Five Pillars of Democracy
How the West Can Promote an Islamic Reformation
By Cheryl Benard
Cheryl Benard is a senior political scientist at RAND.
Rival versions of Islam are
contending for spiritual and political dominance, with immense
implications for the rest of the world. By understanding the ongoing
ideological struggle within Islam and by distinguishing among the
competing strains of Islamic thought, Western leaders can identify
appropriate Islamic partners and work with them to discourage extremism
and violence as well as to encourage democratization and development.
The
notion that the outside world should try to nurture a moderate,
democratic version of Islam has been in circulation for decades but
gained great urgency after Sept. 11, 2001. There is broad agreement that
this is a constructive approach. Islam inspires a variety of ideologies
and political actions, some of which are inimical to global stability.
It therefore seems sensible to foster the strains within Islam that call
for a more moderate, democratic, peaceful, and tolerant social order.
It
is no easy matter to transform a major world religion. If
"nation-building" is a daunting task, "religionbuilding" is immeasurably
more perilous and complex. Islam is neither a homogeneous entity nor a
selfcontained system. Many extraneous issues and problems have become
entangled with the religion. Many political actors in the Muslim world
deliberately seek to "Islamize" the debate in a way that they think will
further their goals.
The current crisis in Islam has two main
components: a failure to thrive on its own terms and a loss of
connection to the global mainstream. The Islamic world has been marked
by a long period of backwardness and comparative powerlessness. Many
homegrown solutions—such as nationalism, pan-Arabism, Arab socialism,
and Islamic revolution—have been attempted without success, leading to
frustration and anger. Meanwhile, the Islamic world has both fallen out
of step with contemporary global culture and moved increasingly to the
margins of the global economy, creating an uncomfortable situation for
both sides.
Muslims disagree on what to do about the crisis, what
has caused it, and what their societies ultimately should look like.
For the West, the question is which ideology (or ideologies) to support;
with what methods; and with what concrete, realistic goals in mind.
An Ideological Spectrum
There are essentially four ideological
positions in the Muslim world today: fundamentalist, traditionalist,
modernist, and secularist. Each group contains subgroups that blur the
distinctions among the primary groups. It is important for Western
leaders to understand the differences within groups as well as among groups.
Fundamentalists
reject democratic values and contemporary Western culture. They want an
authoritarian, puritanical state to implement their extreme view of
Islamic law and morality. They are willing to use innovation and modern
technology. They do not shy away from violence.
There are two
strands of fundamentalism. One, grounded in theology and usually rooted
in a religious establishment, belongs to the scriptural fundamentalists. This group includes most of the Iranian revolutionaries, the Saudi-based Wahhabis, and the Kaplan congregation of Turks. The radical fundamentalists,
in contrast, are much less concerned with the literal substance of
Islam, with which they take considerable liberties either deliberately
or because of ignorance of orthodox Islamic doctrine. Al Qaeda, the
Afghan Taliban, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and a large number of other Islamic
radical movements and diffuse groups worldwide belong to this category.
Traditionalists
want a conservative society. They are suspicious of modernity,
innovation, and change. They are also divided into two groups. The
distinction is significant.
The conservative traditionalists
believe that Islamic law and tradition ought to be rigorously and
literally followed. They see a role for the state and for the political
authorities in encouraging or at least facilitating this. However, they
do not generally favor violence and terrorism. They concentrate their
efforts on the daily life of society. Their goal is to preserve orthodox
norms and values and conservative behavior to the fullest extent
possible. Their posture is one of resistance to change. The temptations
and the pace of modern life are seen as posing major threats.
The reformist traditionalists
believe that Islam, to remain viable and attractive throughout the
ages, must be prepared to make some concessions in the application of
orthodoxy. They are prepared to discuss reforms and reinterpretations.
Their posture is one of cautious adaptation to change, being flexible on
the letter of the law to conserve the spirit of the law.
