By
James M Dorsey
Jan 30,
2021
Think
the Muslim world is united in opposing Islamophobia? Think twice.
Rising
anti-Muslim sentiment in countries like China and Myanmar as well as the West
against the backdrop of increased support for anti-migration and extreme
nationalist groups, and far-right populist parties is proving to be a boost for
contenders for religious soft power in and leadership of the Muslim world.
For Turkey,
Iran and Pakistan, supporters of different expressions of political Islam,
Islamophobia provides the backdrop for attempts to position themselves as
defenders of Muslim causes such as Palestinian rights in Jerusalem, the third
holiest city in Islam, the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar, and conflict in
predominantly Muslim Kashmir.
Absent from
the contenders’ list is China’s brutal crackdown on Turkic Muslims in its
troubled northwestern province of Xinjiang. China, which aggressively has
sought repatriation of Turkic Muslims, recently ratified an extradition treaty
that Turkey, home to the largest Xinjiang exile community, insists will not put
Uighurs at risk.
Islamophobia Photograph :( Reuters)
------
By the same
token, Islamophobia has proven a useful tool to influence efforts by men like
French President Emmanuel Macron and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to
crack down on political Islam and shape the faith in the mould of Turkey &
Co’s Middle Eastern rivals for religious soft power, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf
monarchies advocate a vague notion of ‘moderate’ Islam that preaches absolute
obedience to the ruler and is quietist and non-political. The two Gulf states
have gone as far as legitimising China’s crackdown and persuading the 57-nation
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to endorse the Chinese policy as an
effective way of countering political extremism and violence.
Economics
and trade are powerful drivers for the Muslim world’s refusal to hold China
accountable. But so are the brownie points that major Muslim-majority
contenders for religious soft power garner in Beijing. Muslim criticism of the
crackdown potentially could make the difference in pressuring China to change
its policy.
Saudi and
Emirati rejection of and campaigning against political Islam bolsters the
rationale of not only China’s crackdown but also Russian efforts to control
Moscow’s potentially restive Muslim minority. China may not like the
propagation of political Islam by the Gulf states’ religious soft power rivals
but values their silence.
Chinese
Turkic Muslims is not the only issue over which contenders, including Asian
states like Indonesia, irrespective of what notion of Islam they promote,
stumble in their quest for religious soft power. So is another litmus test of
claims of a majority of the contenders to embrace religious tolerance and
inter-faith dialogue that raises the question of whether contenders should
clean up their own house first to give credibility to their often-opportunistic
embrace of ‘moderate’ Islam.
Among the
rivals, the UAE, populated in majority by non-nationals, is one of only two
contenders to start acknowledging changing attitudes and demographic realities.
Authorities
in November lifted the ban on consumption of alcohol and cohabitation among
unmarried couples. This week, the UAE opened the door to the naturalisation of
foreign nationals.
The other
contender, Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim movement, has begun
tackling legal and theological reform of Islam with the encouragement of the
government. The movement offered in October a platform for then US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo to lash out at China’s treatment of Turkic Muslims.
By
contrast, Pakistan, in an act of overreach modelled on US insistence on
extra-territorial abidance by some of its laws, recently laid down a gauntlet
in the struggle to define religious freedom by seeking to block and shut down a
US-based website associated with Ahmadis on charges of blasphemy.
Ahmadis are
a minority sect viewed as heretics by many Muslims that have been targeted in
Indonesia and elsewhere but nowhere more so than in Pakistan where they have
been constitutionally classified as non-Muslims. Blasphemy is potentially
punishable in Pakistan with a death sentence.
The
Pakistani effort was launched at a moment that anti-Ahmadi -- and anti-Shiite
sentiment in Pakistan, home to the world’s largest Shia Muslim minority, is on
the rise. Recent mass demonstrations denounced Shiites as “blasphemers” and
“infidels” and called for their beheading as the number of blasphemy cases
being filed against Shiites in the courts mushrooms.
Pakistan’s
rivals in the competition for religious soft power have largely remained silent
about the worrying trend, raising questions about the integrity of their
commitment to religious freedom and tolerance as well as their rejection of
Islamophobia.
Newly
appointed Indonesian religious affairs minister, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, a senior
Nahdlatul Ulama official, is proving to be the exception that confirms the
rule. Qoumas pledged in one of his first statements as a minister during a
visit to a Protestant church to protect the rights of Shiites and Ahmadis.
Indonesia
scholar Alexander R Arifianto, to this end, said: “Qoumas’ new initiatives as
Religious Affairs Minister are a welcome move to counter the influence of
radical Islamists and address long-standing injustices against religious
minorities. He now has to prove these are not empty slogans, but an earnest
attempt at promoting equal citizenship for all Indonesians irrespective of
their religious beliefs.”
Original
Headline: Islamophobia: A fungible prop
for Muslim religious soft power
Source: The WION News
URL: https://newageislam.com/muslims-islamophobia/muslim-world-united-opposing-islamophobia/d/124221
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in
America, Muslim Women in
West, Islam Women and
Feminism