Islam and the Challenge of Communism

Abstract

The conflict that has been taking place in Afghanistan for the past three years has come to be interpreted in markedly different ways depending on one’s viewpoint. Those in the West, including students and specialists of the region and policy makers, tend to view the events in Afghanistan primarily in geo-political or geo-strategic terms. For instance, questions are asked such as what impact is being felt in terms of the military, strategic and economic interests of the superpowers? Of the other states in the region? What effect will there be on relations between states in the region? Between the superpowers? And so on. Differing from this view and its apparent preoccupation with security and strategic concerns, is a perspective that is more commonly voiced in the Muslim world2 which casts the conflict in Afghanistan in terms of Islam and the challenge of Communism, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say in terms of the converse: Communism and the challenge of Islam. This view suggests that what the real conflict in Afghanistan is about is the struggle between these two great ideologies or belief systems and the effort on the part of each to vanquish the other. Because this latter interpretation is less frequently presented or voiced at meetings of Western scholars, I would like to develop to some extent this theme in this short paper. First of all, I would like to present some of the points made by this Islamic school of interpretation-I would ...