Islam/Commentary:  DR. ASHER EDER AND SHAYKH PROF. ABDUL HADI PALAZZI
COMMENT ON "BETWEEN KEMAL AND KHOMEINI:  THE MULTIPLE IDENTITIES OF THE
MIDDLE EAST" by Prof. Bernard Lewis


by Dr. Asher Eder [avrason@netvision.net.il]

Jewish Co-Chairman,
Islam-Israel Fellowship
Root & Branch Association

and by

Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi [islam.inst@flashnet.it]

Muslim Co-Chairman,
Islam-Israel Fellowship
Root & Branch Association;
Secretary General, Italian Muslim Association (AMI);
Imam, Italian Islamic Community (ICCII);
Director, Cultural Institute, Italian Islamic Community
http://village.flashnet.it/users/fn034463/




DR. ASHER EDER COMMENTS:

Prof. Bernard Lewis, a world renowned expert on Islam, concludes in his
recent book "Between Kemal and Khomeini:  The Multiple Identities of the
Middle East" that the Muslim Middle East confronts two stark choices for
its development:  either the Kemalism of Turkey, with its combination of
Western "modernity" and secularism; or the Khomeinism of Iran with its
combination of fundamentalism and nationalism.

Concluding that these two choices, Kemalism or Khomeinism, are the only
real ones open to the Muslim Middle East is clever and sensational,
especially coming from the pen of such an outstanding scholar as Bernard
Lewis.  Fortunately, this conclusion may well turn out to be false.

The possibility of such either-or development certainly exists.  Prof.
Lewis' book may even help push developments in the Muslim world in that
direction.  Western politicians and strategists, confirmed in their own
secularism, feel confident in dragging the Muslim peoples behind them.
Which, of course, will result in Khomeini-style reactions.

Applying Prof. Lewis' conclusions about the two developmental paths open to
the Muslim Middle East to the situation of Judaism when it was in its
14/15th century (its "adolescence") during the Greek period, would have
posited either Hellenization or Essene-ization as the only available
alternatives.  Judaism, however, followed the rabbinic path of the Perushim
("Pharisees").

Applying Prof. Lewis' conclusion about the two developmental paths open to
the Muslim Middle East to the situation of Western Christianity when it was
-- immediately following the Crusades -- in its own 14/15th century (its
"adolescence"), would have posited either Jesuit-ization or
Renaissance-ization (i.e., the rebirth of Greek paganism) as the only
available alternatives.  Christianity, however, witnessed the development
of the Protestant Reformation, with its (partial) return to the ideals of
the Jewish Bible, which came to be especially embodied in the
religious-culture of Calvinist nations such as Holland, England and its
Anglo/Celtic offspring.  And the Catholic world underwent a "Counter"
Reformation in an attempt to correct the deformities of the church that led
to the Protestant Reformation.

In both the case of Judaism and Christianity, history developed differently
from extreme "either-or" scenarios.

Islam is now in its 14/15th century.  The Muslim Middle East, despite all
the woes associated with its own adolescence, will also emerge from its
medieval social, political and economic structure (i.e., feudalism,
oppression of women; etc).

Scholars of Islam need not posit the Western style secularism of Kemal's
Turkey as the only real alternative to the savage fundamentalism of
Khomeini's Iran.

The West itself already suffers from the undesirable and often very ugly
side effects of its own secularism, which hardly represents an ideal for
other nations to follow.

At present, Muslim Middle Eastern ruling establishments blame Israel for
disrupting traditional social orders and bringing Western-style secularism
into their midst.  Many Arab Muslims are not yet aware that it was their
own hostility toward any Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael which pushed
Israel into the hands of the secular West (which in turn led the Arabs to
align themselves with the atheistic Communist Soviet Union).

A return to the true teachings of Muhammed as expressed in the Qur'an and
Islamic tradition can lead to a solution of both the Arab-Israeli conflict
and the inner social conflicts that plague Arab Muslim societies.

The Qur'an is misinterpreted to support violent Jihad and Khomeini's phoney
"back to the times of Rasul Muhammed" fundamentalism.  Muslim
fundamentalists "cut and paste" sacred Islamic scriptures to suit their own
modern political agendas.

Muslims will triumph over fundamentalism by returning to the true teachings
of Muhammed, which have been represented historically in the humane and
enlightened policies of many Muslim societies.  Muslims will see that there
is an honorable way -- one pleasing to Allah -- out of the fundamentalist
mess in which many of them are entangled today.

While Prof. Lewis sees Kemalism (an extreme form of secularism) or
Khomeinism as the only real alternatives facing the Muslim Middle East,
more and more Muslim clerics today choose to identify with a "golden mean",
one that has ample historic precedent, between these two destructive extremes.

Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi is certainly an outstanding figure in this
regard.  There are many others like him emerging throughout the Muslim
world in this generation.  Hope for the Muslim world, and for the Muslim
world's relations with the rest of the world, lies with teachers such as them.



Shalom/Salaam from Yerushaliyim,


Dr. Asher Eder




*******



SHAYKH PALAZZI COMMENTS:


I completely agree.  There is a big difference between American civil
society and Turkish Kemalism.

The United States has built a civil society based on religious biblical
values but with no state church.  Freedom of religion is protected, and
freedom of worship and the right to express one's religious beliefs in
society is considered a basic individual right.

Turkish Kemalism, on the contrary, represents an extreme form of Jacobinism
that strictly forbids expressing religious identity in public.  Turkish
state policy inhibits the development of moderate tendencies among
believing Muslims and contributes very much to the development of extreme
"Muslim" fundamentalism.

We need an alternative between the two.



Shalom/Salaam from Rome,


Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi



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ABOUT THE ISLAM-ISRAEL FELLOWSHIP:

The Islam-Israel Fellowship of the Root & Branch Association promotes
cooperation between Jews and Muslims both within the State of Israel and
abroad, and between the State of Israel and Muslim nations, based upon a
correct Jewish understanding of the Bible and Jewish tradition, and a
correct Muslim understanding of the Qur'an and Islamic Tradition.


MUSLIM CO-CHAIRMAN:

Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi
[islam.inst@flashnet.it]
http://village.flashnet.it/users/fn034463/ (new URL)


JEWISH CO-CHAIRMAN:

Dr. Asher Eder
[avrason@netvision.net.il]