Where it all went wrong for Islam

15 October 2014

Actor Ben Affleck recently launched a very public take-down of conservative US pundits Bill Maher and Sam Harris for their perceived 'Islamaphobia' in a spray that went viral.

His main point was that it is ridiculous to talk about the global Islamic community of 1.5 billion followers as united on anything except their shared faith and perhaps the most basic tenets of the religion.

He is right to make this point and to use it to reject the notion that a religion can be held solely responsible for tragic events such as those which continue to unfold in the Middle East.

However, it is intellectually dishonest to completely divorce the religion of Islam from the despicable acts that are being carried out in its name by groups such as Islamic State, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda and its regional affiliates.

Indeed, it is possible to agree with Affleck and still ask the question: where did it all go so wrong for this proud monotheistic faith?

The reality, as with all the world’s major religions, is that Islam exists within a broader context that will inevitably influence how it is interpreted and practiced by its adherents. In the case of the Middle East, we are talking about a particularly troubled region where Islamic doctrine has been twisted by a seemingly endless cycle of violence, government repression and political instability.

It is therefore unhelpful to characterise the global Muslim community (including those based in Australia) as somehow exceptional in terms of being uniquely prone to violence.

Nevertheless, religion is central to understanding the conflicts that are playing out in the Middle East.

The reality is that there is a battle for the heart and soul of Islam that has been playing out around the globe since the 60s and 70s. The roots of this struggle are complex but principally revolve around issues of geopolitics and intra-state mismanagement rather than theology.

Until the 60s and 70s, much of the Islamic world (outside of the Gulf) had been following a largely predictable and well-worn post-colonial path in which fledgling governments, some of them democratically elected, many of them secular and liberal, sought to guide their embryonic nations toward independence and prosperity.

At this time, Islam was moderating at a rate of knots. This was certainly not the case in every corner of the Middle East and nor did it occur at the same pace across the Muslim world. Nevertheless, countries including

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Where it all went wrong for Islam

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