The current crisis of Islam might not be congenital, but Islam's predicament is acute. The question is this: Are Muslims ready to accept Khomeini's dictum that "Islam is politics or it is nothing" is wrong, that Islam is a religion and not a form of government and that, as in the Christian world, there is a sphere for Caesar and a sphere for God? Those in the Muslim world who want to embrace reform must be driven by the conviction that theocracy has never served as a vehicle for human progress.
Of course, the Alliance of Civilizations should not attempt to bridge differences by defending moral relativism. If it is driven by a Western guilt complex that assumes that the solution simply lies in greater empathy for the Muslim predicament, then the skeptics are bound to be vindicated.
For the alliance to have any chance of success, the emphasis must be on reciprocity. Tolerance and religious freedom must be mutual. Islam's part in the deal must include a guarantee of human rights and civil liberties, improvement in women's status and realistic policies to stem the Islamic world's demographic explosion.
Some, as usual, will claim that the Arab-Israeli conflict lies at the root of the problems that exist between Islam and the West and that resolving the Palestinians' plight will contribute immensely to smoother relations. But Arabs and Muslims must stop deluding themselves that the Israel-Palestine dispute is what is holding them back. Ending the US occupation in Iraq and imposing an Arab-Israeli peace would help, but they are no panacea. The fight to eradicate misery, illiteracy and corruption, and Islam's embrace of science, do not depend on the results of the Middle East peace process.
Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, now serves as the vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace in Spain.
RSS