Arabs and Muslims tend to ignore the utterly unique nature of their own colonialism. For unlike European colonialism which came to an end during the past century, the results of Islamic conquests and colonialism have been almost irreversible. While several European countries managed to shake up Islamic imperialism beginning with Spain in 1492, and ending with nations in the Balkans after WWI, Islamic colonialism in Africa and Asia has been final. Not a word about this tragic aspect of world history is ever mentioned in the history textbooks of the Arab world. The underlying thought has always been that Islam possessed a divine right of conquest.  

As V. S. Naipaul put it in his book, Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions among the Converted Peoples, (New York: Random House, 1998):  

Islam is in its origins an Arab religion. Everyone not an Arab who is a Muslim is a convert. Islam is not simply a matter of conscience or private belief. It makes imperial demands. A convert’s worldview alters. His holy places are in Arab lands; his language is Arabic. His idea of history alters. He rejects his own; he becomes, whether he likes it or not, a part of the Arab story. The convert has to turn away from everything that is his. The disturbance for societies is immense, and even after a thousand years can remain unresolved; the turning away has to be done again and again. People develop fantasies about who and what they are; and in the Islam of the converted countries there is an element of neurosis and nihilism. These countries can be easily set on the boil. P. xi  

Another quotation, sad to say, showed that our “moderate” writer manifested his inability or unwillingness to engage in genuine self-criticism:  

The violence and savagery that accompanied the occupation of various countries, and specifically the organization of the State of Israel ; all these are topics that question the validity of Western morality.  

There is no doubt that violent acts took place during European colonialism. I remember a course on French History that I took in which we studied the coming of the French to Algeria in 1830, and their subduing the country by 1848. Who can forget the legendary Emir Abdel-Kader and his fierce opposition to the French occupation of his land? And please don’t gloss over the killings by the thousands that took place in India during centuries of Islamic presence. And how about the pillage and atrocities committed by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 after the fall of Constantinople ?  

As usual, the subject of the birth of Israel in 1948 is dragged in as an example of the perfidy of the West. But what about the role of Islam in the partition of India ? Have we forgotten the tragic events that accompanied the birth of Pakistan , and the mass killings that took place in the Indian subcontinent as a result of that partition?  

Finally, the article showed the inability of a “moderate” Arab-Muslim writer to transcend his

deep-rooted prejudices. He waxed eloquent as he mentioned the “democratic impulse [that] brought an end to colonialism,” and that would do the same to the policies that prevailed at Abu Ghraib, at Guantanamo, the occupation of Iraq, and President Bush’s “Homeland Security” law.” He packed so many subjects together and put them in one basket. And please notice how he described the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein as an “occupation.” Some injustices were done at Abu Ghraib, but they were not the norm, and he knew that. Why, oh why drag that subject again, and why keep chanting Guantanamo ? Does that make him feel purer than Americans? Furthermore, I was very offended when he railed against President Bush, and the Homeland Security Law that was passed by Congress the 19 Islamic terrorists attacked us on September 11, 2001 .  

Unless and until I read lines that show a genuine birth of a liberated Arab-Muslim mind, freed from the age-long shackles of prejudice against the “Others,” I cannot vouch for the existence of “Moderate Islam.” I sound very pessimistic, but judging by the history of the last 1400 years, no real self-criticism has taken place within Islam. Until that happens, the phrase “Moderate Islam” remains an ever elusive hope.

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