A shared external enemy unifies previously warring Muslim factions

Evidence

Muslim definition of the war as the West vs. Islam facilitated reduction or suspension of antagonisms within the Muslim world. Old differences among Muslims shrank in importance compared to the overriding difference between Islam and the West. In the course of the war Muslim governments and groups consistently moved to distance themselves from the West. Like its Afghan predecessor, the Gulf War brought together Muslims who previously had often been at each other’s throats: Arab secularists, nationalists, and fundamentalists; the Jordanian government and the Palestinians; the P.L.O. and Hamas; Iran and Iraq; opposition parties and governments generally. “Those Ba’athists of Iraq,” as Safar al-Hawali put it, “are our enemies for a few hours, but Rome is our enemy until doomsday.” The war also started the process of reconciliation between Iraq and Iran. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 690 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

An external enemy also reduces conflict within a country. In January 1991, for instance, Pakistan was reported to be “awash in anti-Western polemics” which brought that country, at least briefly, together. “Pakistan has never been so united. In the southern province of Sind, where native Sindhis and immigrants from India have been murdering each other for five years, people from either side demonstrate against the Americans arm in arm. In the ultraconservative tribal areas on the Northwest Frontier, even women are out in the streets protesting, often in places where people have never assembled for anything other than Friday prayers.” — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 691 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islamic cohesion efforts fragment into competing power-center bids; A shared external enemy can suspend internal conflicts among rival groups. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 690; External enemies can briefly unite groups that have been murdering each other. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 691 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• A shared external enemy can suspend internal conflicts among rival groups. #corroborates (0.95) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 690
• External enemies can briefly unite groups that have been murdering each other. #expands (0.92) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 691
• For many Islamist radicals the internal enemy takes priority over foreign ones #complicates (0.75)