Why? What happened to the liberal youth of the Arab world in whom we
invested our hopes and support? Why are Muslims so sensitive, so easily
offended; why do some so readily resort to violence?
The liberal protesters who demanded freedom and democracy last year were
able to unite and overthrow dictators in Tunisia and Egypt. But their
failure to explain what their liberalism stands for has opened the way
for a new, Islamist-oriented power elite that capitalizes on old lies
and half-truths to twist religion and history to manipulate the masses.
The leaders of nascent democracy-oriented political parties in the Arab
world’s most politically vibrant country, Egypt, are hobbled by
egotistical rivalries, a lack of centralized leadership, urban elitism
and an inability to connect with rural majorities. Secular luminaries
like Mohamed ElBaradei, former director of the International Atomic
Energy Agency, or Naguib Sawiris, a prominent businessman and
politician, are not at ease in the new Egypt. As their political parties
struggle to articulate a message, Islamist leaders with strong
religious credentials have been able to mobilize a broad popular base.
Arab societies remain deeply religious. In liberal Morocco, 89 percent
of the people say that religion is “very important” in their lives,
according to a recent Pew poll.
Mosques are packed every Friday; religious events promote widespread
charity, and believers are encouraged to support candidates who are
perceived to be more godly. But there is a deeper problem that goes well
beyond the popular appeal of Islamist parties: A cancerous narrative
has taken hold of many Arab minds.
In Egypt, 75 percent of Muslims do not believe that Arabs carried out the 9/11 attacks,
according to a 2011 Pew poll.
Many believe that it was either Israel, the U.S. government, or both.
The West is viewed through a hodgepodge of conspiracy theories,
half-truths and a selective reading of history.
When I met Muhammad Mahdi Akef, the influential former leader of the
Muslim Brotherhood, in April 2011, he insisted that Al Qaeda was a
figment of the Western imagination. The idea that it doesn’t exist, that
the United States attacked itself, is buttressed by preachers in
mosques, on satellite television channels and in glossy Arabic books.
The United States and the West are widely seen as waging a war on
Muslims. Al Qaeda videos promote this vision as a continuation of the
Crusades. Many Muslims recall incidents of perceived hostility in their
own lifetime — the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the abuses at Abu
Ghraib prison and Guantánamo Bay; the banning of minarets in
Switzerland; the outlawing of face veils in France; NATO troops burning
copies of the Koran in Afghanistan. In this vein, the recent anti-Islam
film confirms the belief that the West is out to destroy Islam.
In most Arab countries, citizens require government permission to
produce films. For many Arabs, it is inconceivable that U.S. citizens
are not under the same controls.
The attacks on U.S. embassies after the release of the offensive video “Innocence of Muslims” on YouTube must be seen in this context.
When I watch Al Jazeera Arabic I am stunned by unchallenged references
in talk show interviews to the “American Zionist plan” or “the American
enemy” or the “ally of the Zionist entity.” Attacking the United States
has become part of the political culture in much of the Middle East. To
challenge it is to be a labeled a “sellout,” a “traitor” or a “Zionist
agent” and to court social isolation.
And yet on the streets of Arab capitals, McDonald’s, Starbucks and other
American brands remain hugely popular — as are American clothes,
technology and television shows and films. The same U.S. embassies that
were attacked were surrounded almost daily by long lines of people
applying for visas to enter the United States. There are almost 50,000
Saudi students in American universities. Tens of thousands more from
across the region are vying to do the same.
On the day that the protests broke out in Egypt and Libya, I was in the
Library of Congress in Washington. Founded in 1800, its main reading
room has a magnificent dome with dedications to world civilizations —
Islamic civilization prominent among them — to which the United States
is indebted. A two-volume English translation of the Koran, donated by
Thomas Jefferson, is preserved in the library. In 1805, President
Jefferson invited the Muslim ambassador from Tunisia to the White House
for an iftar meal to break the Ramadan fast.
Today, America’s Muslims are freer and more prosperous than Muslims in
any other part of the world. Their daily lives show that the narrative
about a U.S.-Islam war is a myth.
The Arab world is at an important crossroads. It is time to abandon this
false narrative. Not enough has been done to educate Arab and Muslim
religious leaders in the Middle East about the reality of religious
freedom in America. Their misunderstanding of liberty leads to their
silence — or worse, incitement.
A U.S. invitation to Ali Gomaa, Egypt’s grand mufti, Sheik Ahmed
al-Tayyib, grand imam of Al-Azhar, or Saudi Arabia’s popular Sheik
Salman al-Awdah as guests of the American people at the president’s
State of the Union address in Congress would help demonstrate a
different America to young, religious Arabs. These clerics, and others
like them, command the support of millions. We can create a new
narrative.
The United States can also help by being seen to be a fair arbitrator of
the Arab-Israeli conflict. Better relations with some 300 million Arabs
strengthens U.S. influence, and helps more than 7 million Israelis,
too.
No country has as much soft power at its disposal in the Arab world as
does the United States. A new generation of Arabs deserve a better
future than following the madness of those who shout “Obama, Obama, we
are all Osama.”
Ed Husain is a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Obama, Obama, we are all Osama” the crowd chanted outside the U.S.
Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11. The slogan also found its way to Tunis,
where a mob attacked the embassy as well, and the chant was taken up in
Qatar and other Muslim countries.
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