Communism and Islam Author(s): Bernard Lewis Source: International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol.

30, No. 1 (Jan., 1954), pp. 1-12 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the Royal Institute of International Affairs Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2608416 . Accessed: 29/03/2011 10:21
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/[Y purposehereis to tryto see how farIslam and Communism thosewho are compatible-howfar,that is, Islam predisposes have beenbrought up in it to acceptor to rejectthe Communist and infiltration teaching. I shall not attemptto examineCommunist successor failureor thedegreeoftheir in Islamiccountries propaganda skillsand sources for ofinformation other professional thatis a taskcalling are at mydisposal. RathershallI tryto consider what thanthosewhich exist in Islam,in Islamic civilization and society, qualitiesor tendencies or impedetheadvanceofCommunism. facilitate either which might The obviousobjectionwill no -doubtat once be raised that Islam is beliefin whichis clearlyincombased on revelation, afterall a religion true,and the same patible with Marxistideology.That is undoubtedly could be said with equal truthof Orthodox,Catholic,or Protestant oranyother ofthename. NeverofJudaism, worthy religion Christianity, has not prevented many former incompatibility theless,that doctrinal Communists. No doubt,the frombecoming of these religions followers and understands whohas studied the theologian devoutand piousMuslim will that materialism but of dialectical such a creed, reject implications of is not common nor of circumstances occurrence, likelyto combination us shouldrather The questionbefore be be of far-reaching significance. betweentheWesterndemocracies put thus: in the presentcompetition oftheIslamicworld, whatfactors forthesupport and SovietCommunism orin thepresent stateofIslamic in Islamictradition, are there orqualities theintellectually which and politically and opinion, prepare might society and methods of governto Communist embrace principles activegroups them? to rest and the accept ment, on a subject of this I feelthat a writer Before anyfurther proceeding of his own politicalattitude. nature owes his reader some definition whichnowadays Let me confess away that I lack one qualification right and respectability-I both authority is generally acceptedas-conferring circumI can however am notan ex-Communist. plead as an extenuating affected was which a in I by what deeply stancethat grewup generation in Russia,and which felt, that,withall speaking, was happening generally it nevertheless oftheRussianrevolution, and crimes reprethebrutalities forhumanity-'blisswas it in valuable and significant sentedsomething thatdawn to be alive'-and I am therefore perhapsable to understand of the Communist as well as of the repulsion ofthe attraction something creed. Of my own politicalattitudelet me say this,that I believethat

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as practised parliamentary in the West,withall its manifest democracy is stillthe best and mostjust form faults, ofgovernment yet devisedby man. But at thesametimeI believeit to be themostdifficult to operate, requiring certain qualitiesofmindand habit,ofinstitution and tradition, forits effective perhapseven ofclimate, working.It has takenfirm root only amongthe peoples of the northern and north-western fringes of Europe,and in theterritories colonized descendants by their overseas. It or maintains, has maintained, a precarious existencein a few other regions, and is showing but stillimmature signsofpromising in a growth fewmore-but otherwise it is unknown to therestofthe humanrace,in mostoftheworld, and through mostofrecorded history. Knowing, then,that parliamentary is farfrom democracy beingthe of I common to experience mankind, am, myregret, by no meanscertain the common thatit represents of mankind, and I shall therefore destiny tryto avoid the too frequent whichhas the faultof beingboth practice, inaccurateand inexpedient, of representing the world'sdilemmaas a choicebetweenCommunism and parliamentary straight democracy;of an appearance of parliamentary making,therefore, government the testof political and evenmoralvirtue-in otherwords, universal of makofgoodness, ingourownpresent wayof lifethesole pattern all deviations are from which necessarily to whichare lumpedtoevil, all alternatives in a mass ofundifferentiated gether wickedness. This principle, noteven consistently applied,leads