exiled to Iraq. An inveterate firebrand, Khomeini continued to annoy Iraq’s Baath rulers until Saddam Hussein banished him to France in the early 1970s, where he continued to agitate for the overthrow of the Shah of Iran. His Iranian Revolution succeeded in early 1979. The timing was powerfully symbolic, marking the very start of the Islamic lunar year 1400, and redolent of the ancient tradition that God would raise up a “renewer” at the outset of every (Islamic) century. Khomeini implemented what was a totally new political theology for modern Iran, centered as it was on the “Oversight of Religious Lawgiver,” and seeking to foster a rare example of contemporary theocratic regime.
The destruction of the sixteenth-century Bridge of Mostar in 1993 by Croatian forces was a symbol of major divisions between Serbs and Croats.
What, if any, is the religious connection with the late-twentieth-century strife among Muslims and Serbs and Croats in the former Yugoslavia?
Islam began to develop a significant presence in the Balkans with the Ottoman conquest of 1463. Christianity had already been deeply rooted among the Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs for many centuries. Conversion to Islam, while generally not coerced by the Ottomans, was definitely associated with foreign domination. Although the Croats and Serbs have by no means always been peaceful neighbors, there have been periods of still greater hostility between the Christians, who consider themselves the inheritors of the land, and the Muslims, who are often regarded as invaders. For many non-Muslim Bosnians, all things even remotely identifiable as Turkish represent the remnants of a historic scourge whose vestiges they would like to eliminate. Bosnian Serbs, with the urging of the government of Serbia in Belgrade, have been engaged in the systematic eradication of virtually every visible reminder of the Ottoman presence that they associate with Islam. Scores of historic mosques, libraries, bridges, and other architectural treasures have been destroyed, all in an attempt to eradicate the identity of the Muslim people of Bosnia.
What has all the talk about “ethnic” cleansing got to do with religion?
The peoples of the Balkans are generally of Western Slavic stock, so the term “ethnic cleansing” is an inaccurate description of recent events in the republics of the former Yugoslavia. All of the inhabitants of the region given the national designation of Bosnia (comprised of an eastern section called Bosnia and a western called Hercegovina) speak a Slavic language often called Serbo-Croatian. While there are some differences in the ways Bosnian Croats, Serbs, and Muslims speak, the differences are analogous to those that distinguish British English from American English. Recent events in the Balkans have resulted largely from political decisions that have sought to aggravate divisions among people of various religious communities who had been learning to live together peacefully. As such, the religious distinctions are decidedly secondary, but a handy tool for demagogues whose success depends on their ability to promote divisiveness and hatred.
What is one example of a Christian power declaring war on Muslims for religious reasons?
In 1989, on the six hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic launched his campaign for a Greater Serbia with a blood-curdling speech on the site of that historic conflict. He spoke of how Prince Lazar, who had died a glorious martyr’s death defending his homeland against the Turks in 1389, was a Christ-figure and the Muslims were the Christ-killers. Milosevic then hinted that he was the new Prince Lazar whose mission was to reverse the score, and he soon launched a savage onslaught against the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina, tearing apart a society in which Croatian Catholics, Serbian Orthodox, and Bosnian Muslims had lived in peace for many years. Even now, few careful observers of the Balkan conflict would identify religion as the true instigating factor, let alone claim that Christianity is inherently and irredeemably violent.
CONCERNS OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY MUSLIMS
Is there an “Islamic economics”?
Beginning with the Quran, Islamic tradition has had specific concerns about economic transactions in relation to economic justice. Muhammad himself had been a businessman, working with the caravan trade owned by his first wife, Khadija. As in so many other matters, Muslims find an exemplar in the Medinan society of the Prophet’s day. One issue the Quran addresses at least indirectly is that of considering money as “product” rather than as a simple means of exchange. In effect the Quran regards money as a measure of goods and services, not itself a basis for making more money.
Given the realities of contemporary economic life, can “Islamic economics” actually be workable these days?
Global banking and market systems are built on the concept that one can make money by loaning or investing it, without at the same time producing anything else. So how do Muslims manage? Many, of course, have simply been going along with the “system.” But there has been increasing interest in new attempts to devise creative ways to make money work according to the principle that all parties to financial transactions—not just the borrower—must share equally in the risk as well as the profits. In other words, the focus of all parties is on the success of the project being funded rather than on the financial transaction. In addition, investors must screen their options carefully; the final criterion is not the promise of highest returns, but the certainty that the eventual product will be compatible with Islamic religious values (e.g., no stock in companies that produce weapons, alcohol, or pornography, or have gaming concerns). In that same spirit, Islamic banking provides for interest-free loans to the truly needy.
A Muslim woman shops at a vegetable stand in Delhi, India. Muslim values concerning economics are much less adversarial than in many Western cultures; the customer is considered a partner, not merely a consumer to be used.
What is the ultimate goal of Islamic values regarding economics?
Muslims engaged in implementing traditional Islamic values in today’s global marketplace face a major challenge, but the goal is to ensure social equity and keep the profit-motive subordinate to a higher principle. This is Islam’s major contribution to the evolution of “business ethics” in our time. Less adversarial than the financial arrangements most people have become accustomed to, the emphasis in Islamic banking is on cooperation, so that the customer is primarily a partner. Attempts to define “Islamic economics” as a discipline began in India during the 1930s and 1940s, not long before the creation of Pakistan.
A detail from a stained-glass window at the Saint-Julien cathedral in Sarthe, France, shows Adam and Eve's temptation in the Garden of Eden. Muslims and Christians share this and other stories from their holy books.
Where does this perspective fit on the spectrum of modern economic systems?
In theory, Islamic economics stands somewhere between capitalist free enterprise and socialist control: it seeks to maintain market forces, but within the limits of broad social consciousness. But there is as yet nothing like consensus on a coherent theory among Muslim economists. The Quran, for example, forbids riba (ree-BAA), a term generally understood to mean “taking interest,” but economists do not agree precisely with what that means for today. In practice, developments are largely limited to the field of banking. The first modern Islamic bank was established in Dubai in 1975, but over the past twenty years or so, the experiment has grown dramatically. Magazines pitched to Muslims now include increasingly numerous ads for businesses that invite participation from people looking for sound investment opportunities that are also religiously acceptable (halal, ha-LAAL).
Are
