Partnering with the Islamic World

President Obama offered friendship to the Islamic world in a televised interview on Al-Arabiya this week saying, “We are not your enemy.” This came on the heels of two other important actions by President Obama: using his middle name “Hussein” when he took the oath of office, and calling for a “new way forward” directly to the Muslim world in his inaugural speech.Is there any such thing as the Muslim world? Probably not. There are however, a billion or more people who practice the Islamic faith in the world, and the fact that the western world lumps them together and blames them for terrorism is a huge problem.

Developing a New Relationship with the Islamic World

Actions like the President’s interview,  even when accompanied by critical steps like the closing of Guantanamo and the renunciation of torture by the U.S., still will not win the hearts  of the Islamic world over to the U.S. These acts are but a drop in the bucket where it really counts: ending the scourge of terrorism. What needs to happen here is not a reconciliation with the Muslim world but a new kind of relationship that has never existed before—a partnership based upon respect.

Historic Gulf Between Western and Islamic Worlds

Historically the Western world, particularly the United States, and Arab and Muslim countries have been strangers. It is almost as if the Islamic people of the world have, for centuries, lived on another planet. Muslims spoke different languages from westerners, ate unusual foods, practiced a religion that few in the west understood and followed cultural customs not appreciated in the west. Proud people, some of whom hearkened back to days of glory during the Middle Ages and the Ottoman Empire, the ascendancy of the western world and their own loss of respect and honor must have been hard to bear.  When you stand in the experience of young men who have become terrorists, one can understand their sense of humiliation and shame before the most powerful nation on earth.

Engagement and Involvement by the American People with the Muslim World

What is to be done? Olivier Roy and Justin Vaisse point out that the Muslim world is not monolithic; it is widely varied and no one can speak for all Muslims. There is a difference as well between policy choices by the U.S. government and symbolic decisions that could be made by President and Mrs. Obama, the State Department and others that could set the stage for actions by U.S. citizens, non-profit agencies, artists and businesses that could have an enduring impact on our relationship with the Islamic world.The U.S. could deliberately choose to engage more actively with Muslim nations in these ways:

• Economic
• Spiritual and Religious
• Learning the languages of Muslim counties, i.e. Arabic, Farsi, Pushtu
• Artistic
• History

Lots of Traveling, Lots of Listening and Talking!

This could mean lots of westerners taking citizen diplomacy trips to Muslim and Arabic countries and sharing the stories of their trips with their neighbors afterwards. Artists might go to Muslim countries and do joint projects in schools or with Muslim artists. It might mean sponsoring Muslim women in micro-credit projects. Irshad Manji suggests that empowering Muslim women with microcredit projects may be one of the single most important ways to fight jihad-ism.

What Gifts Does the Islamic World Have to Give Us?

The center of this work is the talking and sharing of Muslims and Americans together. What can we learn from each other by listening? What complaints and grievances does the Muslim world have about us? What is missing that that they lack? What gifts does the Muslim world have to give us that we lack? What can we undertake together, as partners?A new world might open up for us here in the United States and in the west, simply from this kind of exchange. I have a hunch, if done with zest and commitment, terrorism might gradually ebb away.

See also: My review of Benazir Bhutto’s book: http://www.peacebydesignblog.com/book-review-reconciliation-islam-democracy-and-the-west.

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