalism2 . In many analyses extremist Muslims are condemned for this tragedy and blamed for their brutality. It may be better to examine the roots which touch both sides of the problem. How do these bitten fruits come from such fruitful trees? This short essay aims to highlight this point by explaining how losing the spirit of the Enlightenment in the West and the real faith in Islam leads to such catastrophic event. The True Self of the Enlightenment The core point is the questioning of the “Self” and the “Other” in the background of the event. The magazine as a part of modern Western civilization was enjoying the great and fundamental values like freedom of expression, criticism, and diversity. As a matter of fact, it was expressing “self” which appeared in modernity through the Enlightenment. In many ways current western civilization is the child of the Enlightenment. Regardless of how we approach toward the Enlightenment, nobody can deny its central position in the formation of Modernity. Free thinkers from Scotland, France, England, and the...