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At last we have real Insight into Islamic Terrorism, December 20, 2004
This review is from: New Political Religions, or an Analysis of Modern Terrorism (Hardcover)
Barry Cooper has a new book this year entitled NEW
POLITICAL RELIGIONS, OR AN ANALYSIS OF MODERN TERRORISM,
(University of Missouri Press, Columbia, 2004). The title puts
the reader in mind of Eric Voegelin's POLITICAL RELIGIONS, which
originally appeared in 1938 and dealt with the murderous mass
political movements of that era. In this work, Dr. Cooper has
brought his understanding of political theory to bear on what he
calls "Islamism," that fraction of Muslim society which
believes it has a God-given task to bring the world under Islamic
control, using murder and suicide as routine instruments for
conquest.
One of the epigrams for the volume is from Graham Greene, "They
won't believe the world they haven't noticed is like that"- and
it was certainly true for this reader! I thought in the years
following 9/11 that I had acquired a good grasp of the problems
faced by the West and particularly the US, but it soon became
evident to me on reading this book that I knew too little.
The book is divided into five chapters. The first, "Context,"
brings in Hannah Arendt and Voegelin on totalitarianism, terror
and spiritual disease in light of 9/11. The second, "Concepts,"
explains "pneumopathology" and "second reality" and discusses
them in relation to the Japanese revolutionary movement Aum
Shinrikyo. This lends needed emotional distance for the analysis
because it is not about 9/11 directly. The third chapter,
"Genealogy of Salafism," explores the history of Islam and the
related topics of Ibn Taymiyya, Wahhabism, the Muslim
Brotherhood, etc. The fourth chapter, "Genesis of a New
Ideology," explores the source of the modern problem in the
writings of Qutb in Egypt, the enshrining of scriptural
ignorance, and the heating of the pot by Khomeini and other
Shiites. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda and the theological problem of
suicide complete the chapter.
The last chapter, entitled "Counternetwar," explores the need to
modify traditional military methods in order to deal with the
elusive networking of the enemy, made possible in large part by
modern cyber technology. There is an astonishing appendix on
history and the Koran in which the historiogenesis of Islam is
explored as is the problem arising for fundamentalists that there
are now several varying manuscripts of the Koran which have not
been acknowledged, because while the bible has various texts
which cause problems, this is seen to be impossible for the Koran
since it was handed down directly by God. Both Voegelin and Leo
Strauss are used to set the argument.
Here are a few choice quotations from the book:
". . . societies that are not organized as states do not have
armies; rather, they are armies. In principle, therefore, where
armed force is directed by organizations that are not states,
against organizations that are not armies, by people who are not
soldiers, modern Clausewitzian categories are, if not eclipsed,
then cast into doubt as the only way that conflict can be
understood." p. 28.
"There is, therefore, an inherent friction between commonsense
reality, the common reality of worldly existence, within which
the terrorist like everybody else must live, and the occult
reality within which the terrorist lives imaginatively, an
imaginary reality where killing the innocent to impress others is
understood to be heroic, altruistic self-sacrifice." P.40
Quoting Heimito von Doderer in THE DEMONS: "A revolutionary,
said Doderer, is 'someone who wants to change the general
situation because of the impossibility or untenability of his own
position,' or rather, 'of the fundamentals of life in general.'
In fact, however, 'a person who has been unable to endure himself
becomes a revolutionary; then it is others who have to endure
him'." Here Dr. Cooper expands on Voegelin's Famous essay, "The
Eclipse of Reality."p.44
"The chief practical consequence of taking part in a cosmic
struggle with a satanic enemy is that the enemy must be
extinguished. The sentiments expressed by Hussein Mussawi, the
found of Hezbollah, are typical: 'We are not fighting so that
the enemy recognizes us and offers us something. We are fighting
to wipe out the enemy.'" P.57
Following a lengthy exposition of Voegelin's ISRAEL AND
REVELATION, Dr. Cooper brings the same type of analysis to Muslim
history. He carries the political and spiritual developments
forward to modern times, and along the way, tells us that after
the Mongol destruction of Baghdad in 1258 and killing of the
last Abbasid Caliph, that "the appropriate response to God's
scourge, both then and now according to the Muslim vulgate, has
been to recover the purity of the early companions [Salafs] of
the Prophet [return to origins being a common theme in Judaism
and Christianity as well]. . .Central as well was the importance
of jihad....It was an important constituent element in the
spiritual complex of the terrorist attack of [9/11]." pp 95-96.
Dr. Cooper terms this belief "Salafism" after the term for the
"venerable forefathers," the "early companions."
There is a related discussion of Wahhabism, a kind of militant
Islamic purity unifying politics and religion-Augustine's two
cities becoming one. On its growth and dominance in Saudi
Arabia: "[The British were] powerless to prevent the spread of
sentiments of great approbation for Wahhabi achievements. Chief
among them was the undeniable fact that Saudi Arabia was formally
independent of foreign, and thus infidel rule. Because Saudi
Arabia had experienced neither Western colonization nor rule by a
Westernized elite, the Saudi rulers could easily and genuinely
believe that [Wahhabi] Islam was socially, morally, and
religiously superior." p. 101
After Kemal created a secular state in Turkey and Nasser created
one in Egypt, the Salafists emerged with a doctrinal complex
which included the notion that the Koran is a complete guide to
individual and communal action, abandonment of the pure ways of
the ancestors brought about Western dominance, science can be
used so long as Westernization is not imported and lastly "jihad
is central to the revival of Islam and the conquest of the world
for God and against Satan." P.109.
"For Islamists, the issue is simple: in Muslim terms, the five
pillars of Islam (profession of faith, prayer, the fast of
Ramadan, pilgrimage, and charity) amount to a spiritual
preparation for war against the enemies of God. . . . the
limitations on what can be achieved by worldly action or on what
that worldly action may mean, which is established by the world-
transcendent dimension of Muslim spirituality, tends to be
eclipsed."p 119
The transformation of the prohibitions against suicide in the
hadiths to the granting of the six privileges of martyrdom to
suicides is characterized as a perversion. P138 and, "As with the
question of the black-eyed houris, the simplifiers and
vulgarizers clearly dominated the current popular debate. It is
now dogmatically established and lies beyond question self-
martyrdom, istishad, is not suicide, intihar, but indeed the
highest form of martyrdom." P 141
This book represents a synthesis of enormous historical,
religious, and philosophical scholarship by Dr. Cooper who is a
professor of political science; it is the kind of work Voegelin
did so well. I know of no other political scientist who brings
such a level of philosophical penetration to Islamism as does the
author. Of course Dr. Cooper read voraciously to prepare himself
to write this work and he generously gives tribute in the text
and footnotes to his sources. He particularly thanks Peter von Sivers,
a well known Voegelinian scholar who specializes in Islamic problems,
for guidance through the intricacies of Islamic culture.
A book-length argument can scarcely be reduced to a review and I
didn't attempt it. And an appreciation written by a non-
specialist must be taken with a grain of salt. Nevertheless one
can hope that enough has been shown here to lead the reader to
the original. It must be said too that it is a lively read. My
attention never wandered. Dr. Cooper is also the author of ERIC
VOEGELIN AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN
POLITICAL SCIENCE, (U. of Missouri Press, Columbis, 1999)
and ACTION INTO NATURE, An Essay on the Meaning of
Technology, (U. of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame 1991).
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