Page 221 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

1040 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

been described as the fastest growing religion in the tion” of the Islamic world. From time to time, these ele-
world today, with currently about 1.2 billion adherents. ments have caused and continue to cause great havoc
Although the Islamic world is seemingly disparate and both in their own societies, since they oppose many of
even divisive, it is still possible to speak of it as cohesive the local ruling elites (whom they regard with some jus-
at a certain level. tification as the willing clients of the West), and beyond.
Shared traumatic experiences under Western colonial The vast majority of the people in the Islamic world do
rule have forged at least formal alliances among a num- not endorse their bloody tactics, but the economic and
ber of the Islamic countries (and also with other Third political frustration of the radical elements often res-
World countries that underwent similar experiences). onates with them.
Many in the Islamic world today continue to feel very A worldwide body claims to speak on behalf of Mus-
vulnerable and under assault from secular modernity, eco- lim peoples everywhere today and may be regarded as a
nomic globalization, and Western cultural mores, some- modern-day concretization of the nebulous concept of
times regarded as a continuation of the previous era of the umma. This body, known as the Organization of the
physical colonization, and thus termed neo-imperialism Islamic Conference (OIC), has fifty-seven members that
or neocolonization. Elements in Islamic societies have be- represent countries with majority Muslim populations
come radicalized due to a sense of impotency vis-à-vis the plus three observer states. Established on 25 September
status quo in the postcolonial world. These radical ele- 1969 in Rabat, Morocco, it regards itself as “the concrete
ments have attempted to assert a highly politicized and in expression of a great awareness, on the part of the
some cases highly militant Islamic identity in an effort to Ummah, of the necessity to establish an organization
resist Western-generated globalization and secularization, embodying its aspirations”(OIC, www.oic-oci.org).
and, one might say, the economic and cultural “occupa- Moreover, the Organization represents the desire on the