TERRORISM

Talal Asad traces the beginning of terrorism and war against terrorism after the attack of the twin towers on September 11, 2001. It is at that moment the term War Against Terrorism was fixed by the Bush administration and the US media. He also tries to find a solution to the equation between violence and terrorism and finds that the previous groups using violence were insiders (within the nation state), but now it is outsiders (Muslims). Even if they are part of a democratic state or citizens of governed territories, it is not taken into consideration. On the other hand the violence done by the Marxists and nationalists can be understood in terms of progressive and secular history but the violence of Islamic groups is incomprehensible, as it is not included in a historical narrative.

The religious ideology that everyone comes around with is Jihad, defined by the academy as the holy war against the infidel. This can be read in background of the decline of Islamic civilization and the triumph of the west, where Islamic state began to represent resentment against modernity. In another sense, the history in which terrorism is positioned is also problematic as all histories are selective and the fact of interpretation of the selected is more important than the fact of selection. The Jihad which is not an important part of Islam is the key point of western Islamic history. This Jihad is always compared with the medieval crusades, as Talal Asad says the only thing we are made to remember in this case is that Crusades are no longer part of history and Jihad is.

Initially Jihad was reformulated at the time of the Colonialism, where Muslims were not allowed to undertake it but to maintain its central institutions. Later militant Islam’s took it against the colonial rule and now it is used for the religious causes. Therefore Jihad is not part of the transhistorical world view but an elaborate politico theological vocabulary which the modern reformers debate under several circumstances.

On the other side, there is no clash of civilization as there in no society with fixed cultural values corresponded. It is the intervention of Europe in the social, economic, political and cultural life of Middle East which led to many practises being changed. The establishment of new strategies in the Middle East after the weakening of the relations with the Ottoman Empire including the control of Panama Canal and the establishment of Palestine for Jews, helped in dividing the Arab polities and exploiting the resources. The United States is now continuing this interventionist technique and giving new justifications and reasons for these interventions.

Talal Asad finds that the issues was complicated by Saddam and his war against Iran but on the other side the Americans and Europeans were helping him to make chemical and nuclear weapons for the war. These acts was later considered as acts of violence and it is at this moment U.S and Europe began intervening in the Middle East to provide humanitarian aids, to end the rogue regimes and to secure the energy resources. For Western Democracy these are serious political interventions as these are serious activities of terrorism and the inhabited space of violence.

The second important raise here is how we differentiate between war and terrorism. War is the states need to legitimize the organized violence and the humanitarian desire to save human lives. The failure of Muslim nations to modernize themselves is a serious drawback and this gives the reason for the scapegoating of the United States and Israelites in the western countries.