Islam's intramural struggle.

• Author: Pipes, Daniel

MANY WESTERNERS have speculated that a confrontation between Islam and the West is in the offing. For example, Samuel Huntington wrote in a recent, much noted article, that the centuries-old military interaction between these two civilizations "could become more violent" in the future.(1) But a civilization-to-civilization showdown is not truly likely, for the simple reason that Muslims (and probably Westerners) are too diverse to stand as a bloc.

Instead, the cultural fireworks ahead will more likely take place among Muslims themselves--between those eager to accept Western ways and those who reject them. On one side stand those Muslims confident to learn from outsiders, oriented toward democracy and ready to integrate into the world; on the other stand those who are fearful, who seek strong rule, and who hope to withdraw from the world. In a word, it's a battle between secularist and fundamentalist Muslims--to be more precise, a competition between two of the great countries of the Middle East, Turkey and Iran. It's likely to be a long, deep, and difficult fight.

Trouble is, the Turks don't yet realize that they are engaged in this battle.

The Fundamentalist Threat

ISLAM ACQUIRED a new public role in February 1979, when Ayatollah Khomeini established the Islamic Republic of Iran. Never before had a government come to power so determined to impose its fundamentalist vision (meaning above all an intent to apply the Sacred Law of Islam, the Shari'a) in its own domain and to spread it through the Muslim world.

Khomeini and his associates achieved considerable success. By imposing radically new institutions and customs on Iranians, they managed in just fifteen years to alter the basic texture of daily life in Iran. A small but indicative example: the mullahs banned traditional wedding songs, so marriages are now celebrated with chants like "Salute to the martyrs," "Death of the opponents of the supreme jurist," and other slogans.

The mullahs also had a powerful impact outside Iran: their allies already rule in the Sudan, and others may win power in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Algeria. Further, Tehran has acquired significant influence over developments in Iraq, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Bosnia.

How have the Khomeinists achieved so much? Not so much through money--mismanagement and war have left the country poorer than in the shah's time, with a discontented citizenry demanding improvements in its standard of...