Five Articles—On Askdryahya.com
Here you find five articles about Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians in the
United States of America and the world. I hope you enjoy reading, and have more
to know. 200 hundred articles more may be found on Articlesbase
for the author. (H. Yahya)
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1
How Muslims feel about Terrorism
Hasan A. Yahya, Professor of Sociology
The
John L. Esposito a
The results defy conventional
wisdom and the inevitability of a global conflict – even as the wars in
These
questions ignore the fact about listening to extremists or simply relying on
the opinions of individual pundits, and finally, 5) Why not try to understand
voices-or opinions of the silenced majority?
So they went
the Muslims in the normal Muslims around the world (ranging from North Africa, to the
Middle East, to
and asked the above
questions. For their surprise, they discovered that when we let the data
lead the discourse, a number of insights were revealed. They found according to
their research that conflict between Muslim and Western communities is far from
inevitable. They also found that it was more about policy than principles.
Answering the question: 'Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really
Think” was six years of research and more than 50,000 sampling interviews,
representing 1.3 Billion Muslims, who reside in 57 nations with Muslim
Majority. The sample was sizable Muslim population. The sample was selected to
represent ninety percent of the Muslim communities worldwide. The poll research was may
be the largest and most comprehensive study in recent years. The data show a generally
unfavorable view of the United States and Britain, as well as a distrust of
American intentions to establish democracy in the Middle East and South Asia.
Concerning terrorism, John Esposito says “Terrorism is growing” the results indicate a deepening
gulf between Muslim countries and the West. "At times it looks like we do
have a clash of cultures or certainly a clash of cultures that is looming very
close to us. Anti-Americanism remains very strong and in some areas is growing.
In the West, however it is observed recently an increase in negative attitudes towards Islam and
Muslims, “in both America and Europe the word Islamophobia more and more being used."
The study
was sponsored by Gallop Pull which revealed the following findings:
- Muslims and
Americans are equally likely to reject attacks on civilians as morally
unjustifiable.
- Those who select
violence are extremism driven by politics, not poverty or piety as many
political analysts thought. Where only 7% Percent of the total
respondents did not believe that 9/11 was justified.
- None of the 7% percent respondents
hated the concept of freedom in the west.
- The 7% percent
respondents believe that
- The good news are:
nine out of ten Muslim respondents are moderate, [This should be on a Likert five points or seven-points of satisfaction (Yahya 1988) or 10-point measure]. Such good news for
those who believe optimistically of co-existence.
- The solution from
the Muslim side for the west, is to change western negative views toward
Muslims, respect Islam as a religion, and reevaluate their negative
foreign policies especially those policies concern support to
- Muslims across the
world do not want secularism or theocracy to rule their societies, they want freedom, rights and
democratization. The strange thing, the research found that society
should be built upon religious Islamic values and want the Sharia
(Islamic law) to be a source of law.
- Most Muslims condemn terrorism and extremism. But challenges for the
West will only grow as long as these Muslims continue to feel politically
dominated and disregarded.
- According to Dalia Mogahed, the most striking were the values shared by US
and Muslim public opinion. For example: Muslims most admire about the West is: technology and democracy. The same two top responses given
by Americans. The least admired about the west is moral decay and breakdown of
traditional values, which is also the same responses given by Americans.
- Besides the negative stereotypes,
Americans have little source material to help them develop any
understanding of the Arab past and present. This echoed what the late Edward Said
wrote: “For we Arabs who live in the West, it’s the source of acute
frustration that none of the achievements of our tradition and our
culture are known or recognized or admitted; that there are no cultural
institutions of consequence that are dedicated to advancing appreciation
and knowledge of the Arabs in the United States.”(Edward Said)
Going back to the Arabs and Muslims around the world, which has its own
informational shortcomings, such as the lack of any academic institution
devoted solely to the critical study of the West or the
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2
Islam and the West!
