In no period of recorded history have human beings known about different cultures as much as we do. Thanks to the pervasive nature of globalization, what happens in Washington, London or France has an immediate impact on what positions are taken in Istanbul, Cairo or Kuala Lumpur. Our global public space is so powerful yet also so elusive that it leads many to believe that more information brings more understanding. Getting to know each other from close up, however, is not always a smooth and easy experience. It may result in some pleasant surprises and enriching experiences. Yet it may also result in disappointment, frustration and mistrust. In the current state of relations between Muslim and Western societies, we are doomed when we refuse to recognize each other in one way or another. Yet, we also run up against tremendous difficulties when we show the courage and honesty of knowing each other closely for there is too long a history of doubt, mistrust and refusal.
Today, living together is no longer confined to living in the same city or country. Geographical and political boundaries turn into trivial details when it comes to the shared space of thought, imagination and feeling. Living together becomes a burden and threat when this space, which is so dear to the heart and mind of every human being, is ridiculed, underestimated, attacked or destroyed. It is at such moments of violence that we loose our resolve to defend the middle path and begin to see extremism of various kinds, i.e., economic, military, political, religious, cultural, as a refuge and basis for our oppositional identities. This is where Muslim sentiments collide with those of the West, ordinary people with sound minds become suspects or enemies. Our so-called information age gives us not understanding but misguided intellects and hardened souls.
As we experience it today, the form and scale of living together is a new phenomenon in the history of humanity. In no other period in history have human beings been so open and vulnerable to what others think and do. Blessed ignorance or calculated indifference is only a luxury which comes at a high cost. Neither a New Yorker can ignore the Middle East peace process nor can an Egyptian turn a blind eye to the uninspiring and tasteless work of few Danish cartoonists. Whether we see it as a challenge or threat, we live together and try to make sense of our lives through the lenses of such a real and demanding experience.
This is especially true when we consider the large number of Muslims living in Europe and the United States. Today, about one fourth of world’s Muslim population lives as minorities from India and Western China to Africa and Europe. This is a drastically new phenomenon in the history of Muslim societies and will take generations to adjust to. In their history, Muslims have always lived as a majority politically, economically and culturally even when they were outnumbered by local populations they ruled. The modern period brought an end to this and a new situation emerged where living together with communities of different religious and cultural traditions has become a prominent fact of our lives.
Living together is one thing; being aware of it something quite different. And it has taken different forms throughout history. At the risk of being simplistic, we can divide our experience of sharing the world into three periods. The first is what the pre-modern cultures and societies have experienced. The traditional societies were able to exist as more or less independent and integral units. Internal coherence, both metaphysical and social, had given them the ability to grow organically without much need for interaction with the outside world, i.e., different cultures and societies. There have always been interactions with others, of course. But this was not a condition for the long and healthy existence of a civilization. A Chinese painter could have easily produced some of the most beautiful works of art without knowing anything about Islamic mini