MUSLIMS

Muslims in Europe

Muslims in Europe

Introduction

In this study, ideas of two great thinkers who affected the thoughts of Western world will be discussed. At first, you will find a summary of 'The Fault Lines Between Civilizations' by Samuel P. Huntington and then a comparative study of Samuel P. Huntington's and Edward W. Said's thoughts. The article entitled 'The Clash of Ignorance' by Edward W. Said will be used as the basic source of Said's thoughts. Finally, I will make my own analysis of these ideas.

Discussion

Huntington states that cultural boundaries replaced the ideological and political boundaries of civilizations within Europe after the fall of communism.

Conflict between the Islamic and Western civilizations exists for centuries. During the flow of history, the superiority has changed hands many times.

After World War II, the world witnessed the rise of Arab nationalism and the manifestation of Islamic fundamentalism as well as the withdrawal of the West from the Middle East, but West's dependence on the Persian Gulf countries for oil caused new conflicts in the region.

Huntington sees this centuries-long military interaction between the West and Islam as becoming more hateful in the coming decades. According to Huntington, the effect of Western democracy in Arabic countries reinforces anti-Western political forces, thus it causes difficulties in relations between the Islamic and Western countries.

Fabulous changes in the demographic balances in Arab world also made matters worse in international relations. Racist movements started in Western Europe. Arab and Turkish migrants were exposed to political reactions and violence. Huntington alleges that interaction between the Islamic and Western civilizations is in fact a clash of civilizations.

In the article Huntington points out another problematic frontier of the Islamic World. It is the historical enmity against the pagans, animists, and Christian black people. Huntington claims that this hostility is based on the historical relationship between the Arab slave dealers and black slaves. Muslim concept of jihad is shown as the reason for the enmity.

The clash between the Muslim and the Orthodox people is also mentioned by Huntington. The bloodshed in Bosnia and Sarajevo, hostility between the Serbs and Albanians, tense relations between Bulgarians and their Turkish minority, the massacre in Azerbaijan and Armenia and conflict between the Muslim people in central Asia and Russia are declared as the proof of Islam's challenging relations with the Orthodox world.

Another historic conflict in which the Muslims are involved is between the Muslims and the Hindu in Asia. The clash shows itself clearly in the hostility between India and Pakistan. Huntington draws attention to China's cruel policy towards its Turkic Muslim minority as well.

The complicated relations between United States and Japan are also stated in the article. Huntington avers that cultural difference between these two countries worsens economic conflict. It is also affirmed that economic problems between United States and Europe is as serious as the ones with Japan, but these problems do not have the same political remarkableness and sentimental degree as the ones with Japan.

Consequently, Huntington asserts that international relations between the groups belonging to different civilizations are ...