us to such logicaland politicalabsurdities as the favoursof some slave-owning simultaneously courting and polywhilesnubbing gamousautocraton another the Government continent, of civil liberties.The unfortunate of Spain-because of theirdisregard factis thatit is we whoare the exception and unpalatable in bothhistory and thatauthoritarian and notrepresentative and geography, government most closelyto the commonexperience of mankind. In approximates ifless attractive, mostoftheworldautocracy, is morefamiliar and more and even the arbitrary thandemocracy, and capricious intelligible dictaofMoscow is neither as strange northerefore as repellent torship to much ofAsia and Africa-evenmuchofEurope-as it is to us. We shouldcerthe growth of freeinstitutions tainlydo our best to encourage wherever we woulddo wellto recallthatfora great possible;but at thesametime, part of the human race, parliamentary remainssomething democracy an objectsometimes ofwonderment, remote, alien,and incomprehensible, more often alas ofmistrust and hatred, evenenvy, which we mustconcede whenwe recallthe examplesof democracy is not entirely unjustified by alonetheycan judgeit. If thepeoplesofIslam are forced which to make in favour to abandontheir owntraditions a straight ofeither choice, Comthenwe are at a greatdisadvantage. or parliamentarianism, munism bothforIslam and forthe Western It is, however, fortunate, world, is not restricted to thesetwo simplealternatives, choice thatthe forthe forthe Muslim stillremains possibility peoplesof restoring, perhapsin a

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modified form, theirown tradition;of evolvinga formof government is nevertheless and perhapsevenautocratic, which, though authoritarian, I the cynicaltyranny of European-style dictatorship. farremoved from to see all Islam do not wishto be misunderstood-Iwouldmuchprefer liberty, and of constitutional democratic government, enjoy the benefits of the individual, and I by no meansexcludethe the freedevelopment of this desirable consummation, which in a few favoured possibility is alreadyin sight-but I wishto make clear my view that in countries thisconsummation is not in prospect and, largeareasoftheIslamicworld and indeed the ancient that the presentcircumstances, furthermore, favour us but,on thecontrary, of Islam,do notwholly contain traditions incline theMuslim which is individual, class,ornation, muchwhich might valuesand beliefs, to accepttheCommunist readyto abandontraditional alternative. rather thanthedemocratic I propose nowto selectand discussa fewofwhatseemto me to be the the success of Communism elementsfavouring in the moreimportant and to deal withthemundertwoheadings:first, the acciIslamicworld, historical situation, and then dentals,thosethat are part of the present innate or inherent are in those which the veryqualityof the essentials, and ideas. Islamicinstitutions of the accidentals is the anti-Western and mostimportant The first are againstthe West and forthatreasoncan at motif.The Communists in theIslamicworld, ofsupport elements just as oncecounton important time-to a considerable extent thesame theNazis wereable to do in their and forthe same reasons. Like the Nazis, the Comof support elements in the double sense-they are against the munistsare anti-Western theWestern and theyarealso against Powers Western Western wayoflife, and ideas. Underbothheadingstheyhave a strong appeal. institutions reactionin the Islamic worldis obviousand The presentanti-Western and imitation of the ninethe periodof admiration well known. After thereis now a generaland growing and earlytwentieth teenth centuries, in the main on a seriesof has been focused revulsion.Public attention world of the Islamic againstthe West-Morocco and specific grievances and the Abadan,and the rest,of which Sudan,Palestine, Tunisia,Suez has been adduced as the main cause of antinow one, now another, Western feeling.There are always those in the West who will seek to all troubles a prejudice to the misan axe ortitillate by attributing grind ortheJews, theAmericans favourite deedsoftheir scapegoats-theFrench from or the British-and theywill always findenthusiastic agreement tend to stressthe importance in the Orient. Muslims of any somebody in it-Westerners, issuein the measureof theirowninvolvement specific frominvolvement.In reality,all of them are of their own freedom all revulsion from and universal or aspectsof a fundamental symptoms thatis Western and, as we have seen oflate, even the removalof one or

