World really needs Daniel Pipes
February 1, 2009 by Amitabh Tripathi
It is always difficult to write a piece on any personality as it is always pregnant with some controversy whether your intentions are good or bad. I was also in this dilemma before writing this article as this is going to address a personality whom some body love to hate and somebody as myself is one of them term him as one of signatures of this era. Lot has been written about him in European and American press but still he is not hot topic is Asian press. He is an authority on Middle Eastern politics as well politics on Islam. He has been termed by his critics as Islamophobe for his views on radical Islam. His website is one of the busiest websites in English language with thousands of keywords and one of the best platform for discussions on radical Islam and other topics which are usually don’t come out in open because of political correctness. I hope these are enough indications to reach the destination which goes to Dr Daniel Pipes. Dr Daniel Pipes is going to enter in almost his sixties next week on 9th September with completion of 58 years of his glorious life.
Dr Daniel Pipes who is son of a proud father has legacy of academia behind him and he proved it with his freethinking and analytical power and preferred to read history rather than mathematics. Dr Pipes himself tells that when he opted for history and later decided to study history of Middle Eastern almost as his career it was not less than setback for his parents because before Iranian revolution Islamic politics or Middle Eastern subjects has very few buyers in America but after Khomeini’s revolution in Iran it has become hot topic in America and Dr Pipes was in demand. It was almost a turning point in his career not because he was expert of this subject but his experience of Middle Eastern life which he spend in Egypt with his knowledge of Arabic was instrumental in deciphering the political statement of radical Islam in Middle East.
Dr Daniel Pipes was warning the world from the danger of Islamic terrorism which he define as radical Islam or militant Islam from the decade of 1980’s but world heard him only after 911 happened. After the incident of 911 several leading news papers in America were of the view that if their nation would have heard Dr Pipes earlier this catastrophe has been avoided. What change occurred between 811 to 1011 that person who has been ignored for last two decades and his warnings has been dismissed merely as academic exercise overnight became darling of media not only in America but in other parts of the world as well? This is the real point which needs to be discussed in length.
If we analyze all the analysis and writings of Dr Daniel Pipes we would come to the conclusion that he is more balanced and accurate on problem of Islamic terrorism which he defines as Islamism. Many people believe that Dr Pipes has polarized the whole debate as struggle between Islam and non Islam with his nefarious attacks on Islam as a faith but this is not true because it is an irony as his critics term him as Islamophobe and on the other hand various people struggling with danger of Islamic terrorism feel that he is confusing the whole debate with his definition of Islamism as something different from Islam as a faith.
According to Dr Daniel Pipes Islam as a faith has no legacy with continuity of terrorism as a policy. To prove his point he gave example of Assasines of medieval Islam which applied terrorism as their policy to achieve their goal but terrorism as sustained policy was never applied in Islam. His other argument is more practical which portray modern Islamic terrorism as legacy of fascism and communism and here Dr Pipes has a point because lot of scholars of Middle Eastern subjects has proved that architect of Iranian revolution Khomeini has borrowed tactics and plan of action with communism and even Sayyid Qutub the inspirational figure behind modern Islamic jihad was also very much influenced with ideology of fascism and communism and we could see the footsteps of these ideologies in modern jihad if not in execution then definitely in techniques and goals. At the time of Iranian revolution Khomeini targeted western way of life but he used all the modern western idioms to reach to Islamic audience as audio Cassetes, telephonic speeches etc and same thing is happening with today’s jihad where Jihadis call upon Muslims around the world to fight against existing world order at the same time they are using Media, Internet and even democracy to achieve their goal of Islamic supremacy.
Dr Daniel Pipes is very much different from others in his approach to the problem of Islamic terrorism as he provides the solution of this problem as well. Dr Daniel Pipes is advocating from a long time for evolution of moderate Islam. This solution has become subject of debate every where because of two reasons one, Dr Daniel Pipes has studied Islam for a long time and he knows about this religion more than any other and there is no other reason to believe that he is escaping from the debate of Islam versus rest. Second, some people believe that Dr Pipes is much fascinated with his idea of moderate Islam and sometime he romanticized this idea to such extent which overrides the ground reality about Islam.
