[Buddha-l] Was Buddhists Taking a Stand Against Isllamophobia

[Gerald McLoughlin]

Please note that Arab conquests were not wars of religion as such. The conquered were not even allowed to convert to what was then seen as the religion of the Arabs for a very long period of time. Finally the view that Islam was open to all carried the day, but forced conversions, if existent, would have been rare to the vanishing point. Of course,  Islamic states were historically far more tolerant of Christians and Jews than the Christian states, "pagans" being a different complex story.


On a side note, Wahhabist missionary efforts have been notable for their lack of effect on the religious front.  Foreign money has been somewhat effective in helping ideologically related local groups. This is distinct from funding of various political and armed factions who claim to be Islamic by diverse elements.  Saudi, Malaysian, and other donors do often insist that rebuilt mosques be built according to the donor's tastes.  This has not helped the preservation of local styles and traditions. In general you can say that there are some common themes in Islam, but there is no one globally predominant sect or influence  let alone one coming from Saudi.







Gerald 


On Sep 24, 2012, at 8:23 PM, "jo" <05jkirk at gmail.com> wrote:

> Sorry for top posting but it's easier than the opposite.
> My response here  is to the concept of "Muslim world". 
> 
> I hesitate to say anything on this list anymore, because whatever I write is
> simply ignored by practically everybody on the list, except for Dan and
> Katherine, but let's at least be critical rather than lazy so far as the
> phrase 'Muslim world" goes.
> 
> Historically there have been at least two cultural movements that could be
> tallied as what some historians (or anthropologists, which I am) might
> choose to call 'Muslim worlds'. The first one came into existence after the
> Islamic conquest of then Persia and neighboring areas in the 7th -9th cs CE.
> As more countries were conquered or their rulers acceded to the new
> religion, Muslim intelligentsia of those eras wrote accordingly, as if their
> mission and views covered a broad territory of nations often vastly
> different from one another. Muslim historians traveled widely and wrote
> about the different cultures they encountered, while taking satisfaction in
> the progress Islam had made through conversions and Arab culture. (This can
> all be reviewed on Wikipedia. I'm not going to take the time to look things
> up and present links.) In those days, the Middle East could be designated,thi
> generally speaking, as a Muslim world. 
> 
> Then, after the European imperialisms of later years, the ideological and
> cultural ambiance of the old Muslim world began breaking up. (A good example
> is what happened to the Mughal and other Muslim kingships in South Asia.) 
> 
> Today, as I see it after long study, the 'Muslim world' Dan refers to is an
> artifact of Saudi Arabian government financial support for missionizing the
> Wahhabist version of Islam, in their view the only correct Muslim
> religion/practice. Al Wahhab (18thc) traveled from Arabia widely into
> southern Asia and spread his views that Islam was corrupt and had to be
> purified. That impulse continues under today's Saudi rulers, who have
> successfully spread it far and wide, to every single nation that consider
> themselves to be Muslim. (Money talks, in this case to architects, clerical
> establishments, and to rich elites seeking prestige in the form of mosque
> and madressah building, plus stocking these with Wahhabist clerics from
> Saudi.) Thousands of people in various countries following their traditions,
> according to the trajectory Dan laid out as it were, were forced to stop
> doing whatever they had been doing for centuries and start doing religion
> the Wahhabi way. Thus, today we have a new 'Muslim world." It is very
> different from the old original one. It's a world that has trashed elaborate
> cultures and gender relations, traditional arts, as well as relations
> between the holders of power and their subjects--via shari'a.
> 
> Joanna
> _______________________
> 
> On Behalf Of Dan Lusthaus
> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2012 2:53 PM
> 
> [........]
> 
>> What, by the way, is the Muslim world?  
> 
> There are about 60 nations which are Muslim (separation of "church" and
> state is not an option), some for many centuries, some established in the
> 20th c precisely on the basis of muslim identity (e.g., Pakistan). If you
> get out a world map and start around Indonesia (the most populous muslim
> nation in the world) and continue westward through Thailand, Bangladesh,
> Pakistan, Kashmir, western China, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, etc. etc, Iran, the
> middle east, Balkans, Bosnia, Armenia, north Africa, Somalia, Sudan (but not
> the recently established South Sudan which is still fighting for its
> independence from the muslim north, although already granted statehood),
> Chad, Nigeria, etc., you will have circumscribed the Muslim world (and in
> countries like Nigeria containing large non-Muslim populations, constant
> slaughter and outbursts or religious intolerance). You will also have traced
> something that fits directly on top of the maps above. Not a coincidence.
> The periphery of the Muslim world -- i.e., where it borders on non-muslim
> states and populations -- there is violent conflict. 
> 
> 
> 
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