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morethana local and temporary alleviacannotbring grievance another I may of which of is various made strains, up tion. This movement as the whichgrowsstronger the reactionagainst colonialism, mention dying; against Westernprivilegeand arrogance, latter is manifestly and upheavalsresultsocial,political;againstthe dislocations economic, aboutby Western brought theimpactoftheWest,the changes ingfrom by no meansall ofwhichare-as we liketo flatter and activities, influence ourselves-beneficial. in the Islamic countries, movements The liberaland constitutional in such with century, high hopes the nineteenth whichwerelaunched in ended failure, and frustradisappointment, have,withfewexceptions, and tion. The local leadershave all too oftenrelapsedinto a cynicism the moralsense of thosewhomtheyprothathas outraged opportunism in a rabid and xenophobe fessedto lead, or else have soughtcomfort all and everything thathas comeout indiscriminately damning fanaticism, of themassesagainstthe theblindprotest of the West. They expr'essed their traditional thathad dislocated forces way oflife, alienand powerful and new social theirtraditional problems posed equilibrium, destroyed answer. It is no doubt unjust of no effective forwhichthey offered and destructive haste of to blame the West forthe exuberant Muslims and selfishness oftheir and fortheincompetence own ownreformers their of the Westin its But we mustadmitthat therecord parliamentarians. withthe Islamic worldand forthat matterin its own internal dealings forany verystriking rebuttal. material does notfurnish affairs can therefore West the alwayscount against propaganda Communist the when drum. striking anti-imperialist on a readyresponse, especially stillaudiblyeructating to us thattheSovietempire, It mayseemstrange as havingboltedhalfofEurope,shouldbe able to pose successfully after ofoppressed oftherights peoplesagainsttheimperialiststhechampion handoverso manyMuslim subject ruleswithno light thattheStatewhich thispose among off be able to carry theother shouldnevertheless peoples, peoplesof Islam. Yet so it is. For mostIslamic peoplesthe notionof hereofcourseof thepopularimage-is 'imperialist'-andI am speaking and is always precise. The imperialist surprisingly ratherrestricted is a naturaland normalcollocaimperialist' Western-infact,'Western measlesor Spanish'flu. The Arabwhoprotests likeGerman tionofterms, that his putative does not thinkforone moment againstimperialism to the Oxus were the Pyrenees an empirefrom whoconquered ancestors northe Persianthat the vauntedgloriesof Cyrusand also imperialists, Darius were also of an imperialquality. Even the modernJapanese, as regarded are somehow their immediate victims, among exceptofcourse thesheeprather thanthe among and as belonging fundamentally different ofthepopular butstillsheep.Theimperialist goats-black sheepperhaps, in the of contemporary politicaldemonology the stockfigure prototype, and commercial. always maritime and is moreover Orient,is Western,

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is a man whocomesacrossthesea in a ship,lands on the The imperialist and finally, hiswayinland, coast,buysand sells,works byvariousdevices, his rule. establishes mostly dishonest, and in somemeasure a distortion This is ofcoursea distillation of the and Dutch,French of mostofAsia and Africaof Portuguese experience sincethe sixteenth and British expansion century.It is in factthe sole in the last fewcenturies, of mostof thesecountries, direct of experience The otherkind,overlandmilitary of imperialism. exthe phenomenon is notreally pansion, grasped, exceptagainby thosewhohaveexperienced has for centuries a defensive for it directly. action Turkey, example, fought againstthesuccessive to the stagesoftheRussianoverland advance,first the Balkans and the Caucasus. Turkey Black Sea, then down through to theTartarpeopleswho are is relatedby languageand origin moreover the ofawareness Sovietyoke. Hence nowunder greater degree amongthe and thevastlydifferent ofSovietimperialism, Turksofthenature attitude adoptedby Turkeyto the presentworldproblems.In the rest of the in somecircles, IslamicworldSovietimperialism be appremayperhaps, but it failsto evoke any real emotional hendedintellectually, response. refuses howIslamicopinion to accordto ancient It is remarkable generally likeBukharaand Samarkand ofculture one hundredth centres Muslim of and attention andAbadan. theinterest givento,say,Casablanca, Ismailia, willoften