Column:

Nothing like a good clashing of cultures

By John Hendel

Published April 10, 2007

PARIS — In the past two weeks, you've hopefully heard a little about the scandal about Iran detaining 15 British sailors and the accompanying mess. The Iranian president declared these 15 sailors had intruded on Iranian waters and took them hostage for two weeks in an attempt to humiliate the West, even faking letters from the sailors. He released the sailors last week in what he called "a gift" to the British people and at the same time slammed the British for a lack of family values because they let a pregnant woman serve as a sailor.

The whole incident struck me as an incredibly interesting way to see how perceptions influence everything about the relations between the West and the Middle East. My internship has forced me to examine free expression violations around the world daily, which incidentally has led me to frequently look at Middle Eastern countries. Most governments in the Middle East exercise considerable censorship over their people or that many existing forms of Islam promote a rather monolithic worldview.

The preaching of this worldview doesn't jive well with Western sensibilities. The Muslim society in Australia recently reined in its powerful radical clerics due to their controversial sermons. They are now forbidden to speak to the press. Britain has also carefully monitored its Muslim clerics and criminalized "glorifying terrorism." British schools have also run into simple logistical problems over items such as the hijab, the Muslim covering. The schools recently ruled students can be forbad from wearing the hijab due to security reasons and to facilitate teaching.

And though I wholeheartedly tolerate the ability for everyone to freely express themselves, I certainly don't support or understand many aspects of some radical forms of Islam. The family values espoused, such as the Iranian president's condemnation about Britain's lack of family values for allowing a mother to work as a sailor, strike me as repressive. The veracity in spreading the religion unrelentingly disturbs me, although that's true of all religions including the evangelical brands of Christianity popular in the American South. The radical sects of Islam also express an unusual acceptance of violence, as evident in many sermons and protests of radical clerics.

Frankly, this freaks out the West. But to be fair, I react to radical Islam in not too differently a way than how I react to the foreign culture of small town Mississippi.

I'm certainly not saying this applies to all Muslims. The large majority flourish without anything too radical, but all the isolated, radical media incidents have created a culture of paranoia over Muslim culture. The fact that many stand out, distinguished notably by head scarves and dress, has not allowed for an easy integration.

I met with the young imam, Nabeel Khan, and the mosque secretary in Columbia last fall and hung out with them for a couple hours. Khan, 26, hails from California, calls his secretary "dude" and tactfully deals with calls from his cell phone every five minutes. He also memorized the Quran in Pakistan by age 13. The mosque there has a great community I had never encountered before then. It's enlightening to check it out.

I've often thought about cross-cultural relations while living abroad and the natural, cliché thought I'd promote here is to avoid the insular views of your own culture, whether religiously, racially or nationally.

The arrogant inability to see oneself from others' eyes accomplishes nothing.