Arab-centric (Racist) World View of Muslims

Submitted by Rakshas 10 Anan (India), Nov 29, 2005 at 00:34

There is no doubt that the Islamic world view is purely Arab-centric, with plenty of room for racism within Islam. To a lesser extent, this is true of Persia also, in those pockets in Islamic world where the Persian influence was traditionally strong, as in Kashmir. Even then, by virtue of the over-arching Arabic theological influence, it would hardly be surprising that majority Muslims, as in Pakistan, identify themselves as de facto Arabs rather than as Indians (even in genetic terms).

Since Islam, (like Christianity), seeks to wipe out memory of and identification with pre-conversion history, cultural practices, traditional affiliations and loyalties prevalent in their own geographical locales that may go against theological sanction, a gradual Arabisation of consciousness must occur, alongwith assimilation to the Arabic world view. In this sense, a narrow racial identity is superimposed, oriented towards Makkah, glorifying Arabian culture, mode of dress, food habits, its general ethos, its conventions, the Rule of the Sharia' and also Arabic as the language of the Holy Book (even though they may not understand it personally).

Through this acculturation to Arabia (the Middle East in present times), over a period of time (and over generations) there is strong identification with its local politics, its national leaders and so on. Pan-Islamism is nothing but Arab racial domination in fact, with control over the Ka'aba, zakat and jihadi plunder in former times and Arab petrodollars currently helping to assert Arab hegemony over the Muslim world.

Little surprise then, that Bin Laden's words (or even an Ayatollah's command), or a minor Palestinian incident can arouse the entire Ummah worldwide. The converse though, is not necessarily true; so that the genocide against millions of East Pakistanis was largely ignored by the Ummah; or that even the Gujarat riots were used more by the Pakistani propaganda machine overseas against Hindus and against India (it can also be argued that the flashpoint was engineered for that very purpose by the Islamists), but did not arouse major concern in other Islamic countries, or even in Muslim-majority places like Kashmir or Hyderabad in India!

There are serious currently on-going communal riots and killings in Indonesia, for example, ignored not only by the world media, but also by Arab news channels! This is not true of events concerning Arabs or Palestinians, when the whole Ummah feels personally victimised by distant happenings, even though in practical terms they are not affected at all!

Moreover, the dictat of religious heads in other lands is confined to their precincts alone.

To wit, Islam can be seen as a purely racist (and strongly misogynist) construct, howsoever anomalous it may be with the evolution of ideas in other cultures and in modern times. The Al Qaeda (Saudi Arabian) law of the shroud is now creeping over women in relatively open societies like Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kashmir and Bangladesh. What then, of women among former Muslim asylum seekers, who never had to contend with the Islamist (Arab) dress code in the Western world, who must now accomodate the radicalisation of younger generations born in the West?

Fascinating to see how a demographically small racial group can bend a vastly diverse Ummah to its own will with self-serving theological acumen and financial control! --The chief weapon in its armoury being terror, pure and simple, through threats of apostasy, allied fatwas, and a horrible death.

We would have expected that by the end of the colonial era, such hegemony was no longer possible anywhere in the world, but we forget that Islam has not evolved beyond 6th century C.E. and the overriding influence of Arab desert tribalism.

Islamist xenophobia and anti-Western postures, powerfully serve the cause of Arab racism!

[The binding idea of a common enemy (paranoia), motivates the Liberal Leftist-Communist-Secularist drum-beating against Western powers -- and similarly identified common enemy -- wherever they may be, since these groups have simply run out of causes that can ensure their own survival in a changed world. Delusions of former grandeur ensure that they must ride the Islamist bandwagon willy-nilly towards self-annihilation, having lost all other options.]

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".