Dr Daniel Pipes is a person with vision and action and he proved it by taking a huge project of translating his writings in more than 20 languages and with this huge project he has become familiar name in several countries but it was only tip of the iceberg as Dr Pipes has something big ideas in his mind. Dr Daniel Pipes has some other projects to his name also as he formed Middle East forum in 1994 a think tank dedicated to the subject of Middle Eastern affairs. Middle East forum has done extensive research on several subjects and exposed world to several threats from time to time and his campus watch is sometimes has been criticized as hunter in his hand to beat academicians of Middle Eastern subjects with who are critical to America and Israel or not agree with views of Daniel Pipes but these allegations are undemocratic because not from any stretch of imagination Dr Daniel Pipes is undemocratic. It proves his writing as well as website where opposite views are being given due respect and space. Dr Daniel Pipes has recently started a project which named as Islamist watch and this project is also very useful and productive as he shed the light on one other aspect of his vision. This vision is also a warning for not only Europe and America but to the whole world as well. As in the decade of 1980’s Dr Daniel Pipes started to aware people about the threat of growing Islamism and ultimately which culminated in form of 911 this time he has floated the idea of lawful Islamism as dangerous as militant Islam. According to Dr Daniel Pipes lawful Islamism has some symptoms which can be seen in everyday life everywhere. Lawful Islamism is part of campaign for Islamic supremacy with a goal to establish Islamic supremacy in public life as well as political life. These combatants of lawful Islamism don’t take the route of militancy or terrorism and follow the path of law and nonviolence to build pressure on society with various pressure groups to push the agenda of Islamic supremacy. Lawful Islamism is something like prophetic words which could be witnessed everywhere when we see lot of human rights activists advocating in favor of Islamic terrorists, making noise against tough laws against terrorism, in everyday life preaching the ideas of Islamic supremacy with their deeds of segregation in every sphere of life.
Dr Pipes was the first person who indicated to this world that suicide bombers who were blowing Israelis in Jersusalem intifada one day also cross the boundaries of Israel and target to everyone who is not in favor of Islamic supremacy. When world was busy in confining the suicide bombing in Israel in its territory only he was warning America to be careful with this menace which was about to reach to its door but one question still remains unanswered what utility Dr Daniel Pipes has for other parts of the world as his problem address to only Europe and America. In present scenario this question don’t carry more relevance as Islamic terrorism has become global phenomenon and every country and academicians are busier to find out solution of this problem. It is very much true that Dr Daniel Pipes concentrate more and more on Middle Eastern and American subjects but it is also true at the same time that modern concept of Jihad and Islamic terrorism could not be understood unless complexity of Middle Eastern politics is deciphered.
These days we have several think tanks on the subject of Islamic terrorism and everyone has its own version some sounds like apologists, some sounds like fundamentalists and even some sounds like preachers but problem has reached to the stage where solution is more important rather than cursing America or western world. Dr Daniel Pipes is a person who broke the taboo of political correctness and established himself within mainstream media even after talking openly to those subjects which have been put under carpet to avoid the debate. Once in India I asked to a politician part of Indian government why government skips debate on Islamic terrorism he replied if we would indulge in debate then we have obligation to do something on conclusions also. Most governments in this world skip debate to avoid the initiatives on ground but Dr Daniel Pipes ignited the debate every time and make aware people of the gravity of the situation and these are the reasons why world need Daniel Pipes. We pray to almighty to give him long life so he would be able to serve the humanity as long as he can.
Last 5 posts by Amitabh Tripathi
- Has India really moved on? – October 2nd, 2010
- Israel’s Muslims reach out: strategy, desperation or appeasement? – September 27th, 2010
- Time to policy shift not to bleed and weep – September 26th, 2010
- Buying the peace on higher cost – October 4th, 2009
- The Goldstone Report – A Study in Bias – September 17th, 2009