The Struggle to Understand: Jihad, Going Postal, and Superempowerment
The controversy of course comes down to the question of the shooter (Nidal Hassan Malik) and his Islamic faith. Folks like McCarthy want to draw linear causality from the religion to the act. Instead of “The Devil made me do it,” it’s “Islam made me do it.”
Now Islam, of course, is not the only factor involved. For some background, here a relevant story from the AP (h/t to Br. Mark). Of particular note is the common refrain of how negatively Hassan (as a psychiatrist) was affected by working with returning soldiers from the battlefield as well his rather private, lonely existence.
The only point I want to make in this context is to watch how Islam is discussed in this controversy. My presumption–and see for yourself if this holds–is that Islam is always treated as this giant, monolithic thing. So either it’s the cause (implied in McCarthy’s case) or it’s kind of put in the corner and ignored (for various sensitive cultural-political reasons).
Either way, this response treats Islam as some uniform entity. When in reality there is no such thing as monolithic Islam. What exists (in enormous numbers and influence) are Muslims around the world who have all kinds of views, ethics, ways of understanding the relationship of their faith to the world in which they live, and doctrines or elements of the faith they foreground.
This is particularly the case in a religion like Islam (esp. Sunni Islam) that lacks any centralized authority structure that once and for all determines the true meaning and practice of the faith.
In other words both anti-Muslim US conservatives and Muslim (or Muslim-friendly liberals) always want to get to “the real Islam”. But that is, to use an old Arab metaphor, a mirage in the desert. There is no “real” Islam, neither the stereotypical bloodthirsty avenger practicing the religion of the sword nor the totally peaceful religion of brotherhood.
Islam treated in this Huntington-esque fashion of some uniform, glacier-like cultural bloc the world over is just nonsense. What matters is what Muslims do and how they understand, argue for, and what they believe.
Some (very broad and generic) history is helpful here. Especially in relation to the question of religion and political policy (esp. US foreign policy), since it comes up in this context, insofar as it was appears to have been a motive behind Hasan’s actions given how he understood the concept, emphasis on his understanding. This topic is usually discussed under the label of jihad, so a little history on that one. [Read more →]
November 6, 2009 26 Comments
