THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 218, September 3, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
"MUSLIM RADICALIZATION": IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER
By Raymond Ibrahim
IS THERE AN ESTABLISHED, UNIVERSALLY AGREED-UPON MEANING OF THE TERM "MUSLIM RADICALIZATION,"
OR "RADICALIZED MUSLIM"? IS THERE A UNIVERSAL STANDARD OF NORMALCY OR MODERATION THAT
ALL PEOPLE, MUSLIM & NON-MUSLIM, WESTERNER & NON-WESTENER, ADHERE TO? THE FAILURE OF
MANY OBSERVERS & COMMENTATORS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT MUCH OF WHAT PEOPLE BELIEVE IS
GOOD OR BAD, RIGHT OR WRONG, & MODERATE OR EXTREME, IS A PRODUCT OF THEIR CULTURALLY-INDUCED
WORLDVIEW
FULL STORY:
Because the phrase "Muslim radicalization" has become increasingly popular in American discourse, it behooves us to
establish once and for all what it means. Without an agreed upon definition, it may be that we are each talking about
different things — or worse and more likely, nothing at all.
Most dictionaries define "radicalization" and "radicalize" as "to make radical." The word "radical" — especially in a
socio-political context — means "extreme," "fundamental"; as a noun it means "a person who holds or follows strong
convictions or extreme principles; extremist."
For our purposes, then, a "Muslim radical" is someone "who holds or follows strong [Muslim] convictions or extreme
principles."
This definition, which is likely what most people mean by "Muslim radicalization," is fraught with problems and loaded
assumptions. For example, who decides which Muslim convictions or principles are "extreme" or "radical," and which are
not?
Yet, some Westerners talk about "Muslim radicalization" as if there was a base of normalcy that all people are agreed to
— that there is a line that, once crossed, both Muslims and non-Muslims agree is "radicalized" behavior.
But is that the case? Is there a universal standard that all people — Muslim and non-Muslim, Westerner and
non-Westerner — adhere to? In fact, while there are certain commonalities, so too are there extreme — that is, "radical"
— variations inherent to each culture or civilization. The notion that "radicalization" refers to something universally
agreed to fails to take into account that much of what people believe is good or bad, right or wrong — and, yes, moderate
or extreme — is a product of their culturally-induced worldview, a product of their epistemology.
As any anthropologist can attest, there are entire cultures and societies that engage in what we would term "radical"
behavior, even though, to them, such behavior is quite normal. Indeed, if we agree that "radicalization" refers to extreme
views or practices, to many cultures, the West — from its gender neutrality to its secular humanism — is "radical."
Let us agree, then, that radical behavior — to a Muslim, Western normalization of homosexuality, to a Westerner, Muslim
killing of apostates — is in the eye of the beholder. Once this view is adopted, the inevitable becomes clear: "Muslim
radicalization" is simply another way of saying "distinctly Muslim principles."
Consider Saudi Arabia. Its entire worldview and culture — from totally veiled women to draconian punishments such as
stoning — is "extreme" by Western standards. Yet, to the average Saudi, such behavior, built atop millennium-old Sharia
principles, is not only normal but moderate (the late Usama bin Laden used to boast that Sharia is the most "moderate"
system). Simultaneously, Saudis look to the Western life style and see it as corrupt, debauched, or, in a word — radical.
Many may argue that "Wahhabi" Saudi Arabia is an anomaly and not representative of the average Muslim's worldview
or culture. But there are important rebuttals to this mainstream view.
First, buzz words such as "Wahhabism" (and "Salafism") are somewhat misleading: they imply a new aberration in Islam.
Yet, Wahhabism's message — that Muslims need to return to purely Islamic principles — has existed centuries before Ibn
Wahhab walked the earth in the Eighteenth Century. One example: the classic and influential Muslim jurist Ibn Hanbal,
who lived in the Eighth century — one thousand years before Wahhab — insisted on the same exact "radical" teachings.
Moreover, the Wahhabi/Salafist worldview permeates Muslim thinking around the globe, if for no other reason than that
Saudi-produced religious literature and programming — part and parcel of Saudi funding — saturates the Muslim market
and media, including in Europe and in America. Such is the double-whammy: while Saudi literature "radicalizes" Muslims
in America, Saudi "donations" help undermine America's knowledge of the threat.
Yet, we continue to hear Western politicians casually talking about "de-radicalizing" Muslims. This is no different than,
say, Chinese politicians casually talking about "de-radicalizing" — de-Westernizing — Western peoples, so that they can
stop thinking and acting in a distinctly Western way.
Therefore, rather than arrogantly brushing aside Islam's centuries-old worldview — which, at root, is behind any talk of
"de-radicalizing" Muslims — Western leaders would do well to take the time to learn the particulars of the religion.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Raymond Ibrahim, a historian of Islam, Islamism and the Middle East, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom
Center, an Associate Director of the Middle East Forum, a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College, and
the editor of The Al-Qa'ida Reader, a collection of tranlations of key texts and documents of the Islamist movement.
Ibrahim's translations of the religious texts and political propaganda comprising this collection help readers comprehend
the origins, development, history, and serious danger of the Islamist war doctrines of Usama bin Laden and Ayman
al-Zawahiri, the Founders of Al-Qa'ida.
The foregoing article by Raymond Ibrahim was originally published in Jihad Watch, September 1, 2011, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/3030/muslim-radicalization)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
September 3, 2011
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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