Prefatory Remarks on Islam and Politics ••• 369militant terrorists. No Westerner living in Lebanon was safe from kidnap¬
pers, mainly Lebanese Shi'is. The Iran-Iraq War blazed fiercely until Au¬
gust 1988, costing close to $1 trillion and 1 million lives, and still its basic
issues were not resolved. The Palestinians, always resisting Israeli rule,
launched a massive revolt, the Intifada, in December 1987 and declared
the occupied territories "independent" a year later. Washington angered
the Palestinians by continuing its aid to Israel and incensed the Israelis by
talking with the PLO.
PREFATORY REMARKS ON ISLAM AND POLITICSMuch has been written about the resurgence of Islam. A religious revival,
or return to transcendental values, has taken place in many parts of the
world, among Christians and Jews as well as Muslims. After thirty years of
rising prosperity in the industrialized world, new problems set in. Some
people who have never known poverty now question the goals and as¬
sumptions of materialism and quest after the life of the spirit. Old reli¬
gious traditions are being revived. Secular-minded people are taking up
various forms of meditation. Religion no longer retreats before the ad¬
vance of science. Our working assumption in writing this book was that
people are motivated more by the need to prove their self-worth than by
their material drives and desires. For many oppressed peoples, such as the
Catholics of Northern Ireland and the Buddhists of Tibet, asserting reli¬
gious beliefs and symbols were a step toward attaining their freedom and
dignity. Even though most Middle Easterners had known formal indepen¬
dence for a generation, old complexes about colonialism lingered. Indeed,
because of the economic power of multinational corporations and the
pervasive influence of American pop culture, some forms of dependence
have grown stronger. Many Muslims hail this revival as a response to the
"Coca-Colanization" of their values and way of life. In the late twentieth
century, the West's influence, in addition to its political and military aid to
repressive regimes, was cultural, economic, intellectual, and social.
In the past, Muslims believed that their only legitimate state was the
umma founded by Muhammad and elaborated by his successors. As you
read earlier, the umma is the community of Muslim men and women who
believe in God, angels, holy books, divine messengers, and the Day of
Judgment. Its leaders should rule justly and in accordance with the Quran
and Muhammad's example, or what you have learned to call the Shari'a, to
preserve internal safety and harmony. Non-Muslims may live, work, pray,
and own property within Dar al-Islam, or the "house of Islam," but they