Muhamed Jusić- Preporod 1278 / 04 • February 15, 2025
Under the
slogan “Make America Great Again - MAGA,” President Donald Trump secured his
first term in the White House, followed by a defeat by the Democrats and his
refusal to accept the result and ensure a peaceful transfer of power. Just when
it seemed that Trump’s four-year mandate was merely an incident in the U.S.
political life, the MAGA movement evolved into a serious political and
ideological movement with intentions to shape the world according to its
vision, far beyond the borders of the United States of America. Failures of
President Joseph Biden’s administration, controversies surrounding his age and
late withdrawal from the race, as well as his flirtation with radical leftist
and liberal ideas and individuals from the “woke” movement, and ultimately, the
inconsistency and lack of principle regarding the events in Gaza, have
contributed to the impression that President Trump, along with the MAGA
movement, enjoys broad support and a mandate from the American people.
The MAGA
movement - supported by the controversial billionaire and newly close Trump
associate Elon Musk, along with his platform X, as well as a network of donors,
media, and institutes - is attempting to export its ideas, primarily to Europe.
That is why, in recent weeks, we have seen Musk trying to interfere in
elections in several European countries, now under the slogan “Make Europe
Great Again - MEGA.”
How Did Others Lose Their Power?
As it appears that the dominant
political force in what is called the Western world is becoming MAGA and MEGA,
it might be useful to recall how another part of the world - another
civilization and its political projects - responded to its own accumulated
problems and inability to lead global initiatives by choosing isolation,
militarism, the creation of domestic and foreign enemies, and dreams of
returning to a golden age through mere repetition of past solutions that once
“made us great.”
Of course, I am referring to the
experience of the Arab and much of the Muslim world, where opinion-makers - realizing
that their societies and states had lost primacy in science, technology,
economics, and political governance, when they stopped drawing inspiration from
their past to create new visions for a better future - they began to see
themselves as a defeated, endangered, and disenfranchised world, blaming others
for their problems.
That world failed to see that its
source of strength lay in openness, the values of justice, the rule of law,
freedom, tolerance, and inclusivity, which societies were built on, at the
time, were superior to their surroundings. This made them powerful. Their
influence extended far beyond the borders they controlled through military
power. Many peoples, even those of different faiths and civilizational
perspectives, felt they would prosper and even be freer under the umbrella of
Muslim civilization than under rulers of their own faith. Scientists fled to
Baghdad and Toledo because they found freedom and opportunities there. Arabic
was the language of science, not because it was imposed by military force, but
because scholars could only access and disseminate knowledge through it.
The Powerlessness of Old Solutions
At a time when the majority in the
Muslim world were confident in the strength of their civilization, Qadi Abu
Qasim Said ibn Ahmad al-Andalusi al-Qurtubi (1029–1070) in Islamic Spain wrote
the book Tabakat al-Umam, in which he discussed why Muslims were
advancing while other nations were declining. He emphasized a historical fact
proven many times that progress cannot be achieved through force, repression,
and the suppression of critical thinking; that truths and ideas cannot be
restrained, and those who have the courage to embrace progress in all fields - who
are not afraid to compete in an open world not from a position of force but intellectual
and scientific superiority - are the ones who prosper. Centuries later, one of
the pioneers of reform and renewal in the Muslim world, aiming for its unity
and power, Shakib Arslan (1869–1946), wrote the book Why Have Muslims Fallen
Behind While Others Have Advanced?. Since then, Arabs and Muslims have made
little progress in regaining their former international standing. Increasingly,
out of frustration over this failure, they have begun producing movements and
ideas that seek to restore a perception of past power through sheer force.
The first sign that a civilization has
exhausted itself and has nothing left to offer the world is when the majority
within it believes that its best days are behind and resorts to old solutions
to address new problems. This could be a valuable lesson for the West from the
Muslim world.
For the experiences of Arabs and
Muslims, who have had a similar understanding of the causes of crisis and
visions of solutions as those rallying under the MAGA and MEGA banners, have
led this world into even greater difficulties, further complicating a situation
that has persisted for centuries.
Decadence and (Not) Learning from
Others’ Mistakes
There are numerous examples of why
such an approach should be fundamentally reconsidered, but for now, I will
focus only on the inconsistency and confusion in determining the reference
years when we were “great” and “powerful.” When was the golden age? The answer
to this question is full of absurdities in the cases of America, Europe, and
the Muslim world alike. First, few proponents of “make great again” actually
know or agree on when this golden reference period occurred. In America’s case,
for some, the time when America was great coincides with the period of slavery
and racial segregation, while the defeat of the Nazis and everything that
followed is seen as an era of decadence and the rise of values that they blame
for America’s decline.
The same applies to Europe. For many
of the extreme radical political movements mobilizing these days under the MEGA
slogan, Europe that, at certain times, produced religious intolerance,
inter-Christian exterminations, crusades, colonial domination, fascism, and
communism is the Europe of deep roots that must be restored. The aggressive
sovereignism that led to two world wars is, for them, the golden age. The
period of economic prosperity and peace remembered by their voters is the
result of projects they now seek to destroy, blaming them for Europe’s decline.
Among radical conservative Muslims who
dream of restoring Muslim power, the confusion is no less significant.
Advocates of a utopian Islamic state, which supposedly has divinely revealed
solutions for all problems, do not agree on when it actually existed. Most will
claim it was during the Prophethood, but since Muslims at that time were
directly guided by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and Divine Revelation, this
period is not considered replicable - except at the level of values, which is undisputed.
Everything afterward is problematic for some: the era of the four caliphs,
during which the first intra-Muslim conflicts and divisions emerged; the
Umayyad period, accused of imitating other cultures and introducing dynastic
rule. Although most of those who seek to restore past Muslim glory refer to the
time of great Muslim conquests during the Umayyad and Abbasid states, they
simultaneously emphasize that this was a period of decadence, as ancient,
Eastern, and other foreign ideas that corrupted Islamic thought were
introduced. Almost everything produced by Islamic Spain, from its religious and
political thought to its art, science, and culture, is considered controversial
and „un-Islamic“. Yet, those who hold these views readily refer to the „power
of Muslims“ who ruled there.
This ideological blindness has
repeatedly led the Muslim world to repeat the mistakes of the past in an effort
to return to its roots, solutions, and “values” that once made us great and
powerful. That is why it would be wise for advocates of the “make great again”
movement to learn from the mistakes of others - so they do not have to learn
from their own.