PAKISTAN - Islamic Credentials.

The fact that Musharraf is the key figure in the US-led hunt for Bin Laden has not affected his Islamic credentials, himself being a Muhajir (of a militant Sunni Muslim community having migrated from India after the Pakistani state has been established). He has gained considerably from the general state of confusion in parts of the Muslim world, including Pakistan.

Instead of hard analysis, which thrives only in a free society, Muslims are generally brought up on propaganda, which is often state-sponsored. This propaganda usually focuses on Muslim humiliation at the hands of others instead of acknowledging the flaws of Muslim leaders and societies. The focus on external enemies causes Muslims to admire power rather than ideas. Warriors, and not scholars or inventors, are generally the heroes of common people. In this simplistic "us versus them" worldview, both Musharraf and Bin Laden are warriors against external enemies.

One liberal Pakistani analyst critical of Musharraf's regime, Husain Haqqani, recently said: "Ringing alarm bells about an iron curtain between the West and the Islamic world without acknowledging the internal flaws of Muslim rulers and societies helps maintain the polarization as well as the flow of Western aid for the flawed rulers. Ironically, a cult of the warrior has defined the Muslim worldview throughout the period of Muslim decline".

Muslims have had few victories in the last two centuries but, the same analysts added, "their admiration for the proverbial sword and spear has only increased". He noted that textbooks in Muslim countries "speak of the victories of Muslim fighters from an earlier era. Orators still call for latter-day mujahedeen to rise and regain Islam's lost glory. More streets in the Arab world are named after Muslim generals than men of learning. Even civilian dictators in the Muslim world like being photographed in military uniforms, Saddam Hussein being a case in point".

In the post-colonial period, military leaders in the Muslim world have consistently taken advantage of the popular fascination with military power. The Muslim cult of the warrior explains also the relatively muted response in the Muslim world to atrocities committed by fellow Muslims. While the Muslim world's obsession with military power encourages violent attempts to "restore" Muslim honour, the real reasons for Muslim humiliation and backwardness continue to multiply.

(In 2000, according to the World Bank, the average income in the advanced countries at purchasing price parity was $27,450, with the US income averaging $34,260 and Israel's income averaging $19,320. The average income in the Muslim world, however, stood at $3,700. Pakistan's per capita income in 2003 was a meager $2,060. Excluding the oil-exporting countries, none of the Muslim countries of the world had per capita incomes above the world average of $7,350).

National pride in the Muslim world, the analyst remarked, "is derived not from economic productivity, technological innovation or intellectual output but from the rhetoric of 'destroying the enemy' and 'making the nation invulnerable'". Such rhetoric, he said, "sets the stage for the clash of civilizations" as much as specific Western policies. "Ironically", the analyst concluded, "Western governments have consistently tried to deal with one manifestation of the cult of the warrior - terrorism - by building up Muslim strongmen who are just another manifestation of the same phenomenon".