Abstract
Two contrasting encounters help us to focus on the issues for the conclusion on the future of Islām, and the relations between the Islamic World and the West. Underlying the Shultz-Gorbachev repartee in 1988 was the belief, shared by the capitalist United States and the Communist Soviet Union, that militant Islamism (they called it ‘fundamentalism’) sought/seeks supremacy in the world. It was the view of outsiders to the world of Islām, who had lived through the turbulent decade since the Khomeini revolution and had witnessed the Afghan ‘jihād’ against the Soviet occupation. This view3 will not be addressed in the Conclusion, since it has been dealt with in Chapter 11, particularly in the section on ‘fifth-generation’ warfare and the approach which states should take towards the phenomenon of terrorism which knows no frontiers and no moral constraints. Although the term jihād is used by violent Islamists perpetrating such atrocities, it is clear that there is neither a moral nor an historical justification for them to do so. It is a deliberate confusion of terminology, which uses an ambiguous term that is central to Islām as a spurious justification for actions which cannot be justified morally and as a device for gaining recruits to the cause of violence. This deliberate confusion of terminology is removed from consideration in this Conclusion, which discusses only the views of peaceful Islamists and the Muslim mainstream. Our central concern here is the revival of Islamic political ethics, on which there is much recent debate,4 and how it should be integrated with such debates in the West.
M. S. GORBACHEV. As regards Afghanistan, Iran is trying to have a fundamentalist government formed there. SHEVARDNADZE. and not only there.
G. SHULTZ. In my opinion, the Iranians would not object to fundamentalist governments in the Kremlin and Washington (laughter). M. S. GORBACHEV. All the same, they can scarcely hope for this. Possibly it is true they pray for it…
Record of Meeting of Gorbachev with George Shultz, US Secretary of State, 22 February 19881
Western intellectuals should bear in mind that this democracy which destroyed the empire of the Soviet Union is capable also of overthrowing these corrupt regimes in the Muslim world. They should bear in mind that Islām can be a friend to the West… moderate and tolerant. But Islām can be hard as well, and angry and seeking revenge. And the West has the power to shape this by its approach to Islām.
Rachid Ghannouchi (Rāshid al-Ghannūshī), interview with Joyce M. Davis2
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Notes
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© 2004 Richard Bonney
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Bonney, R. (2004). Conclusion. In: Jihād. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230501423_14
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