Implications of War on Terror to Muslims

As stated previously, there are more than 1 billion Muslims spread throughout most of the world’s nations. With this is mind, it is obvious that Muslim responses to the United States’ actions with the war on terror are diverse and often complex. The world has entered a “new international system” known as globalization, where states are now acting on a more global stage. Especially in light of its response to the September 11 attacks, the United States has been viewed as the global hegemonic power that can do its own bidding. Hegemonic stability theory, as defined by Vincent Ferraro, the Ruth C. Lawson Professor of International Relations at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts states that, “the stability of the International System requires a single dominant state to articulate and enforce the rules of interaction among the most important members of the system”. Friedman has suggested that globalization “homogenizes people” and that this is one of the main reasons why Muslims, in particular, disagree with Western principles and concepts. Although it is suggested that a hegemonic power may be necessary to sustain the globalization system, not all players, particularly the Muslims, necessarily agree that it should be the United States.

It can therefore be concluded that the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11 2001 are considered terrorism whether it really was the direct result of Muslim Al Qaeda terrorists or whether as the conspiracy theory states – that US officials were somehow involved to bring the towers down so as to authenticate a war in the Middle East; have had a big impact on Muslim communities worldwide. It was the almost immediate linking of the terrorist attacks and Muslims as portrayed by the media that resulted in Islam, Muslim and Terrorist becoming almost synonyms. In consequence of this, Muslims have been grossly stereotyped, misunderstood, categorized and isolated in non-Muslim majority nations. The majority of Muslim people attempt to follow true Islam doctrines, especially understanding Jihad and the unification of the Ummah as is emphasized and encouraged by many Islamic leaders. The war on terrorism has deeply affected Muslim communities throughout the world in both direct and indirect ways. Muslims living in war torn affected regions like Afghanistan suffer from physical traumas such as starvation and disease, while many others are faced with US backed Western ideals which threaten the Islamic traditional way of life. It is these hardships faced by Muslim communities that have affected the Muslim response. On the whole, Muslims agree with the United States that terrorism has no place in Islam and needs to be eradicated, but on the other hand, do not agree with the force with which the United States attempts to change the world to democratic governments according to its own desire. It is essential that communities, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, understand true Islamic teachings and end the gross misrepresentation and stereotyping of Muslims in order to encourage greater mixed-communal harmony.