(written on 30 September 2004)
   
   War on Terror (1)
   
   John Jia Liang Han

   Fremont, CA 94538
   
   From recent articles in Chinese media and on web sites, many Chinese do not understand the nature of the War on Terror. This is not surprising since many Chinese, especially those from Mainland China, do not have the background knowledge. First, one needs to understand the three monotheistic religions, i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, their related cultures, and the history of the conflict between Christendom and Islam. Professor Bernard Lewis, an emeritus professor (and the most respected expert in the world) on Middle East history, has written two excellent books on this topic [1,2]. They are easy to read. I suggest that everyone read them before commenting on the War on Terror. According to an earlier article appeared in Wall Street Journal, Professor Lewis had strong influence on key officials in the Bush administration before the Iraq War. Let me briefly outline some main points below.
   
   Christianity and Islam are rival religions since the seventh century. Both claim to be the last and true revelation from one and only God to the whole world. Thus, each regards its duty to spread God’s revelation to the whole world. However, the method of spreading, known as proselytizing, is very different. Christianity preaches its message by testimony while Islam by jihad. The term crusade is not in the Bible and in fact contradicts to the teaching of Jesus while jihad is a central theme of the Koran [3]. Crusade was used by Christendom in the Middle Age to counter military expansion of the Islamic Empire. Initially, Islam seems winning this rivalry. The Islamic Empire expanded from Arabia (now Saudi Arabia) to Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Persia (now Iran), Turkey, and parts of central Europe. In the Middle Age, Islamic societies were more advanced in sciences and social areas, at least on some aspects. For example, while Christendom was involved in intense infighting between religious orthodox and heresies, the Islamic Empire was more tolerant toward religious minorities and some Jews and Christians in Christendom even fled to the Middle East when faced prosecutions. However, all non-Muslims are regarded as infidels (those who are not Muslims) by Muslims. They would pay exorbitant taxes and faced persecutions from time to time in the Islamic Empire [4].
   
   In the last three centuries, however, Islam is in decline. The modern time has been an extremely painful and frustrating era for Muslims. True, impacts by Western civilizations (or modernization; they are related but not equivalent) are not unique to Islamic societies. Other civilizations also have suffered similar fate. But this is especially hard for Muslims since, unlike other civilizations such as China, they always had close contact with Christendom and history had proven their superiority earlier, or at least it seems to them. During the last half-century, the agony and frustration of Middle Eastern Muslims become more acute. After many attempts and different approaches to catch up with Western civilizations, many Islamic nations have fallen further behind. Even new comers, such as Korea and Japan, have now surpassed them in economic output, scientific research, industrialization, political reforms, and social equalities. Islam and Islamic societies are in crisis. Islamic fundamentalism is a response to this crisis. Unless one understands the history of this conflict, one cannot appreciate the recent rise of Islamic terrorism. In a sense, the conflict between Islam and Christendom/Christianity is still going on today, at least in the minds of Middle Eastern Muslims. While the rest of the world focused on other things, such as fascism and communism, this conflict faded into the background. As soon as the Cold War was over, it becomes the biggest threat to world peace.
   
   Even many in the West do not understand the threat of Islamic terrorism. In a sense, the War on Terror is World War IV while the Cold War is the World War III [5]. The War on Terror involves many countries and civilizations, as recent events in Spain, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand demonstrate. Like the Cold War, this war does not always involve military conflicts. This War on Terror actually started much earlier in the Middle East, at least from1960s in Egypt. The book [6] provides an overview on Islamic militancy in the Middle East. The US becomes directly involved in the War on Terror after the 9/11 event. Because the main thrust of Bin Laden’s attacks was the US military presence in Saudi Arabia, one may say that US got involved in this war since the 1990/91 Gulf War. However, since the US is the leader of Western civilizations, Islamic militants regard the US as one of its top enemies any way. So no matter what US’s Middle East policies are, this war is inevitable. No country or people can stand on the sideline since this threat is to all civilizations. Verse 9.29 of the Koran says “Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.” Thus, the Koran calls Muslims to fight all religions and communities until they subjugate to Islam. There are many more related verses in Koran [3]. So even if you are communists, Buddhists or atheists, you must recognize this threat. It is perhaps not just a coincidence that many recent conflicts in the world involve Muslims [7].
   
   The solution Professor Lewis suggested to the Middle East is democracy and perhaps also religious reforms. The idea is that by promoting democracy in Middle East the breeding ground for Islamic terrorism will be reduced or eliminated. Note that he thought that Iraq and Iran were two Middle Eastern countries were most likely to develop democracy [2]. Will this approach work? The jury is still out and it will take time before we know the outcome.
   
   References:
   [1] "What Went Wrong", Bernard Lewis, Oxford, 2002.
   [2]“The Crisis of Islam”, Bernard Lewis, The Modern Library, New York, 2003.
   [3]“Secrets of the Koran,” Don Richardson, Regal Book, 2003
   [4]“Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide,” Bat Yeor, Miriam Kochan, and David Littman, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; 2001.
   [5]“World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win”, Commentary Magazine, September, 2004.
   [6] "God Has Ninety-Nine Names" Judith Miller, Simon & Schuster, 1997
   [7]“Clash of Civilizations”, S. Huntington, Simon & Schuster, 1998.