News stories by Abbas Aroua

Before Islam, Arabia lived for centuries under "asabiya", variously defined as Arabism, tribalism, or clanism, which led to many long wars. Prophet Muhammad challenged this order and introduced a community of values, the Umma, based on the tenet that "there is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab, or between a white and a black, except in degree of piety". But only 30 years after Mohammed's death, the values he had taught were violated, and asabiya prevailed again. This was the beginning of a long decline of Muslim society, write Abbas Aroua, adjunct professor at the Lausanne Faculty of Medicine and director of the Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies at the Cordoba Foundation in Geneva, and Johan Galtung, founder of TRANSCEND, a Peace, Development and Environment Network, and author of "50 Years - 100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives".