Islam in the New World Order

The year 1991 was also year one of the “new world order.” Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US became the sole great power — a power bent on translating its Cold War victory into a global regime of stability. The year began under the storm cloud of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, dating from the Iraqi invasion of 2 August 1990. This first crisis of the post-Cold War era had sorely divided the Muslim world, as rival camps coalesced around Iraq and Saudi Arabia. As the 15 January deadline set by the UN for Iraqi withdrawal approached, Iraq and Saudi Arabia made final efforts to persuade the Muslim world of the Islamic virtue of their irreconcilable stands. The Popular Islamic Conference, headquartered in Baghdad, had been founded by Iraq and Saudi Arabia early in the Iraqi-Iranian War.