Even thosewhoare anti-Communist say-most ofus musthave heardit-'At least,the Russiansare notimperialists'-and reallybelieve is somehow free thattheSovietregime, from despiteits other faults, that the WesternPowersso odious. Here it particular stigmawhichrenders mustbe stated that the Russiansare greatly helpedby Western racial and by theirownapparent freedom from and colourprejudice it. This is asset to them,both in Asia and Africa,and one that is an immense to them. wantonly presented withwhichI shalldeal is thepresent The secondaccidental discontent the social and economic and morespecifically of the Islamic world, disofthemassesand thecallousirresponsibility content.The abjectpoverty as sources mentioned classesare often ofpossible ofthepossessing danger. to liberty ofthe threat and property are unlikely Quiteclearly, warnings to movethosewhopossessneither;on thecontrary, Communist ideasand for a attraction have will promises ready important groupsin a society which,as has oftenbeen pointedout, in manyways resembles that of Russiaon theeve oftheRevolution. and has oftenbeen made, and thereis no This pointis self-evident like to mention needforme to dwellon it. I would,however, threefacts bear in mindwhenwe speak of the immemorial we might which poverty is that thispoverty, of the Orient. The first and irresponsibility at any is in factnot immemorial. ratein its presentform, the gap Obviously, but as faras we can ascertain, richand poorhas alwaysexisted, between timesbeen as wide and as unbridgeable as it is now. it has not in earlier

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the resultof the Western In its present form, thisgap is largely impact, ofwhichhas been to makethe richricher, and thepoorpoorer theeffect of Westernization than theywere before.The economiceffects and of I propose contact withtheWestare a complex hereto mention problem; to amasswealthafforded onlytwoaspects. One is thegreater opportunity financial and theconby Western industrial, commercial, atnd techniques, in earlierand simpler of fortunes on a scale unknown sequent growth is therapidincreaseofpopulation, made possibleby theother economies; and security, but unaccompanied Western hygiene by any corresponding in foodsupplies. increase between richand pooris notonlygreater thedisparity than Moreover, is morevisible, moreimportant, before, but,whatis perhaps thanks to the introduction of Westernamenitiesand the flowof Westernconsumer forthe public display goods,whichafford vastly greateropportunities are notdue to thevillainy and enjoyment ofwealth. Thesechanges ofthe to thedirect measure intervention ofWesterners; Westoreveninanygreat they are ratherthe consequencesof the process of Westerncontact, and Westernization Western influence, generally.The West is now doing to remedy and can do verymuchmore. something them, ofthe Orient was not,in its present I havesaid thatthepoverty form, Nor forthat matteris the irresponsibility immemorial. of the Oriental rulingclasses. Beforethe impactof Westernization from, say, the late of traditional structure eighteenth centuryonwards,the corporative was stillstanding, Islamic society, thoughworm-eaten, and the complex ofsocial and moraldutiesassociatedwithit was stillfunctioning. system not by thewickedimperialists, was shattered, Then the old order but by men of the stamp of MahmudII in Turkeyand Munativereformers, better thantheybuilt. Nothing Ali in Egypt,whodestroyed hammad has cometo replacetheold bonds. That is thecause ofthesocialand political formlessness which has struckso many observersof modernIslamic the absenceof any but purelypersonaland family societies, loyaltiessocialunitwithanyreallifeormeanis theonlysurviving sincethefamily what we condemnas the vice of ing. So that, we might remember, offamily thosewhopractise theonly nepotism is,for it,thevirtue loyalty, remains. of that The form loyalty of the old intelligible disappearance social ethos and the breakdownof the old social cohesionhave lefta socialideals and institutions Western have failedto dangerous gap which ofdanger is notthestarving is thatthecentre Mythird point peasantry the aspiring whoare themain referred so often to, but rather mechanics, arestill, cause. The peasantry to a largeextent, to theCommunist recruits and social traditional in their sustained integrated units, by the loyalty and villagegroup. It is thesemi-skilled of the family and cohesion oruntribaland villagecommunifrom their whoare uprooted labourers skilled of social relationships of theirusual system of the support ties,deprived
