Global Islam: Colonial legacies, geopolitical fractures, and systemic marginalisation of Muslim communities
Original framing: “Islam - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
The partitioning of Muslim-majority regions under colonial rule—such as the Sykes-Picot Agreement or the 1947 Radcliffe Line—created artificial borders that fuelled sectarian violence and state fragility, a pattern repeated in post-colonial interventions like the 2003 Iraq War. The Cold War's instrumentalisation of Islam (e.g., funding mujahideen in Afghanistan) set precedents for contemporary proxy wars. These historical fractures are rarely connected to today's conflicts, despite their direct lineage.
The 'Islam' narrative in Western media is a colonial construct, homogenising a diverse tapestry of traditions to serve geopolitical and economic interests.
Colonial borders, Cold War interventions, and neoliberal austerity have fractured Muslim-majority regions into extractive zones, where state repression and extremist violence are cyclical responses to structural violence. Indigenous systems—from Sufi brotherhoods to Berber *agdal*—offer alternative models of governance and ecological balance, yet their erasure reinforces the myth of Islam as a monolith. Marginalised voices, such as queer and indigenous Muslims, challenge both extremist and state-centric narratives, while trickster traditions like *Eshu-Elegba* expose the absurdity of solemn media framings. Solutions must centre decolonial economics, demilitarisation, and indigenous stewardship, redirecting resources from perpetual war to communal resilience.