In response to a recent post about the persistent backwardness of the Arab world, commenters and correspondents have suggested that the problem is not Islam itself, but the “culture of honor” that prevails amongst Arabs (and which has been shown also to be at work in the American South, with arguably similar retrograde effects). Non-Arab Muslims are thought to be more “forward-looking”; the Muslim nations of Southeast Asia are often cited as a counterexample to those who say that Islam is fundamentally incompatible with Western civilization.
Here’s an example of how forward-looking things are over there: a Muslim woman in hijab, about to be caned by Malaysia’s Shari’a courts for drinking beer in a bar two years ago.
Some in Malaysia are concerned about the impression this makes:
“We want to present a face to the world that we are not a fundamentalist country,” Ashli Chin, said a resident in Kuala Lumpur. “This makes us a laughingstock.”
This admirable sentiment overlooks that fact that fundamentalism always wells up from Islam’s core; it is built right in. A secular, Western-style Islamic nation is at the very least a contradiction in terms, and is arguably a heresy in itself. And in this case it is little more than an illusion: Malaysia’s civil court cannot overturn Shari’a rulings.
It’s all just a tempest in a teapot anyway, we are told:
Mohamad Isa Abd Ralip, president of the Syariah [Shariah] Lawyers’ Association of Malaysia, said too much is being made of Kartika’s punishment.
“It is not about causing pain. It is about educating others and to teach the person a lesson,” he said.
The recipient is fully clothed and the flogger cannot raise his arm high, Mohamad Isa said. The blows are delivered using a thin stick, so that they don’t break the skin.
See? No big deal. It’s all about education. And maybe it’s working — enough of these, and perhaps we here in the West might even start to learn something.
[Update: caning postponed until after Ramadan. See here.]
9 Comments
I think that I’m catching on. Drinking alcohol can be dangerous to your health, especially in Muslim countries.
Jeffery Hodges
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“…with arguably similar retrograde effects…”?
No bullpoop.
1) I still think that “honor” is more problematic than “islam.”
2) I don’t quite see how a Southeast Asian country analogizes to Western civilization.
3) The claim that “…fundamentalism always wells up from Islam’s core; it is built right in,” suggests a lack of familiarity with Sufism.
Hi Bob,
Thanks as always for joining in.
1) The culture-of honor mindset is certainly problematic. I certainly did not intend to downplay its importance, and of course Arab Muslim societies get a double whammy. But do keep in mind that Islam itself arose within such a society, so some of that is always included, wherever Islam takes root. It is woven into the warp and woof of the Qur’an and the hadith.
2) Well, that’s as close as you get, I think. Maybe Turkey — and of course Pakistan’s founders had a Western model in mind, courtesy of the Raj. But all are subject to the same gravitation toward fundamentalism. I mention any of this only because people often talk about Islam itself not being an issue, and point to places like Indonesia as examples, for lack of a better one.
3) Actually, I have paid a very great deal of attention to Sufism over several decades, and even spent many years of demanding effort with an esoteric school of inner development that draws heavily on practical Sufi methods. Sufis are not the problem, just as Ashli Chin, above, or many of the Muslims I know personally are not. If all Muslims were Sufis, we would not be having this discussion. The point I have been making is not that Islam is not amenable to forms of interpretation and practice that pose no problem for the rest of us. It is that it is far more readily interpreted, by any exoteric reading (and even, perhaps, esoteric ones), in forms that are utterly inimical to modern Western-style thought and societies.
Arguably?
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2009/08/thank_god_for_texas.aspx
Uncertain what to make of this. Think they read waka waka waka in Malaysia?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090824/wl_nm/us_malaysia_caning_4
Tested the link. Text – “does not appear on yahoo.”
Which makes sense since I read it on Reuters, posted moments ago.
It seemed at first that the caning had been called off — an act of clemency that the unfortunate woman’s own father objected to, for fear that it might bring “ridicule” upon Islam not to flog his daughter.
But now we learn that the caning has only been deferred until after Ramadan.
I’ve also heard, by the way, that her husband was arrested for drinking beer also, but that he was let go. Nice touch.
“I’ve also heard, by the way, that her husband was arrested for drinking beer also, but that he was let go. Nice touch.”
Of course! There’s no honor for a man’s man in submitting to a beating — just shame. But having your wife (or mother or daughter) beaten — there’s a sort of pride that can be salvaged from that. (I am well aware that the “rationalization” for such nonsense is framed in theological terms — but I persist in my view that it’s the perverse notion of “honor” that drives this, not theology per se.)