Gaza war could alienate Muslim moderates, says Akyol

 

The war in Gaza has contributed to a rise in Islamophobia which could, in turn, trigger an adverse reaction in the Muslim world, says Mustafa Akyol. (AP pic)

PETALING JAYA: A prominent Turkish scholar has warned that the continuing war in Gaza may alienate even moderate Muslims, jeopardising their role in combatting Islamophobia and building bridges with the non-Muslim community.

Mustafa Akyol said the war, which he labelled one of the worst modern day mass atrocities, is likely to also breed more extremism and fuel militant groups.

It could even give birth to more radical ones, he warned.

Akyol said the carnage in Gaza coupled with Western indifference would drive away Muslims who share Western liberal democracy values.

Mustafa Akyol.

“It is indeed hard not to be appalled by the double standards that many Western governments, politicians and public figures have shown in the past months.

“While they rightly condemned the atrocities that targeted Israeli civilians, they have closed their eyes to a much larger scale of atrocities that target Palestinian civilians.”

Akyol said the war in Gaza, sparked by the Oct 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, has inadvertently contributed to the rise in Islamophobia which may in turn trigger an adverse reaction in the Muslim world.

“Islamophobia, especially when it creates violence and oppression against Muslims, convinces some Muslims that ‘they (the Islamophobes) hate us, so we should hate them, too’.”

Such a reaction would only help extremist groups such as ISIS or Al-Qaeda to instil enmity among Muslims against all “infidels”, which they may define to include Muslims who reject such militancy.

“Fanaticism on one side only empowers fanaticism on the other. It is a vicious cycle which one can see in many confrontations around the world, including the Arab-Israeli conflict. We should all try to end them, not fuel them.”

Freedom of expression to counter Islamophobes

Akyol, author of the award-winning book “Islam without extremes: a Muslim case for liberty”, said one way to counter Islamophobes was by citing the same excuse used by those who insult the faith, namely, freedom of expression.

He said this allowed Putrajaya to distribute copies of the Quran in Sweden in response to an incident last year which sparked outrage in several Muslim nations and saw Iraq expel the Swedish ambassador.

Muslim nations even filed a motion with the United Nations human rights body, calling on countries to review laws that may “impede the prevention and prosecution of acts and advocacy of religious hatred”.

Akyol commended Malaysia’s decision to distribute one million copies of the Quran in Sweden, and a similar initiative by Kuwait.

However, he said Muslims should note that both nations were able to carry out such Islamic missionary work in Sweden in the name of freedom of expression.

“Instead of appealing to Western governments to ban insults against Islam, as Muslims often do, we should use freedom of expression to express ourselves and our religion better.” - FMT