Monday, December 03, 2007

Moderate Muslims   [Lisa Schiffren]

While we are on the subject of the problems with Islam in today's world — and when are we not, these days? — let me say that I, like many who went to college in the 70s and 80s, knew plenty of moderate Muslims back then. The Arab, Pakistani, and Turkish women I went to school with at Bryn Mawr were about as moderate as you could imagine. Some were secular and some were religious, and all were nationalists. But they all believed in science, democracy, economic reforms to help the poor, the importance of bringing home a practical technocratic education to help their country advance, and, oh yes, more freedom and legal rights for women. Of all classes.

I'd bet all of my classmates would have predicted that the scourge of honor killings would be a thing of the past, now, a quarter century later. The ones who got their doctorates and went home to Saudi Arabia assumed that they'd be able to drive there, as they did here, let alone pursue professional careers. (Back then it seemed like a big deal to see the daughters of oil sheiks treat their BMWs and Mercs with casual indifference...) The doctor's daughters from places like Ramallah and Nablus, were certain that they would have the solid bourgeois professional lives that their parents had pursued, in a more peaceful Israel. They didn't necessarily like the politics of their status — but it wasn't the only thing. Their parents, who sent them to the U.S. for college, obviously felt the same way. As did the Pakistani government officials and the Iranian expats who were sure they'd be going home soon and wanted to help.

So, the Saudi sheik's daughter still lives in purdah and teaches at a women's college. She writes the occasional op-ed from London, when she goes to conferences. The Palestinians either got radicalized or got out. Or, first they got radicalized, then, when that wasn't enough to convince the really rabid neighbors — who didn't seem all that interested in peace and prosperity anyway, they got out.

The notion that the Bush Administration had about Iraq, that it was such a well-educated, urbane society, with a real sense of commerce and an ability to adapt Western ways easily, came about because the dissidents and the progressives of the Arab world of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, had all been imbued with those values.

The fundamentalist Wahabi infection that has spread, like the flu, changed all that. Even if we believe that only a relatively small percentage of Muslims are really fundies — they seem to hold the balance of power in their societies. Since it seems clear enough that we cannot change things for them, we are going to have to wait and watch as they sort it out themselves. It is hard to imagine that happening peacefully.

12/03 10:40 AMShare