A Muslim Critique of Fukuyama and Huntington
A Muslim Critique of Fukuyama and Huntington
By Ibn Yasin Introduction Both Fukuyama’s hypothesis of the ‘End of History’ and Huntington’s hypothesis of the ‘Clash of Civilisations’ is discussed below in relation to their lack of usefulness in understanding the aspirations of Muslims in the modern world.
The End of History In his hypothesis to prove that the only system that will survive into the future is Western liberalism, Fukuyama dismisses Islam and Muslims by looking at the global Islamic revival movement as ‘fundamentalist’ and thus having no appeal in the modern world because it has little to offer non-Muslims and due to Islam’s ‘restrictions on certain forms of economic behaviour’.1 By dismissing the aspirations of millions of Muslims worldwide who look at their own history and sacred scriptures for answers to the challenges posed by modernity and the myriad ways in which Muslims from different countries, schools of thought and levels of religious practise have undertaken to look for solutions and directions for their daily living, Fukuyama did not see the forest for the trees. The Muslims are portrayed as a monolithic community acting and reacting in one way, whereas the reality is far removed from this very misleading and false notion.2 This shows a deep lack of understanding towards Islam and what it has to offer to the world today. It fails to appreciate the fact that Islamic tradition has principles that offer alternatives to Western liberalism while not rejecting everything Western or modern, be it in the fields of politics, economics, finance and civilisation.3 It is true that Islam restricts certain forms of economic behaviour but this is true for all capitalist economies as monopolistic behaviour, insider trading, price fixing, racketeering, securities fraud, embezzlement, bankruptcy fraud, Ponzi schemes, etc are all against the law and carry significant penalties for individuals as well as for corporations. In Islam, economic development
By Ibn Yasin Introduction Both Fukuyama’s hypothesis of the ‘End of History’ and Huntington’s hypothesis of the ‘Clash of Civilisations’ is discussed below in relation to their lack of usefulness in understanding the aspirations of Muslims in the modern world.
The End of History In his hypothesis to prove that the only system that will survive into the future is Western liberalism, Fukuyama dismisses Islam and Muslims by looking at the global Islamic revival movement as ‘fundamentalist’ and thus having no appeal in the modern world because it has little to offer non-Muslims and due to Islam’s ‘restrictions on certain forms of economic behaviour’.1 By dismissing the aspirations of millions of Muslims worldwide who look at their own history and sacred scriptures for answers to the challenges posed by modernity and the myriad ways in which Muslims from different countries, schools of thought and levels of religious practise have undertaken to look for solutions and directions for their daily living, Fukuyama did not see the forest for the trees. The Muslims are portrayed as a monolithic community acting and reacting in one way, whereas the reality is far removed from this very misleading and false notion.2 This shows a deep lack of understanding towards Islam and what it has to offer to the world today. It fails to appreciate the fact that Islamic tradition has principles that offer alternatives to Western liberalism while not rejecting everything Western or modern, be it in the fields of politics, economics, finance and civilisation.3 It is true that Islam restricts certain forms of economic behaviour but this is true for all capitalist economies as monopolistic behaviour, insider trading, price fixing, racketeering, securities fraud, embezzlement, bankruptcy fraud, Ponzi schemes, etc are all against the law and carry significant penalties for individuals as well as for corporations. In Islam, economic development
Bibliography: Primary Sources Fukuyama, Francis ‘The End of History’, Quadrant, August 1989, pp. 15-25. Fukuyama, Francis ‘The West has won’, The Guardian, 11 October, 2001, (unpaginated), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/oct/11/afghanistan.terrorism30, accessed 27 March 2010. Huntington, Samuel P. ‘The Clash of Civilisations?’, Foreign Affairs, 73, 1993, pp. 22-49. Secondary Sources Ahmad, Khurshid Islam: Its Meaning and Message, London, The Islamic Foundation, 1980. Esposito, John L. The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, 3rd edn, New York, 1999. Gauhar, Altaf (ed.) The Challenge of Islam, London, Islamic Council of Europe, 1978. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values of Humanity, New York, Harper Collins, 2002. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization, New York, Harper Collins, 2003. Ramadan, Tariq Islam, the West and the Challenges of Modernity, Leicester, The Islamic Foundation, 2001. Qureshi, Emran and Sells, Michael A. (eds.) The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy, New York, Columbia University Press, 2003.