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and mutualaid, and placed in alien and unfamiliar surroundings. In the Communist cell the transplanted proletarian or mechanic may hope to somesubstitute find for hislostsocialarmature, as wellas encouragement in the ambitions and resentments thathe acquirestogether withhis new skills. I turnnow from the accidentalto the essentialfactors, to thosedethe verynatureof Islamic society,tradition, rivingfrom and thought. of theseis the authoritarianism, The first perhapswe may even say the oftheIslamicpolitical It is by nowlamentably totalitarianism, tradition. clearthatany totalitarian however government, anti-Communist its procreedmaybe, doesin factprovide thestarting-point fessed for a swift and easy transitionto Communistdictatorship.The democraticFinns, isolated and abandoned to the merciesof Russia, have nevertheless their democratic succeededin maintaining libertiesthrough long and difficult years. The moreor less Fascist regimes of Easternand Central weresoon transformed Europe,by a fewsimpleadjustments, into Communist and personnel ofrepression, States,forwhichthe machinery and in it,werereadyto hand. The political thehabitofacquiescence experiofIslam,though enceand traditions from thoseofEastern verydifferent contain elements which Europe,do nevertheless in certain might, circumthe way forCommunism. stances, prepare have beenmadeto showthatIslam and democracy Manyattempts are identical-attempts of Islam or usually based on a misunderstanding or both. This sort of argument democracy expressesa need of the upwho is no longersatisfied rootedMuslimintellectual withor capable of traditional Islamic values, and who tries to justify, understanding or in terms his inherited faith ofthe fashionable rather, re-state, of ideology and apologetic the day. It is an exampleoftheromantic of presentation ofMuslim Islam thatis a recognized to the phasein thereaction thought even important impactof the West. Thereare of courseelements, elein the earlyperiod,whichwe might in Islam, especially ments, not unbut on the wholethe tendency whichis usually justlycall democratic, rather of thisthesisis equalitarian than democratic; adducedin support and one that goes withauthoritarian at least as a verydifferent thing, In pointoffact, institutions. wellas withdemocratic exceptfortheearly of tribal Arabia was still caliphate,when the anarchicindividualism of Islam is one of almostunrelieved the politicalhistory autoeffective, since the not I was cracy. say autocracy, despotism, sovereign boundby and subjectto the Holy Law, and was acceptedby thepeopleas rightful oftheHolyLaw. But and maintained ruler, maintaining by theauthority sometimes oftenarbitrary, still,it was authoritarian, tyrannical.There of any kind,no councils or representative assemblies are no parliaments no municipalities or estates, no chambers ofnobility in the or communes, to whichthe subject but the sovereign of Islam; nothing history power,

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as a religious obedience dutyimposed by and unwavering owedcomplete the Holy Law. In the greatdays of classicalIslam this dutywas only on earthand caliph,as God's vicegerent appointed owed to the lawfully and thenonlyforas longas he upheld head ofthetheocratic community, ofmilitary thelaw; but withthe declineofthe caliphateand the growth accommodated theirteachMuslimjuristsand theologians dictatorship, thereligious and extended dutyofobedience situation ingsto the changed however barbarous.For the however impious, to anyeffective authority, ofIslamhas beendominated thepolitical by thinking last thousand years, and than is better 'whose poweris anarchy' such maximsas 'tyranny to himis incumbent'. The classicalformulation obedience of established, in an oftencited passage from Islamic politicalquietismmaybe found Qadi ofCairoand diedin the SyrianjuristIbn Jama'a,whobecameChief
