Islam Versus the West: An Explanation

On Tuesday, President Obama addressed the U.N. General Assembly. “He said all leaders must speak against violence and extremism out of obligation to United Nations norms as well as self-interest. ‘Burning an American flag does nothing to provide a child an education,’ he said, and popular outrage can be turned as easily against Muslim leaders, ethnic groups and tribes as America.” — Source: Editorial, NY Times, September 25

“The Yemenites and Egyptians who are throwing explosives at U.S. embassies talk to each other on iPhones and refresh themselves with Coca-Cola once they’ve finished their rampages.… The Arab world is ridding itself of the heteronomy it has experienced since the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. Local dictators like Mubarak and Gaddafi were toppled. They were the lackeys of the West or Moscow. The uprising is a continuation of the abortive secular revolutions and military coups of the 1950s. They are about having a say in what goes on in one’s own country, but also about the right to self-determination as Egyptians, Tunisians and Arabs…. In this region, identity is inextricably bound up with Islam…. This is why religious ideologies play a role in the search for an identity – whether that search plays out in parliament or with the angry mob.” — Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 17