Rioting for the Qur'an: Not as Crazy as You'd Think

Is there another explanation for the current violence other than that Afghan Muslims are stark-raving mad?

In the Globe and Mail, Adnan Khan writes with real dismay about the irrational paranoia that appears to be gripping Muslim rioters in Afghanistan who think there is U.S. plot to destroy their religion and burn their holy books. He laments that if you try to explain the truth to such people, you’re met with a brick wall. “This is the common retreat of the conspiracy-minded: Everyone else just doesn’t get it,” writes Khan. “But we do get it, those among us with some degree of rational thought left.”

It’s true that the deadly violence unleashed by Terry Jones’s burning of a Qur’an is terrifying and inscrutable to most, but Khan is dangerously close to falling into the common retreat of the confused West: calling people you don’t understand irrational.

A digression: in 1857, the British were astounded by a mutiny in which tens of thousands of Indian soldiers rebelled against them. The spark that set off the uprising was a rumour that the British had given Indian soldiers under their command rifle cartridges greased with pork tallow, an offence to their religion. That Indians would commit bloody murder over the mere rumour of a piece of gristle was evidence to the British that the Indians were irrational savages, but of course what they were really so enraged about was that they perceived they were being compelled to fight for foreigners who had little respect for their religion or their lives. Which, in the context of colonialism, was not an irrational conclusion to reach.

Is it possible for a rational Afghan Muslim to believe that the burning of a Qur’an by a lone pastor is proof that the West harbours an insupportable hostility to Islam? Arguably, yes. Particularly because the nuances of free-speech protection are likely lost on nations without a tradition of it. Barack Obama’s refusal to stop Terry Jones’s incendiary stunt could rationally be construed as a sign the U.S. president supported it. And don’t forget that this all of takes place in the context of the U.S. launching a military offensive against yet another Muslim country.

There is no excuse for the acts of murderers in Afghanistan. But calling them crazy probably won’t get us any closer to understanding what’s going on.