The hostile friends

I am not here referring to the two ruins on the bank of the river Rhine, poetically called Die feindlichen Brüder, but to the natural bedfellows: religion and fundamentalism. After the recent terrorist attacks in London, one of the Muslim banners read: "Terrorism has no religion" - a rather euphemistic expression, considering that since the fateful 9/11 event most of the terrorist attacks were inspired by Muslim fundamentalism.

Now, all fundamentalists, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, are dogmatists, something very much to worry about because they all assert and try to impose in an intolerantly authoritative way their personal opinions.

And although not all fundamentalists are terrorists, religious fundamentalism remains the natural breeding ground for terrorism, as is the case with the secretive al-Qaeda network.

Al-Qaeda leadership is not interested in any economic or social revival, not even in their own Muslim countries, but only in the theological and moral purity of Islam. In the name of Islam they want to create the world over their Muslim 'utopia' based on the Taliban rule in the Afghanistan.

The Taliban may have disappeared but their religious fundamentalism is still terrifying the whole world, and as a consequence relations between Islam and the West are on the decline.

Moderate Muslims rightly deplore these terrorist attacks on innocent people, not only in Western countries but even in the Arab world, which are carried out in the name of their Prophet Muhammad whom they hold in deep and affectionate religious respect, because Islam, rightly understood, is a religion of peaceful coexistence.

But moderate Muslims are considered by their own fundamentalists as theologically and morally depraved. As I said before, Muslim fundamentalists are only interested in the theological and moral purity of Islam - back to the starting-point of the Qur'an with no progress (or regress?) made.

They admit no counter-argument to the two-fold creed from the Pillars of Islam: "There is no god, but God, and Muhammad is the messenger (prophet) of God", just as Christian fundamentalists, especially in the United States, admit no counter-argument to Jesus Christ as the only one way to heaven.

Unfortunately, people in the West associate the faith of Islam with terrorism, although this is not sanctioned by Islamic doctrine representative of the faith in general; since the London attacks, however, this trend has been intensified.

On the other hand, Muslims cannot understand the liberating effect brought about in Europe by the Enlightenment, the 18th century philosophy emphasising reason and individualism rather than religious tradition, and which nowadays resulted in the proposed European constitution with no mention of any religion to embrace religious and social pluralism.

That's why the gulf between al-Qaeda's world view and that of the West is so great. The former would have no compromise with the West, and so we are indefinitely faced with an inexorable problem - that of hard-core believers who consider the rest of us as collectively constituting the forces of Satan, legitimate subject for jihad, an expression taken from the Prophet Muhammad's writings.

As Ahmed Rushid points out in his book Jihad, there is a "greater jihad" and a "lesser jihad". The first is "inward-seeking - the effort of each Muslim to become a better human being"; whereas the second "sanctions rebellion against an unjust ruler, whether Muslim or not, and... can become a means to mobilise political and social struggle" (p. 2).

Al-Qaeda embraces the "lesser jihad" with a vengeance - a violent, terrorist struggle against all those who disagree with them. Osama Bin Laden himself declared jihad on Western culture in 1996 and the Taliban regard Western lifestyles as anathema. That's why Afghanistan was sealed off from Western influence.

Fundamentalist schools (madrasas) have multiplied throughout the Muslim world, especially in Pakistan, with thousands of young students attending them - a real threat of future suicide bombers.

We are therefore faced with a religious-political deadlock with no breakthrough in sight. After the London attacks, Western countries are united more than ever to combat Muslim terrorism - they have to defend themselves - without at the same time jeopardising the already deteriorating relations, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the Arab world.

On the other hand, moderate Muslim countries should not protect Muslim fundamentalists, but proselyte to their own people the true image of the Qur'an as a religion of peaceful coexistence with all other religions especially with those of the Kitâb.