Thread by @DrJavadTHashmi

I agree with Prof. @JonathanACBrown & would also point out, along these lines, that another element that is woefully ignored is the decades-long support of right-wing Islamist forces by Western countries (US/UK/Israel) in a bid to counter nationalism & as a part of... 1/

https://twitter.com/JonathanACBrown/status/1387334204900450308

Cold War politics. They engineered this wave of right-wing Islamism & then, in a morbid irony, switched to seeing the green crescent as the enemy when the same foe it was propped up against, i.e. the red sickle, was no longer seen as a credible threat & boogieman. 2/

I had always been aware of this connection but only recently have I started to understand the true extent of this link, thanks to a colleague who pointed me in this direction. The riposte to this idea is always to gripe about how it's convenient for Muslims to blame the West. 3/

But, a cold hard look at the facts on the ground reveals to me the reality that we don't actually do *enough* blaming where it is due. To explore this phenomenon, a good place to start for the interested reader is Robert Dreyfuss's book, 4/

"Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam." This connection can be further extended to the rise of ISIS, which is why this ex-Muslim/anti-Islam polemic is one that I have sought to problematize, as it seeks to draw a direct line from... 5/

the Prophet/Qur'an/Islam to ISIS, while ignoring/downplaying the historical & political factors that actually directly led to this phenomenon. A recently declassified US intelligence report revealed that the US, along with its Gulf allies, welcomed a "Salafist principality"... 6/

composed of Al-Qaeda elements in Iraq, themselves of course a result of the US's invasion of the country. All of this makes me think that we can hardly blame Arabs & Muslims for being "conspiratorial," when in fact these sorts of conspiracies have a long history. 7/

It's much easier to ask "What's wrong with Islam" & blame Muslims/Qur'an/Prophet. Ex-Muslim/Anti-Islam folks just serve to reinforce that simplistic narrative, devoid of any contextualization or nuance. None of this is to deny that genuine Islamic reform is needed. 8/

But, so too is it a reality that a viable alternative to right-wing Islamism had already existed & was ascendant in the region, i.e. nationalism, before US, British, & Israeli forces conspired to derail it & replace it with Saudi/Wahhabi backed Islamism. 9/

They created the very beast they now claim to be slaying. Even still, of course, their alliance with Saudi Arabia holds, as does their double-dealing & warmongering. "And when they are told, 'Do not spread corruption on earth, they say, 'We are but peacemakers...'" (Q 2:11). 10/