Hasan A. Yahya, Professor
of Sociology
Relations between Islam and the West are
going down. In spite of the great number of meetings nationally and
internationally between religions and governments representatives..... The more
meetings and conferences to close the relations gap, the more people have
negative opinions about Arabs and Islam. A word to Muslims and Arabs, to stop
these conferences and meetings and begin to take care of their people who need
assistance in all aspects of their life. No one can prove the opposite. Arabs
and Muslims alike, they spent millions of dollars on these meetings and
conferences for the purpose of talking about relations. The matter is not that
the WEST does not understand, the matter is the Arabs and Muslims are weak. And
the West likes them to continue weak and
disunited. Arabs have to look to the future, plan for it, build their
economies, and civil institutions, open their minds to logic and reason rather
than emotions and feelings. And of course, reduce the power of dogmatic
theologians. The West will never change
its mind about Arabs and Islam unless they become inventors, and builders of
civilized nations. Their institutions and the Judea-Christian combination do
not admit that Islam is a Godly religion. Instead, they attack Islam in their
churches and attack Arabs. Just listen to their Sunday speeches. Are Muslims
and Arabs deaf or ignorant? The matter is that Arab governments are not in the
level where a democracy can spring alive. And Arab and Muslim governments are
not in the level of accepting freedom, or justice or equality. Arabs have no
chance for unity, on any basis of Arabism or Islamism, they are destined (NOT
BY GOD) but by the Western Powers (especially Britain and the USA) until the oil is finished. Read about the released documents of the
past. You will learn about diplomacy in the second half of last century
supporting what I am saying.
This is not a hate speech , it is the facts
are crying, this is the matter. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. If a civilization must begin, then it should
control its natural, industrial and food resources. They should control what
they own by themselves. Then we can say, that democracy is taking place, and
freedom, justice and equality are common to all people. And the LAW is the
master of all, I mean ALL, not the specials. A civilization can only begin,
with free people, away from the governmental media, the intelligence agencies
and the government information ministries. Away from merchants of TV and satellite
channels, and away from governmental supported journalism and newspapers. Away
from liberalism supported tyranny in the Arab and Muslim countries. It is for the wealthy
against the poor. Not between Islam and the West. OR between
Islam and other religions. It is simply between the Rich countries
themselves not between them and the poor countries. Still, the poor countries
are suffering of famine, health decay, and shortage of water.
In terms of
population numbers, Arabs represent one seventh of the Muslims worldwide. Arabs
own three quarters of the wealth of Muslim World taking into consideration the
oil producing countries. The yearly income or the GNP in the Arab countries
equals three folds of the GNP in the non-Arab Muslim countries. The following characteristics of both
Muslim and Arab countries, which influence their march and progress in the
ladder of civilization positively or negatively, they are:
Arab and Muslim Population Growth: Arab countries share the Muslim
countries in the population growth phenomenon. Even though it is considered to
be less in the African Muslim countries than the Asian Muslim countries. It is
still far from the zero growth achieved by Denmark and Sweden. In the year
2000, considering a growth increase of 2.65% percent in Arab countries, Arab
population reached the 290 million figure. and projected in the year 2025 to be
over 470 million. Population of the Muslims all over the world have passed the
billion figure in 1985, and the 1.3 in the year 2000, and projected to be 1.7
billion in the year 2025.
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3
Terrorism: A New Assessment!
Hasan A. Yahya, Professor of sociology
Terrorism age has come to replace communism
age. Because terrorists follow the ideology of solving
problems by force. What the liberalism of the end of history in the
words of
While liberalism of Europe and
Arabism was defeated by liberalism and
democratic Europe and
Liberalism never ask themselves about the
causes of terrorism
worldwide? Human rights are denied to the enemy. But who’s the
enemy for the MNCs? The enemy is the one who will reduce the MNCs profits. No
matter what religion they have, or what ideology the
claim. It is simple, mastering the flow of oil should
be in the hands of the liberal governments of Europe and
I was
delighted when I watched President Reagan saying to the Soviet Leader: Mr.
President: Turn that wall down. What does that mean? It simply means:
Liberalism will take over. So liberalism took over the role of communism, and
the
I heard
President J. F. Kennedy in 1963, “let no
man of peace and
freedom despair, together we shall save our planet or together we shall perish
in its flames.”
I was
also there, at the end of President Reagan presidency, James Baker, the U.S
Secretary of State called the international community to “use the end of the
Cold War to get beyond the whole pattern of settling conflicts by force” Where is president
George Bush from this?
The
future of the world rests on a race between States’ ability to cooperatively
act in concert and their historic tendency to compete or fight. Rationality is absent,
unfortunately, and war continues.
Francis Fukuyama in 1989 wrote:
“The
twentieth century saw the developed world descend into a paroxysm of
ideological violence, as liberalism contended first with the remnants of
absolutism, then bolshevism and fascism, and finally an updated Marxism that
threatened to lead to the ultimate apocalypse of nuclear war. But the century
that began full of self-confidence in the ultimate triumph of Western liberal
democracy seems at its close to be returning full circle to where it started.:
not to an “end of ideology” of a convergence between capitalism and socialism,
as earlier predicted, but to unabashed victory of economic and political
liberalism” (p.3)
While the
history of world affairs detects the struggle between justice and injustice, between tyranny and
liberty. Between kings and their followers, between authoritarianism and
republicanism, between ideology and
pragmatism and between communism and
capitalism. Now the war is between liberalism and terrorism. History did not come to an end, it continues
as it was last century.
In the
Last century we learned: The Bolshevik revolution in 1917 brought Socialism to
power, and Marxism became a force to force international affairs. The defeat of fascism in WW2, was made by
liberalism. The collapse of communist movement in the late
1980s. It is true, but does the triumph of liberalism ends the history.
If so, when, then, the liberalism will collapse for another end.
Where are
the Arabs in these times.
Is the
history a battle for the hearts and minds of civilization? If it is why
liberalism looses its mind and heart and attack other
nations and collectivities of people.
The race of humankind needs a particular form of political, social, and
economic organization. What kind of
world order, liberalism and the master of the end of history would like? In
fact, according to liberalism, in my opinion, is to go back to modern
slavery of nations instead of the classical slavery of individuals of the past
two hundred years. Slaving resources like oil, coal, trees, wherever they are.
And no matter what they cost. Because the end justifies the means. Long Live
the author of the Prince.
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4
Great Palestinian
Personalities Series
Edward Said
By: Hasan A. Yahya, Ph.D
In this series I will try to give an introduction to some great
personalities in the Palestinian History. There are many famous personalities
across time, but in later years personalities like Haidar
Abdel Shafi and Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Ibrahim Dakkak, professors Ziad Abu Amr, Mamdouh Al-Aker, Ahmad Harb, Ali Jarbawi, Fouad Moughrabi, legislative
council members Rawiya Al-Shawa
and Kamal Shirafi, writers
Hassan Khadr and Mahmoud Darwish, Raja Shehadeh, Rima Tarazi, Ghassan
Al-Khatib, Naseer Aruri, Elia Zureik
and many others had a great role in the Palestinian intellectual history.
I will begin here with Edward Said, after six
years of his depature of this world,
He was a leading Palestinian-American intellectual. He was University Professor
of English and Comparative Literature at
Said argued that Western writings on the Orient, and the perceptions of the East purveyed in them, are suspect, and cannot be taken at face value. According to him, the history of European colonial rule and political domination over the East distorts the writings of even the most knowledgeable, well-meaning and sympathetic Western ‘Orientalists’ (a term that he transformed into a pejorative):
“I doubt if it is controversial, for example,
to say that an Englishman in
Rashid Khalidi, in the earl I990s was teaching at
Chicago, He "emerged "as one
of the most influential commentators from within Middle Eastern Studies." After my graduation from
In this site I am
proud to introduce Edward Said in some of his intellectual writings, I found
this article on the Nation Written by Tony Judt, under
the title: Letters from readers, on July 1, 2004 which may help me out to give
you an idea of our great Palestinian thinker and his book, Orientalism. To see more of Edward
Said visit this site:
http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/edward_w_said
Khalidi may
be found on this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashid_Khalidi
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5
Edward Said, By Tony Judt
Posted by Hasan A. Yahya
I selected this article for its valuable information about a great Palestinian
born personality, who spells some of the anger of Arabs and Muslims including
mine. Thus he was a Christian Arab felt unjust diplomatic western world toward
Palestinians. His book was a breakthrough to global minds who shared his
feelings and excellence. My selection, here, I believe the author is expressing
more of Edward Said’s excellence as a thinker and
great personality from Palestine. (Yahya)
When Edward Said died in September 2003, after a decade-long battle against
leukemia, he was probably the best-known intellectual in the world. Orientalism, his controversial account of the
appropriation of the East in modern European thought and literature, has
spawned an academic sub-discipline in its own right: A quarter of a century
after its first publication, it continues to generate irritation, veneration
and imitation. Even if its author had done nothing else, confining himself to
teaching at
But he did not confine himself. From 1967, and with mounting urgency and
passion as the years passed, Edward Said was also an eloquent, ubiquitous
commentator on the crisis in the
This was an ironic fate for a man who fitted almost none of the molds to
which his admirers and enemies so confidently assigned him. Edward Said lived
all his life at a tangent to the various causes with which he was associated.
