The scholarly journal Arab Insight contains five articles on conspiracy theories in the Arab world.
Conspiracy thinking has grown, especially since the September 11 attacks, says Mohamed Abdel Salam, Head of the Regional Security and Arms Control Program at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt. His article, “The Modes of Arab Conspiracy Theories,” says “markedly non-scientific modes of thought prevail throughout the Arab world,” one form being conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories are consciously used in the Arab world to justify failures, defeats and strife and to malign opposition groups, argues Hani Nasira, Director of the Al-Mesbar Center for Studies and Research in the United Arab Emirates. His article, “Skepticism in the Arab World: The Base of Conspiracies,” states, “even though only God knows our true intentions, conspiracy theorists … appropriate for themselves the ability to uncover the true intentions of their political opponents and those who disagree with them.”
“Most ruling parties or monarchies in Arab government use conspiracy theories to blame other groups for government failures,” writes Hamdy Hassan Abdul Ainien, Dean of the School of Mass Communication at the Sixth of October University in Egypt, in his article, “Inventing Fiction? Conspiracy Theories in Arab Media.” But public attitudes are also important, he argues, noting that “the waves of rational thinking that swept into Arab life are perennially unable to confront the brand of metaphysical thinking dominant since Muslims chose to follow Al-Ghazali rather than Averroes.”
Arab textbooks often teach conspiracy-based versions of historical events, says Egyptian political science researcher Hoda Al-Bakr, in the article “Teaching Fiction? Conspiracy Theories in Arab Public Schools.” “The classic case,” Al-Bakr writes, “is the use of the colonial experience, seen as a grand conspiracy, to excuse most of the region’s present shortcomings.”
Egyptian political analyst Nezar Elthahawy analyzed 304 articles in Al-Azhar magazine, published by Egypt’s Islamic Research Academy, for his article “Preaching Fiction? Conspiracy Theories in Religious Institutions.” He concluded 20 percent of articles showed conspiracy-centered thinking.
Todd Leventhal is the Department’s expert on conspiracy theories and misinformation—stories that are untrue, but widely believed. He enjoys reading obituaries, which tell the personal stories of people who have shaped the fabric of American life.
Todd became interested in international affairs after a four-month trip to the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India in 1972. He worked for Voice of America for seven years and bikes to work year-round.
Comments (2)
Elias Davidsson
10 January 2009 at 15:07 EST
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I find it rather sad that at the end of 2008, there are still people around who accuse Muslims for 9/11, whereas there exists not the slightest evidence that Muslim terrorists boarded any of the aircraft that crashed on 9/11, let alone flew those aircraft to their doom. I challenge the people above to present the evidence for their accusations, evidence which would be sufficient to convict anyone of mass-murder, let alone to justify a bombing campaign against a far-off country.
Dr.
20 January 2009 at 14:45 EST
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It can be said without doubt that history has shown that at least 95% of the time, the official version of some major economic, political, militaristic event is completely wrong. And not just a little wrong, but 180 degrees in the opposite direction. Time has shown this. This is factual. This means that the truth, 95% of the time, is found within the realm of “conspiracy theory”, which is NOT to say all conspiracy theories are correct; quite the contrary, but the truth almost always starts out as such, and is debunked and ridiculed most energetically by those who are actually responsible. This site is a wonderful example of that.