Modernists
want the Islamic world to become part of global modernity. They want to
reform Islam to bring it into line with the modern age. They actively
seek far-reaching changes to the current orthodox understanding and
practice of Islam. They want to jettison the burdensome ballast of local
and regional tradition that, over the centuries, has intertwined itself
with Islam.
They further believe in the historicity of
Islam—that Islam as it was practiced in the days of the Prophet
reflected eternal truths as well as historical circumstances that were
appropriate to the time but are no longer valid. They believe that the
essential core of Islamic belief not only will remain undamaged but will
be strengthened by changes, even very substantial changes, that reflect
changing times, social conditions, and historical circumstances. Their
core values—the primacy of the individual conscience and of a community
based on social responsibility, equality, and freedom—are easily
compatible with modern democratic norms.
Secularists
want the Islamic world to accept a division of mosque and state in the
manner of Western industrial democracies, with religion relegated to the
private sphere. They further believe that religious customs must be in
conformity with the law of the land and human rights. The Turkish
Kemalists, who placed religion under the firm control of the state,
represent the secularist model in Islam.
These positions should
be viewed as segments on a continuum, rather than divergent categories.
There are no clear boundaries among them. Some traditionalists overlap
with fundamentalists. The most modernist of the traditionalists are
almost modernists. The most extreme modernists are similar to
secularists. At the same time, the groups hold distinctly different
positions on issues that have become contentious in the Islamic world
today, including political and individual freedom, education, the status
of women, criminal justice, the legitimacy of reform and change, and
attitudes toward the West.
What the
roiling ideological ferment requires from the West is both a firm
commitment to fundamental Western values and a sequence of flexible
postures suited to different Islamic contexts, populations, and
countries. This approach could help to develop civil, democratic Islam
while giving the West the versatility to deal appropriately with
different settings.
The following outline describes what such a
strategy might look like. It rests on "five pillars of democracy" for
the Islamic world. The pillars correspond to the postures that the West
should take toward the four ideological groups and toward ordinary
citizens in Muslim countries.
1. Support the modernists first,
promoting their version of Islam by equipping them with a broad
platform to articulate and to disseminate their views. It is tempting to
choose the traditionalists as the primary agents for fostering
democratic Islam, and this appears to be the course that the West is
inclined to take. However, some very serious problems argue against
taking such a course.
Overendorsing the traditionalists could
undermine the ongoing internal reform effort within Islam and hinder
those—the modernists—whose values are genuinely compatible with our own.
Of all the groups, the modernists are the most congenial to the values
and spirit of modern democratic society. We need to advance their vision
of Islam over that of the traditionalists.
Modernism, not
traditionalism, is what worked for the West. This included the necessity
to depart from, modify, and selectively ignore elements of the original
religious doctrine. The Old Testament is not different from the Koran
in endorsing conduct and containing a number of rules and values that
are unthinkable, not to mention illegal, in modern society. This does
not pose a problem in the West, because few people today would insist
that we should all be living in the exact literal manner of the Biblical
patriarchs. Instead, we allow our vision of the true message of Judaism
or Christianity to transcend the literal text, which we regard as
history and legend. That is exactly the approach proposed by Islamic
modernists.
Secularists are also close to the West in terms of
their values and policies. But some secularists are unacceptable to the
West because of their reflexive anti- Americanism or other positions.
The secularists also have trouble appealing to the traditional sectors
of an Islamic audience.
For these reasons, the modernists are the
best partners for the West. Unfortunately, they are generally in a
weaker position than the fundamentalists and traditionalists, lacking
powerful backing, financial resources, an effective infrastructure, and a
public platform. Therefore, Western leaders should support the
modernists by these means:
- Publish and distribute their works at subsidized cost.
- Encourage them to write for mass audiences and for youth.
- Introduce their views into the curriculum of Islamic education.
- Make
their religious opinions and judgments available to a mass audience to
compete with the fundamentalists and traditionalists, who have web
sites, publishing houses, schools, institutes, and many other vehicles
for disseminating their views.
- Position modernism and secularism as counterculture options for disaffected Islamic youth.
