Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes - by Tamim Ansary
Clash of Civilisations?
Prince Karim Aga Khan IV has, on a number of occasions, refuted Samuel P. Huntingdon's theory of a clash of civilisations, saying:
"I disagree with this assessment. In my view it is a clash of ignorance which is to blame" [^1]
A reference to Edward Said’s essay titled 'The Clash of Ignorance', which first appeared in the October 22, 2001 edition of The Nation [^2], it's an attractive proposition that blames the aggression and counter aggression of today's warring nations, factions and ideologies on the absence of information, the dearth of reason and the missing links of cultural empathy and mutual respect.
The argument put forward is that labels such as 'West' and 'Islam' naively generalise vast and varied conglomerates and condense global politics into an unwarranted simplification of an overwhelmingly complex matter.
Destiny Disrupted
Pluralism, the road to reconciliation as laid out by the Aga Khan,[^3] demands an acceptance of opposing ideas, an acceptance that is all the more palatable when informed.
According to Tamim Ansary, for too long the onus on understanding has been on the 'East'. History, he argues, has been written from such a slanted angle that even the definitions of East and West are written from the geographical perspective of the Europeans.
'Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes' is Ansary's attempt to re-balance, to educate the 'West' and document history through the eyes of what he terms 'the Middle World'.
Reconciliation
Perhaps, in familiarising ourselves with this 'new' history, we can bid farewell to our ignorance and embrace the richness of our diversity.
Over the course of the next few weeks key concepts within Ansary's title will be discussed as we seek together, Christian and Ismaili, to remove the veil of ignorance and pursue the renewal of our minds (Rom 12:2).
[^1] http://www.ismaili.net/heritage/node/24609
[^2] http://www.thenation.com/article/clash-ignorance/
[^3] http://www.akdn.org/Content/517/
Originally published October 2015