Muslim World Seethes, but Who Is Pulling the Strings?
thenational.ae
Religious fanatics are dangerous not only because they carry out violent acts but because they are easily exploited to do so.
I knew Abdulsalam Minhibbak for the majority of my English language studies at the British Council in Damascus, between 2004 and 2006. A middle-class young man from the Syrian capital, he was not a practising Muslim. By Salafi standards, he would probably qualify as a disbeliever.
Yet in early 2006, he led mobs to burn the Danish embassy in Damascus after a Danish newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. The cartoon sparked protests across the Muslim world. Rioters in Damascus stormed the embassies of Norway and Denmark, based in the same building.
I am reminded of his story today, six years after those protests, as a similar scenario is playing out in the region. Muslims, labelled fanatics by many in the West, are protesting against an amateurish film made in the US depicting long-held stereotypes about the Prophet.
What motivated Abdulsalam (which is not, I should say, his real name) to lead rioters chanting “Allahu Akbar” if he, in fact, was not religious himself? Had he become an Islamic radical overnight? And why are we seeing similar responses by young men in Egypt, Tunisia and beyond today?
If the roots of violence in the region are to be understood, attention must be paid to the political ideologues who too often exploit the cultural, economic, social, and religious sentiments of the publics they claim to lead.
Many observers have looked for easy answers in explaining the latest episode of mass rage (which has killed over half a dozen, including the US ambassador to Libya). Some have pointed to religious fanaticism. More nuanced voices have blamed US foreign policy in the region, and the weakened role of the state after the downfall of despotic strongmen. Some pundits have even questioned whether this is the result of the Arab Spring.