Overview
Peer: Hazel
The start of the “new age” of Islam, can be pinpointed to the fall of British rule in India. Although there are many diverse places that practice this faith, and much of India doesn’t, the freedom from British rule to practice this religion was a huge steppingstone in non-Christian religions becoming acceptable in the modern world. Allowing all religions a place for practice is not a new concept in India, one of their emperors enforced and encouraged the cultivation of all religions (India Documentary). With this foot in the door, Islam was stagnated by British rule until the late 1940s, when it was freed back into a native rule. However, as with many religions; extremists and purists decided to break off from this land and form a new “more pure” (Allosso and Williford 450) land, named Pakistan. This then cascaded into the many countries with the “istan” suffix. Going into the late 20th and early 21st centuries, we then see a divide in land and beliefs within Islam, with the more traditional taking up stock in the western countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and, Jordan. The more integrated and diverse practitioners then found their place in more eastern countries such as India, Bangladesh, and Laos.
After the spread and split of the primarily Islamic countries, tensions rose, with this rise in tensions, western countries gained a nervousness for their strong beliefs. The counter for this movement away from Western ideologies was to persuade the wealthy of Middle Eastern nations with more wealth. This persuasion came in the form of business proposals and bribes. More conservative members of the government - Iranians specifically - objected to the U.S.’s advances (Allosso and Williford 502). With this rejection, the U.S. became enraged and, spurred along by xenophobia, began to vehemently despise Middle Eastern nations.
All of these events have led to a longstanding war between the U.S. and several Middle Eastern nations, as well as a massive step back in terms of the treatment of Islamic and Muslim cultures within the Western world. The main steppingstones along the path of how the modern Islamic religion has evolved would most likely be traced to the independence of India, the radicalization and separation of groups of Islamic leaders, and the fear of Middle Eastern people held by Western nations.
Peer: Jenna
The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union had an immense impact on the Islamic world. Both superpowers needed to have allies in the region, often supporting different regimes and movements. The United States often backed conservative and anti-communist Islamist groups against Soviet influence. Advances in communication technologies and the internet aided in the spread of Islamist ideas and the organization of transnational networks. These technologies allowed for greater coordination of political and religious messages(Alosso and Williford 2021, 548). The improvement in the technology and media was very important.During the Cold War, the United states provided support to Islamist groups that were seen as allies against communism. An example is the support given to the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet Afghanistan War, Ronald Reagen invited a group of the turbaned to the white house for an introduction to the media this which had long-term effects for the rise of militant Islamist movements(Mamdani on Islam and West).The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, led to a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy, with a focus on combating Islamist terrorism. This resulted in military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq and a broader strategy of countering extremist groups, which continued to influence the dynamics of political Islam (Mamdani on Islam and West). Overall the cold war seemed to be fought the most in Afghanistan and they took a big hit. From a population of 20 million people 1 million of them died. The United States wanted to beat the soviet union and the rise of communism so badly they seemed to not care who it was hurting in the process(Mamdani on Islam and West). The rise of imperialism also showed new political approaches to Islam. But it was not in a good way where there were two groups: the oppressed and the oppressors. These muslims did not have food or an education, so they wanted to put an end to the oppressive government and create an islamic government(Ataturk 1927). Afghanistan suffered more losses after the 9/11 attacks when military forces were sent there.(352)