Dr Abdullah Ahsan’s thesis “The Clash of Civilizations Thesis and Muslims: the search for an alternative paradigm” was deeply interesting. Most Islamic Studies or International Relations students into their second or third year will have come across Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” thesis before. My first encounter with it was from a most unexpected source, considering it is the thesis famed for helping the Bush administration justify its post-9/11 imperial activities, actually known colloquially as “The Bush Doctrine”.
The Bush Doctrine helped to create the “Islamic enemy” by positing that, fundamentally, never the twain shall meet between “Western” and Islamic civilization: that the two are in polarized opposition, incompatible in the absolute. The thesis’ conclusions have been widely debunked, but a question was asked: is there anyone who still upholds the thesis? Dr al-Ahsan answered that it still continues at an official level in the United States, but I was aware of another who upholds it, or at least did when I came across it several years ago.
The Islamic Online University is a popular learning hub for Muslims from all over the world, presided over by one Dr Bilal Philips, Canadian academic and convert to Islam, renowned for his allegedly “hardline” approach to Islam. As a new convert, wet behind the ears, I took a couple of courses on his website. One was called something like “An Introduction to Islamic Civilisation” or some such lofty title which belied its insubstantial content. The whole course centred around Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations thesis, the Bush Doctrine, and heartily endorsed it. I wasn’t aware of the other promoters of the Bush Doctrine, but discontinued the course because I felt that it was little more than a platform for Philips to propagate his own political orientation.
It is ironic how the extreme neo-cons can be so thoroughly in agreement with the “enemy” they have helped to create.
