Islam & the West:Testing the ‘Clash of Civilizations’

Thesis

Al johara M. Almutiri

Part I: The ‘Clash of Civilizations’ Debate

Civilization ‘culture writ large’

religion as the

central defining element

‘modernization’

the core political values

‘clash ’

Therefore the major political disagreement between Western and Islamic societies was found in attitudes towards the role of religious leaders, where Islamic nations proved far more favorable. Yet at the same time it would be an exaggeration to claimthat this latter difference represents a simple dichotomous ‘clash of values’.

ConclusionThe thesis of a ‘clash of civilizations’ has triggered something of a ‘clash of scholarship’

This task has long been of interest to academe but it has received fresh impetus by the dramatic eventsand aftermath of 9/11.

Huntington thesis, the claims are threefold :societal values in contemporary societies are rooted inreligious cultures; the most important cultural division between the Western and Islamic world relatesto differences over democratic values; and, in the post-Cold War era, this ‘culture clash’ is at thesource of much international and domestic ethnic conflict.suggests four main findings:

• First, when political attitudes are compared far from a ‘clash of values’, there is minimal difference between the Islamic world and the West.

• the Cold War and a realistic evaluation of the actual performance of democracy in these states, rather than by the emergence of ethnic conflict based on the values of the Orthodox church which are, after all, part of Christendom.

• Support for a strong societal role by religious authorities is stronger in Islamic societies than in the West, but here it is not a simple dichotomy, as many other types of society also support an active role for religious leaders in public life.

• Yet there is a substantial cultural cleavage, although one underestimated by Huntington, in social beliefs about gender equality and sexual liberalization. In this regard, the West is far more egalitarian and liberal than all other societies, particularly Islamic nations.