Muslim all over the world are currently facing multiple crises both from within and from without. On the one hand Muslim states have to face the extremist and misguided elements from within; on the other hand they have to safeguard their territorial integrity everywhere from external threats and have to protect their image and interests around the globe wherever their citizens are living. The Muslim names have been associated with militancy, intolerance and suicidal attacks world over. One of the most important reasons behind these problems is that the Muslim educational institutions have failed to deliver after the great havoc brought by the savage attacks of Mongols under Halaku Khan. In fact these institutions have never recovered from this blow even after the passage of centuries. Not only Muslims, but other Eastern nations, with the exceptions of a few, are also looking towards the west in order to avail from the qualitative institutions. Although there is no harm in availing from the wisdom of these institutions but ultimately the establishment of qualitative indigenous institutions is essential in order to prosper in the modern times as no nation can make progress based upon borrowed ideas.
A major problem facing Muslims since last century is that democracy is not being allowed to function in these countries. Wherever the democratic setups seem to go against the western imperialist interests, the governments are overthrown with the help of pro-western dictators and generals. The west fears that if democracy would be allowed to function in these countries freely, then they would not protect western interests. A case in point is that of Iran, when Musaddaq government nationalized the oil companies in 1950s it was overthrown by active US involvement and manipulation. Another example is that of Turkey; whenever Islamist parties seem to gaining ground in legislatures, the army or courts are instigated to overthrow and ban these parties. Yet another example is that of Sudan where Islamist party was not allowed to form the government even after winning the elections. Whereas the west advocates freedom of expression and democracy worldwide, they continue to support and protect the autocratic rulers of Arab states because of their own interests. On the one hand it is being said that Islamists in Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere do not believe in freedom of expression and true democracy, on the other hand secularism and so-called liberalism are forcibly imposed upon Muslims. Although one can certainly not allow Islamists to impose their ideologies upon other people forcibly against their wishes, the same must be said for secular and liberal elements. No one should be forced to wear burqa or Niqab, but similarly no one should be forced to abandon burqa or Niqab (Government of France has recently banned Hijab and those wearing Hijab are facing tough time in Turkey for quite some time). Recently the court in Bangladesh has banned the Islamist parties from taking part in politics and the government has banned the books of Jamat Islami founder Abul Aala Moudoodi. These measures create wrong impression and force the people to adopt extremist approaches. The Islamists as well as the secular and liberal elements need to be tolerant of the ideas and beliefs of one another. The Islamist parties like Jamat Islami and Muslim Brotherhood should not be persecuted by force; rather they should be encouraged to participate in the democratic process. It would cause the evolution in their approach as is evident from the politics of ruling Islamist party in Turkey. Moreover, Turkey should be made the member of EU as denial of membership on the basis of its Islamic identity in spite of its liberal measures may one day lead it back to Islamic Restorationist view.
The imperialistic policies of west have caused great harm to themselves and the Muslims as well as non-Muslims. They trained and used the so-called Mujahidin against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and in other areas of the world when it suited to their interests but the same Mujahidin have now turned against the western imperialism. It goes without saying that the approach of these so-called Mujahidin or militants is absolutely wrong and cannot be justified on any grounds. