Islam Under Siege By Akbar Ahmed (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2003. 213 pages.)

Abstract

Ahmed’s Islam Under Siege is among the most popular books of the post-
9/11 period both in the West and in the Muslim world. The subtitle of the
book poses as its summary: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World.
This multifaceted book addresses a wide audience, including those
Americans in the Midwest who fearfully reflect upon the proverbial question
“Why do they hate us?,” Muslims who incessantly lament the acrimonious
reality of Islam being associated with terrorism, and intellectuals who
strive to discern the underlying factors of the crisis between Muslims and the
West. Ahmed responds to the query “Could acts of violence be relegated
merely to Muslim societies?” by adeptly elucidating the underlying factors
of the Muslim world’s crisis and the West’s failure to understand Islam. In a
historical context, he ponders the emergence of what he coins the “posthonor”
world in which we live, and finally offers a road map to global peace.
To alleviate extremist behavior and the rise of terrorism, he stresses the
indispensability of – sine qua non – dialogue. He invites Muslims to acquire
a self-critical retrospective insight so that they can apprehend their contribution
to today’s quagmire, and calls on non-Muslims to exercise more discernment
in understanding the complexities in Muslims’ lives.
The fulcrum of his argument is the notion of `asabiyah and its convoluted
form, dubbed “hyper-asabiyya,” which he states creates an extremist
demeanor in the Muslim world and ultimately results in violence. The term
`asabiyah refers to social cohesion, as described by the medieval social
philosopher Ibn Khaldun, and is accrued in a society that is based on justice,
compassion, and knowledge. The need to maintain it against the
threat of any danger to the established social solidarity engenders a hyperbolic
form of `asabiyah, namely, “hyper-asabiyya.” Given that `asabiyah’s
main goal is to protect and preserve the society’s “honor,” the trepidation
over losing honor or any loss of honor spurs a voracious desire to maintain
or recover that honor. This inherent urge to preserve the “core” or
regain what is already lost intensifies the emergence of “hyper-asabiyya.”
In other words, the breakdown of `asabiyah (a lack of social cohesion)
engenders “hyper-asabiyya,” which is characterized by control and violence.
Hence, ironically, while “hyper-asabiyya” arises because of the lack
of `asabiyah, the former is an exaggerated form of the latter ...