5 reasons for crisis in global Islam

Business Standard     31st October 2020     Save    

Context: The recent Islamist terror attack in France has highlighted the crisis in global Islam.

Five reasons for the crisis in global Islam

  • The politicization of Islam: Few countries are democratic where Muslims are in the majority, and secularism is generally considered a bad word or a Western concept in the Muslim world.
  • Unresolved tensions between the Muslim population and nations: between nationalism and pan-nationalism.
  • Many wars are fought between Muslims and Muslim states than with others: For, E.g. Iran-Iraq war, and except Jordan, no other Islamic nation come to the aid of Pakistan in its wars against India 
  • Pan-Islamism working with multi-national terror groups: Pan-Islamic organizations want a Caliphate subsuming international boundaries and enforcing the common Shariat.
  • Al Qaeda and ISIS are truly pan-Islamic organizations which mostly target settled Islamic states
  • Domination of Pan-Islamism over Nationalism: unlike countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh where nationalism trumps pan-Islamism.
  • Sharp inequalities in wealth: Wealthy Arab nations resist sharing their wealth to the bulk of the Muslim population who lives in Asia and Africa with poor economies
  • What matters for wealthy Muslim countries are political power, royal privileges, and global stature and its relations with the West.
  • Democratic deficit: People cannot protest or express their resentment against the regime, and has moved out for e.g. in Europe to convey their hatred – leading to the globalization of revenge.