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a chief when seizes in a time Thishappens of by force, Forced power homage. to recognize himin order and it becomes to avoid necessary civildisorders, ofsovereignty, Thathe mayhavenoneofthequalifications troubles. further thathe be evena slaveor a woman, orvicious, is thathe be illiterate, unjust infact, until such time as another, He is a sovereign stronger ofnoconsequence. andseizes thethrone him from then be sovereign than power.He will he,drives inorder nottoincrease andshould be recognized strife. Whobythesametitle, for a government, to obedience, has theright eventhe haseffective ever power choose andoftwoevilsoneshould thelesser. thananarchy, worst one,is better ofa time-server orflatterer It willbe clearthatthesearenotthewords court. to makehis careerat an autocratic They are thewordsofa trying and sadlyan unpalatable truth bluntly putting piousand devoutbeliever, is the that a writer doctor oftheHoly as he sees it. It willbe remembered oftheHoly Law. Whenhe prescribes in terms Law and speaking recognihe is layingdownthe dutyof the believer underthe tion and obedience, a rulethe violation ofwhich Holy Law-that is to say, he is formulating a sinas wellas a crime, hell-fire as wellas involving is,in ourterminology, as thesovereign see fitto imposein chastisement suchanticipatory might Ibn a a or woman' slave 'Even thisworld. says Jama'a; onlyone thing and that worsecan be imagined-an infidel, stagetoo was reachedwhen, a Muslim theMuslims, the Norman after juristof conquestofSicilyfrom ruler mustbe acceptedand obeyed, Mazaralaid downthatevena Christian toleration to the Muslims. A community providedhe accordsreligious willnotbe shocked disregard by Communist brought up on suchdoctrines it mayevenbe attracted or humanrights; ofpolitical by a regime liberty in the serviceof a causeand efficiency ruthless whichoffers strength of the and ineptitude,corruption, anyway in appearance-in place whichin theirmind,one may even say in theirexperience, are cynicism from parliamentary government. inseparable thattheState mustdirect doctrine economic Even theCommunist life is he accustomed be thought-rather as might is notas aliento theMuslim ofcertain central and control to look to the State fordirection aspectsof

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economic life. The classicalIslamicsocial orderwas evolvedin Iraq and society. In Egypt,and conform ed to the ancientpatternof river-valley therewas an intensive agriculture, based on thoselands of littlerainfall and from the river. This required armiesof engineers artificial irrigation whosetask it by a centralauthority, officials, employed and controlled theelaborate structure ofdykes, dams,canals,and other was to maintain lifeofthecountry couldbe alonetheeconomic irrigation works, by which authority was a paramount For thissystem a strong central maintained. necessity, and one does not have to look farto findexamplesof the ruin ofthecentral authority which followed thebreakdown andimpoverishment and theconsequent neglect oftheirrigation in timesofpolitical weakness blessedwithrainthe farmer can look to God forhis works. In countries in other a certain respects.In theriverwaterand maintain independence to maintainthe valley societieshe must look to the centralauthority thelife-giving himself to be at and to supply stream, and he knows system thetypeofsocialorder thatwe find itsmercy. It is in suchcommunities has called'thehydraulic where theregime and the society', thatWittfogel the are based on for class of water irrigation. Its characsupply ruling a docileand helpless are wellknown: at themercy ofa teristics peasantry, and bureaucratic class of officials and centralized and a ruling authority in unchallenged, and indeedunchallengeable, control of the land-owners lifeand therefore of political ofeconomic power. The same basic sources of India, type of societyexistsin Egypt and Iraq, in the river-valleys of Russia. in China, and, one may perhaps add, in the river-valleys in thissense I would the historic Russiansocietyis 'hydraulic' Whether to say; thereare, however, certainstriking similarities. The not pretend Islamicautocracy the traditional restson threepillars:the bureaucracy, and thereligious I mayrecallinpassing theinteresthierarchy-and army, that made in this Journal by MrAlbertHourani, recently ingsuggestion in the recent a return to this pattern we may be witnessing changesin the religious need be hierarchy, onlythe third, Egypt. In this pattern, in order to prepare theway fora Communist State. changed isbyno meansunimportant. the Thatthird, Quiteobviously, however, of Nevertheare different from the Communist 'Ulama Islam Party. very we findcertain resemblances. uncomfortable less, on closerexamination, with completeand final doctrine, Both groupsprofessa totalitarian to all questions are different in on heavenand earth;the answers answers alikeonlyin their and in theconand completeness, finality every respect, ofWestern man. Bothgroups withtheeternal questioning trast theyoffer the agreeable members and followers sensation ofbelonging offer to their as againstan outer of believers, who are alwaysright, to a community an exhilarating who are alwayswrong.Both offer worldof unbelievers, in of purpose, ofbeingengaged a collective adventure feeling ofmission, ofthe truefaithoverthe the historically to accelerate inevitable victory Islamicdivisionofthe worldinto the infidel evil-doers.The traditional