The involuntary "spokesman" for the overwhelmingly Muslim Arabs of
Edward Said was the idolized hero of a generation of cultural relativists
in universities from
As for the popular account of his thought that has Edward Said reading
Western writers as mere byproducts of colonial privilege, he was quite
explicit: "I do not believe that authors are mechanistically determined by
ideology, class or economic history." Indeed, when it came to the business
of reading and writing, Said was an unabashedly traditional humanist,
"despite the scornful dismissal of the term by sophisticated post-modern
critics." If there was anything that depressed him about younger literary
scholars it was their over familiarity with "theory" at the expense
of the art of close textual reading. Moreover, he enjoyed intellectual
disagreement, seeing the toleration of dissent and even discord within the
scholarly community as the necessary condition for the latter's survival--my
own expressed doubts about the core thesis of Orientalism
were no impediment to our friendship. This was a stance that many of his
admirers from afar, for whom academic freedom is at best a contingent value,
were at a loss to comprehend.
This same deeply felt humanistic impulse put Said at odds with another
occasional tic of engaged intellectuals, the enthusiastic endorsement of
violence--usually at a safe distance and always at someone else's expense. The
"Professor of Terror," as his enemies were wont to characterize Said,
was in fact a consistent critic of political violence in all its forms. Unlike
Jean-Paul Sartre, a comparably influential intellectual for the previous
generation, Said had some firsthand experience of physical force--his university
office was vandalized and sacked, and both he and his family received death
threats. But whereas Sartre did not hesitate to advocate political murder as
both efficacious and cleansing, Said never identified with terrorism, however
much he sympathized with the motives and sentiments that drove it. The weak, he
wrote, should use means that render their oppressors uncomfortable--something
that indiscriminate murder of civilians can never achieve.
The reason for this was not that Edward Said was placid or a pacifist, much
less someone lacking in strong commitments. Notwithstanding his professional
success, his passion for music (he was an accomplished pianist and a close
friend and sometime collaborator of Daniel Barenboim) and his gift for
friendship, he was in certain ways a deeply angry man--as the essays in this
book frequently suggest. But despite his identification with the Palestinian
cause and his inexhaustible efforts to promote and explain it, Said quite
lacked the sort of uninterrogated affiliation with a
country or an idea that allows the activist or the ideologue to subsume any
means to a single end.
Instead he was, as I suggested, always at a slight tangent to his
affinities. In this age of displaced persons he was not even a typical exile,
since most men and women forced to leave their country in our time have a place
to which they can look back (or forward): a remembered--more often
misremembered--homeland that anchors the transported individual or community in
time if not in space. Palestinians don't even have this. There never was a
formally constituted
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About the Author:
Hasan A. Yahya is an American writer, scholar, and professor of philosophy. Has a 2 Ph.d degrees from MSU. He published 22 Arabic and 8 English books, and 200 plus articles on sociology, religion, psychology, politics, poetry, and short stories. Philosophically, his writings concern logic, justice and human rights worldwide. Dr. Yahya is the author of Crescentoly: Theory C. of Conflict Management and Cultural Normalization, 2009, on Amazon. He’s an expert on Arab and Islamic cultures, and was invited to several TV shows and international conferences on religion and future strategic planning. www.dryahyatv.com
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Hasan Yahya email: askdryahya@yahoo.com ,
More information may be found on www.hasanyahya.com
Or www.dryahyatv.com Or www.askdryahya.com
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