Nawar Fakhry Ezzi
Belonging to a group provides a unique sense of security where individuals give their allegiance to the group they belong to and trust in return that they will be protected by the group they pledged their loyalty to. However, as countries transform from homogeneous societies into diversified nations, individuals’ allegiances increase as the groups a person belongs to overlap creating a conflict of loyalties if disputes should arise between these different groups. This is why the concept of tribalism has evolved, in most places, into nationalism or better yet patriotism in order to bond people’s allegiances to their love of their homeland regardless of how many different allegiances they may have.
However, conflict still occurs especially when people’s beliefs and religious traditions constitute a significant part of their identity and way of life. The conflicted allegiances most Catholic and Protestant minorities suffered from throughout the power struggle in Europe during the 16th century demonstrates a sad example of the consequences of sharing the same beliefs of the enemy, which can be compared to the current case of Sunni and Shia minorities who live among the opposing majority in the Muslim world.
Nowadays, Muslims who live in the West seem to be the personification of conflicted allegiances where their loyalty is constantly doubted and scrutinized even without any reasonable doubt. Their only crime sometimes is sharing the name of the religion that Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS) and many terrorist groups claim to belong to. As a result, some people have become wary of Muslims to the point of paranoia leading to the rise of hate crimes and persecution in many Western countries.
Some writers have compared the current situation of Muslims to the persecution of Jews in Europe before and during WWII, but the comparison is inherently flawed since the circumstances and the causes are completely different. The comparison is actually rather closer to home because it echoes the early days preceding the forced exodus of most Mizrahim or oriental Jews who lived in the Arab world during the time of the creation of Israel. Around one million Jews lived among Arabs for hundreds of years considering themselves to be as native to the countries they lived in as any of their Arab neighbors. By 1976, only 5,000 Jews were living in the Arab world with very few having left willingly or having betrayed the Arab countries they lived. The majority were forced into exodus suffering yet again from a new kind of diaspora after it had become almost impossible to live in a mostly hostile society, most of whose members has turned against them for the mere reason that they shared the religion of a new enemy turning a political conflict into a religious one.
The situation of Muslims has not escalated to this yet because of the relatively increased awareness and anti-discrimination laws in many countries in the West even though Islamophobia is on the rise and some violations of people’s civil liberties have been committed. However, people like Donald Trump in the US give bigots a platform and the courage to voice and act upon their prejudices and ignorance. If he ever became president, then Muslims living in America could face a holocaust. Rabbi Joshua Stanton has already pointed out the similarity between Muslims and Jews who lived under Fascist regimes in his wonderfully written article titled, "Register me, too, Mr. Trump", in response to Trump’s outrageous suggestion of creating a national registry of all Muslims living in the United States.
Some people who belong to a religious minority do betray their communities and countries, such as some of the Mizrahim Jews as well as some of the Muslims who live in the West. However, usually only a few do so while the rest stay loyal and long to live in the homes they grew up in. Sadly, they still suffer simply because of sharing the beliefs of their nations’ enemy. It seems that whether people live in an oppressive dictatorship or in a liberal democracy, at time of danger, many people seem to prefer to stick to those who share their heritage, culture, ethnicity and beliefs. So is the existence of a multicultural society where people’s differences and civil liberties are respected and appreciated at all times a wonderful idea yet a naïve dream that works only in times of peace? Let’s hope the answer is no, but we will have to wait and see how the situation unfolds.
The writer can be reached at nawar81@hotmail.com