B

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House of Islam and the House of War, two necessarilyopposed groups,of the firsthas the collective obligation of perpetual struggleagainst whichthe second, also has obvious parallels in the Communist view of world but the affairs. There again, the content of belief is utterly different, aggressive fanaticism of the believer is the same. The humorist who summedup the Communistcreed as 'There is no God and Karl Marx is his on a real affinity. The call to a Communist Prophet' was laying his finger Jihad,a Holy War for the faith-a new faith,but against the self-same Western Christianenemy-might well strikea responsivenote. I have referred to collective obligations. Here too there is a possible and Islam, the collectivisttendencies point ofcontactbetweenCommunism of whichhave struckmany observers.A good deal has been writtenabout sects and movements that have the innumerable religio-Communistic arisen all over Islam, almost since its beginning. Let me quote froman almost contemporaryArabic chronicle, describing the activities of an agent of one such sect in Iraq, in the neighbourhoodof Kufa, about the middle of the ninthcentury. This agent, we are told, having convertedthe inhabitants of some villages to his doctrine,imposed on them an everincreasingseries of taxes and levies and finally: ofassembling all their goodsin one place and The dutyofUlfa.. .; thisconsisted incommon them without which anypersonal property enjoying anyoneretaining mightgive him an advantageoverthe others. He assuredthemthat theydid not need to keep any property because all the land belongedto themand to no one else. That, he told them,is the test by whichyou are provedso that we mayknowhowyou willbehave. He urgedthemto buy and preparearms. The man to assembleall that missionaries appointedin each village a trustworthy provisions, the people of the village ownedby way of cattle,sheep,jewellery, etc. He clothedthe naked and metall theirneeds,leavingno poorman among norany needyand infirm. withdiligence and emulathem, Everyman worked he brought.The tion at his task in orderto deservehighrankby the benefit what she earnedby weaving,the childbrought womanbrought his wages for hissword and beyond scaring awaybirds. Nobodyamongthemownedanything his arms. This is no doubt an exaggerated descriptionof the proceedingsof these groups,but it is not untypical. And this is but one of many such movementsrecordedin Islam, and in Persia also long beforeIslam. All of them failed and were duly condemnedby the orthodoxas heresy,but theyreveal the recurringtendency in Islam to throwup such ideas and groups, and connexionswhich are they also help to explain the otherwisemystifying reported fromtime to time between certain extremistIslamic religious organizationsand Communism. It was precisely in organizationsof this sort, the popular, semi-secret,mystical brotherhoods,of dubious orthodoxy and mistrusted by the regular'Ulama, that these religio-Communistic tendenciesusually appeared. Nor is this collectivismlimited to what one might call the 'popular sub-stratum' of Islam. It is also discernible in

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manyaspects of orthodox Islamic life and thought, in the attitudeto society and government, whichI have alreadymentioned, even in literature. The classicalArabicbook is oftenpresented not as an individual and personal creation oftheauthor, but as a linkin thechainoftradition, the authoreffacing his ownpersonality behindthe prestige of authority and theranksofprevious transmitters. Manyofthegreat works ofArabic literature are as impersonal and as collectiveas a medievalcathedral. Thiscollectivism is perhaps clearest in theMuslim idea ofthePerfect Man and thePerfect State as given, immutable patterns externally applied,to whichall mustin theory attempt to conform by imitation, insteadof,as in theWestern ideal,by developing theirownpotentialities from within. But all this, it maybe objected, couldequallywellbe said ofanyother religion as ofIslam,and amounts to no more