Wanted: an Islamic Alternative

Thursday, Oct. 4, 2001
Alexei Malashenko, scholar-in-residence at the Moscow Carnegie Center and an authority on Islam, talked with TIME's Yuri Zarakhovich about the Muslim world after September 11.

TIME: In the West, many view the Muslim world as homogeneous, uniformly opposed to the Western civilization. How accurate is this perception?
MALASHENKO: The Muslim world is anything but homogeneous, and it does not totally oppose the West. It has its dividing lines, which have been further exacerbated after September 11. But Islam works as a more unifying factor for Muslim nations than Christianity does for Christian ones. Islam is a way of life. No social or political movement in the Muslim world can exist outside Islam. Some of them develop in the radical spectrum. It's natural for Islam to throw a religious veil over war and terror. This is a fact to accept. Islamist terror is a phenomenon that negatively affects Muslims themselves in the first place.

TIME: What divisions in the Muslim world we are talking about?
MALASHENKO: Western-educated Muslim elites of, say, Egypt, Syria or Jordan, unlike those of some Persian Gulf countries, favor a higher level of secularization than generally accepted by Muslim tenets. They seek a state built on some kind of synthesis of the tradition and modern developments rather than on the canonical Sharia patterns—something like they have in Turkey. The peculiarity is that Islam works as a regulator of social ties within society and between society and the state, which creates a dilemma that can hardly be resolved in a generation.

TIME: What makes the Gulf states different?
MALASHENKO: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and The United Arab Emirates are based on exclusively Islamic values. They are rich enough to carry on without modernization. But less endowed states have to build viable economies, which requires Western experience and creates a conflict between modernization and tradition.

TIME: Like was the case in Iran?
MALASHENKO: Iran is a classic example. The gap between the high level of modernization and the Islamic tradition grew so enormous that we got what we got.

TIME: Despite these differences, many in the West see the entire Muslim world as something alien.
MALASHENKO: The relationship between the West and Islam has been so strained that the Muslim world also subconsciously perceives the West as an opponent. Islam and the West have associated all too little on a normal level. It will take a long time to pass from rivalry to an effective dialogue and identify common values. But in the realms in which we do associate, we reach certain results, such as in Tunis or Morocco, where they have moderate and viable Islamic governments.

TIME: Is Islamic terror the poor man's warfare?
MALASHENKO: Islamic terror is the most extreme way of looking for the Islamic alternative. However, it would not be possible without the financial support of some very rich people in Muslim nations that seek an Islamic state but do not know how to attain it. People like bin Laden contribute an element of organization, an element of ideology and money. Without them, terrorism is not possible.

TIME: Is this war against terror a pivotal event in history?
MALASHENKO: Absolutely not. All this talk about a world cataclysm is nonsense. The world has not changed at all; trends that have long existed have come into sharper focus. America has solidified its position as a superpower and leader. The world boxing champion remains the world boxing champion, even if he was sandbagged from behind on a dark staircase. He'll be more cautious, but will stay the champion. He'll also fight back.

TIME: What are the immediate results of fighting back?
MALASHENKO: The most interesting thing is that over the weeks that have passed since September 11 the issue of terrorism has shifted to the back burner. Now, all states are concerned with what they might get out of the American counterstrike in their own interests.

TIME: How?
MALASHENKO: Take Russia or Uzbekistan, for instance. Russia has moved closer to the West, easing Western pressure on Chechnya. But Russia wonders for how long this state of affairs will last. Uzbekistan hopes that the U.S. will take it under its wing forever but frets lest the U.S. leaves it vis-a-vis Moscow again once its mission is accomplished. India wants America's understanding on Kashmir and its nukes; Pakistan wants America's understanding on Kashmir and its nukes. No, the world has not changed at all.

TIME: What can the Muslim elites do to curb radical terrorism?
MALASHENKO: They can influence the marginals who are tilting to terrorists. They can work with those radical movements that think in terms of winning seats in parliaments or government positions. They can bring them along into mainstream politics, thus eliminating hoodlums and fanatics. They can also remember that there is only one kind of good terrorist—the one who is in grave. And I think they are already doing this in Indonesia, Malaysia and some other Muslim countries. They know that bin Laden has hurt Islam as much as he has hurt the West. They will hardly be prepared to forgive that.