The Religious Background of Political Events in the Middle East

Abstract

The Middle East has been a volatile region for over a century, due to occupations, wars, and acts of terrorism. Being a victim of terrorism and war, this region has been described as a swamp, particularly due to the intense propaganda of the mass media owned by global hegemony, which is the leading cause of the chaos in the area. The people of the region, who are to pay a price because of terrorism and violence, are thus equated with terrorism in others’ minds and are further victimized.
 This study explores the plight of the region by analysing the mentality of the parties to the conflict in the region. This is because if we consider the events only as a military struggle to control oil and other strategic energy resources, we could hardly find out the truth. We should bear in mind that the events in the Middle East involve a variety of actors and reasons that are difficult to explain from a single perspective. Furthermore, since instability and chaos in the region have been going on for years and completely independent factors are involved in the process, issues have become immensely complicated. Therefore, no matter what point of view we adopt to approach the events (political, economic, cultural, religious, etc.), it would not be hard to find a justification for the theory we suggest. 
 Our study hardly disregards this fact. However, when we prudently consider the events in the Middle East, we can recognize that all the actors essentially legitimize themselves using religion, although political and socio-economic reasons are brought to the fore. In other words, all the parties responsible for the chaos basically act out of religious motives and establish their existence in the region for religious reasons, although they do not frankly admit it. Foremost among these actors comes the United States of America. In fact, while the USA owns various instruments that could be used, not only to end the chaos in the region but also to exploit the resources of the region through peaceful means, the reason why it does not opt for this is the existence of Protestant Evangelicals, who guide American politics to take sides in the political/social events in the Middle East. An examination of the attitude of the USA in the events in the Middle East and the policies it implements in the region would reveal that they exactly coincide with the eschatological goals of Evangelicals. Another major power that is involved in the political and social events in the region with an eschatological approach is the ideological Shia. This line of thinking (Imamate), which claims to be the sole heir of Prophet Muhammad, struggles to play an open or secret role in all regional events to shape the Middle East based on its own ideology. The third actor, which is the source of violence and chaos in the Middle East, is the Khārijite way of thinking that directly or indirectly legitimizes projects that the other two actors are trying to implement in this region, and historically, it has always supported terrorism in the lands of Islam. The Khārijite thought describes any interpretation or behaviour that runs counter to the Islamic life it has created and idealized as blasphemy. 
 This article examines these three actors in terms of their objectives and their impacts on the events in the Middle East region. It also reveals the historical and theoretical foundations of how these three ideologies, which are religious madhabs/sects/communities in terms of their sources, assume an active role in the political events in the region. While analysing the issues, ideological interpretations are avoided; events are addressed in a meaningful and holistic way in terms of their causes and effects, not in a style that is disconnected from de facto reality.