Irfan Husain’s new book, Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West, is a lucid and modestly detailed look at the difficult collage of relationships between America and the West on the one hand, and Islam and Muslims on the other. Husain explores a complex historical period going back to the genesis of the Christian-Muslim conflict, the expansion of the Ottoman empire, the recurring conflict between Judaism and Islam, the Israel-Palestine dispute, the attitudes of the West towards Muslims and vice-versa.
He devotes an exclusive chapter (that in a way becomes the heart of the book) to the “Pakistani Paradox”. Successfully dealing with the “intended” secularism for Pakistan spoken of by Jinnah in his Constituent Assembly speech of August 11, 1947, wherein Jinnah defined the ideal secular state, Husain walks the complex path of Pakistan’s journey from its inception up to its current issues of sovereignty, dignity, visceral anti-Americanism and terrorism. In a single chapter, he successfully pulls in a gamut of issues giving an in-depth yet breezy account of the Pakistan conundrum and the history of Islam, of seminal questions on life in Dar al-Harb (the land of wars) in contrast to Dar al-Islam (the land of Islam), and other issues such as payment of taxes, fines, jihad, etc.
He examines how, despite being the recipient of substantial American aid, the bulk of Pakistanis continue to perceive America as their main enemy and how cracking the Pakistani paradox is the cause of a perennial problem for the US State Department. His description of Pakistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) that border Afghanistan, the deficiencies in the Pakistani education system, the proliferation of madrasas and so on not only displays a deep understanding of the infrastructural drawbacks of Pakistani society but also provides a deep insight into it from the hands of a seasoned journalist.
Husain has been a civil servant and has worked with several governments. His background as a journalist with leading newspapers and magazines has helped him evolve a style of writing that combines an easy writing of history and ability to move across centuries effortlessly. Therefore, Fatal Faultlines is interesting reading to gain an insight into the Muslim mind and also into the reaction of the West to it.
The book can easily be recommended for those who are not looking at a thick historical perspective but at history made easy. It provides pacy reading dealing with a spectrum of issues that concern the modern world. There are interesting facts on the inability of Muslims to integrate in western societies and their reluctance to learn local languages and to adopt local customs, the desire for separate identity often leading to misunderstandings, suspicions and a complex relationship between “them versus us”. Husain discusses the dilemma before young Muslims when their parents are appalled at anything appreciative of western culture. He brings out interesting statistics highlighting that the perceived “Islamic threat” in the United States is minimal, and that of the roughly 2.5 million to four million Muslims in the US (of a total population of 310 million), the actual number of Muslims arrested in the United States for planning or carrying out acts of terrorism was 21 in 2010. Given these numbers, he points out that it is hard to imagine hordes of bearded Muslims threatening the foundations of American society. Despite this, relations between the West and Muslims continue to sour.
Having said this, the book leaves an aftertaste that greater responsibility for the problem rests with Islam and Muslims rather than the West, indicative of a strong influence from Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations. The book reflects the deepening chasm between Muslims in the West, a continuation of the clash between Islam and the Christian faith starting from the period Islam spread to the West, the defeat of Christians during the Crusades and the heroism of Saladin. There has also been a growth of the idea that what is national interest to the West is perceived by Muslims as an assault on their religion and an extension of the western cultures’ continuing struggles to prevent Islam from regaining the glory it enjoyed during the earlier campaigns from Spain to Indonesia.
On balance, Husain’s Fatal Faultlines makes interesting reading at the riskiest of times when the relationship between two friends – the US and Pakistan – is at a crossroads. Coming at a time when a nuclear-armed Pakistan is going through an unpredictable phase, and the issue of Islam and Muslim identities casts a furrow on the western brow, it provides provocative food for thought.
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The reviewer is vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia
FATAL FAULTLINES: PAKISTAN, ISLAM AND THE WEST
Irfan Husain
Arc Manor
256 pages; $19.99