thansaying thatCommunism is itself a religion.I concedethatsomeofthe comparisons I have made, though by no meansall, also applyto someotherreligions.I wouldadd thathad thesereligions retained the same formative and determinative adherents as Islam stillhas, the observation have powerovertheir might somepractical relevance.But I cannotaccept the statement that Communism is a religion, I wouldsuggest, moreclearly and nothing, illustrates thedecayedstateofreligion in ourWestern world, thanthatsucha comcan be madeat all. Admittedly, are at first parison theresemblances sight In striking. Communism, as in mostreligions, we find ritual and hierarchy, revelation and prophecy, scripture and exegesis,orthodoxy and heresy, excommunication and persecution.Even some of the deeper spiritual ofreligious faith seemsto fortify thetrueconvinced Communist. strength Despitehis professed materialism, he has objectives beyondhis ownselfand beyondhis own lifetime.He is filledwith an evangelic interest, fervour and a messianic faith. It is this qualitywhichhas givenCommunism its specialstrength-the fascination whichit exercises dangerous in so many orientalcountries.Fascism and Nazism,withtheirnaked and envy, themappealto greed, hate,pride, couldin thelongrunaddress selvesonlyto theevilinstincts ofman,and werecorrespondingly limited. to its whileexploiting theseto the full,has also perverted Communism, someofthenoblest ofthehumanrace-as peace,social service aspirations of man-and has used themwithdeadlyeffect. justice,the brotherhood ifwe do We shall failto understand and meetthe threatof Communism forthebest,though notrecognize its attraction notthebrightest, as well as fortheworst spirits. Communism in commonwith religion, but thus has many features thosethat are lackingare perhapsthe mostimportant.I wouldlike to theDanish writer Vilhelm whosays: quotea passagefrom Gr0nbech, Thetrouble is thatweconfuse with Just because are religiosity religion. people so devout areunable to conceive a religion which is intheir personal way,they thesoulofsociety, theobverse ofthepractical, a living and realreligion, the of thepeopleto God,souland eternity, thatmanifests practical relationship

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[JAN. I954

in in politics and economics, as a life-giving power itself inworship andworks sense themodern Statehasno as inlaw. In this crafts andcommerce, inethics religion. In thissense,one may add, Communism is not and cannotbe a religion, stillis; and thatis the coreof whileIslam,forthegreatmass ofbelievers, belief in liberty to Communist ideas. Thoughtheir the Islamicresistance enough. be.tooweakto sustain them, their belief in Godmayyetbe strong and in the sitnplest The Islamic peoples are still profoundly religious is no moreanti-Comdeepestmeaning of the word. Islam as a religion rather less so. But in fact, as I have suggested, munist thanChristianity; of its adit is morepotentas a forceaffecting the lives and thoughts are pious-will not long herents. Pious Muslims-and most Muslimns religious tolerate an atheistcreed,norone that violatestheirtraditional moralprinciples because theydo not tallywithour own,are too which, oftheMuslims revolt often observers. The present overlooked by Western oftheir ownand ofsomeWestern and opportunistn against theimmorality withtheirappearance favourthe Communists, leadersmay temporarily when of selfless devotion to an ideal,but will workagainstCommunism behindthe propaganda. Let us hope Muslims come to see the realities thattheywillnottaketoo longoverit. In anycase,there is nota greatdeal thatwe can do aboutit. Ourown is undoubtedly betterthan that of the public and politicalmorality but the difference is apparently notlargeenoughor striking Communists, on the rest of the world. The enoughto make any notableimpression in its dealingswithIslam are Western democracy people who represent estimable and meritorious but as work, men,doingimportant certainly revivaltheyare unlikely to carryconpromoters of moraland religious thematerial well-being viction.We oftheWestcan do muchto promote and raise the materialstandardsof the lands of Islam. We can also to encourage-and that meansto justify-a more perhapsdo something ourideas,and ouraspirations;but in towards attitude ourselves, positive thatIslam mustfind it is from themoralstrength crisis within thepresent to resistthe greatsecularheresy and spiritual resources ofour time. We from can do no morethanrefrain impediments. offering at Chatham House Address 6 October I953