- Use
the media and educational curricula in suitable countries to foster an
awareness of their pre-Islamic and non-Islamic histories and cultures.
2. Support the traditionalists enough to keep them viable against the fundamentalists
(if and wherever those are the only choices). Among the
traditionalists, the West should embolden those who are the relatively
better match for modern civil society: the
reformist traditionalists. The West should support the traditionalists against the fundamentalists in these ways:
- Publicize traditionalist criticism of fundamentalist violence and extremism.
- Encourage disagreements between traditionalists and fundamentalists.
- Discourage alliances between traditionalists and fundamentalists.
- Encourage cooperation between modernists and reformist traditionalists.
- Where
appropriate, educate the traditionalists to debate the fundamentalists.
Fundamentalists are often rhetorically superior, while traditionalists
practice a politically inarticulate "folk Islam." In places such as
Central Asia, traditionalists may need to be trained in orthodox Islam
to be able to stand their ground against fundamentalists.
- Increase the presence and profile of modernists in traditionalist institutions.
- Encourage
the traditionalists who support the Hanafi school of Islamic law as a
way to counter the conservative Wahhabi-supported Hanbali school of
Islamic law.
- Encourage the popularity and acceptance of Sufism,
a traditionalist form of Islamic mysticism that represents an open,
intellectual interpretation of Islam.
3.
Oppose the fundamentalists energetically
by striking at the vulnerabilities in their Islamic and ideological
credentials. Expose things that neither the youthful idealists in their
target audience nor the pious traditionalists can condone about the
fundamentalists: their corruption, their brutality, their ignorance, the
bias and manifest errors in their application of Islam, and their
inability to lead and to govern. The West should fight the
fundamentalists in these ways:
- Challenge their interpretation of Islam, and expose their inaccuracies.
- Reveal their linkages to illegal groups and activities.
- Publicize the consequences of their violent acts.
- Demonstrate their inability to develop their countries and communities in positive ways.
- Target the messages to youth, pious traditionalists, Muslim minorities in the West, and women.
- Portray violent extremists and terrorists accurately as disturbed and cowardly, not as heroes.
- Encourage journalists to investigate corruption, hypocrisy, and immorality in fundamentalist and terrorist circles.
- Encourage divisions among fundamentalists.
One
strategy holds great promise. Despite the success of radical
fundamentalism in mobilizing discontented young people, especially young
men, it has many features that should turn young people away. This
major flaw in fundamentalist political strategy has not so far been
exploited.
Radical Islam does not value young lives very highly.
By manipulating youthful idealism and their sense of drama and heroics,
radical Islam turns young people into cannon fodder and suicide bombers.
Madrassas (the fundamentalist schools) specifically educate boys to die
young, to become martyrs. If Muslim youth ever begin to look at things
through a generational lens, as Western youth did in the 1960s, they may
begin to ask why most suicide bombers and martyrs are under the age of
30. You don’t have to be young to strap explosives onto yourself. If
it’s such a wonderful thing to do, why aren’t older people doing it?
4. Support the secularists on a case-by-case basis.
The West should encourage secularists to recognize fundamentalism as a
common enemy and discourage secularist alliances with anti-U.S. forces.
The West should also support the idea that religion and state can be
separate in Islam, too, and that the separation will not endanger the
faith but, in fact, can strengthen it.
5. Develop secular civic and cultural institutions and programs.
Western organizations can help to develop independent civic
organizations that can provide a space in the Islamic world for ordinary
citizens to educate themselves about the political process and to
articulate their views.
Any strategy of this sort should be
pursued with a wariness of the potential for backlash. The alignment of
U.S. policymakers with particular Islamic positions could endanger or
discredit the very groups and people the West is seeking to help.
Partnerships that may seem appropriate in the short term, such as
affiliations with conservative traditionalists, could provoke unintended
consequences in the long term. To prevent this, the West needs to
adhere consistently and faithfully to its core values of democracy,
equality, individual freedom, and social responsibility.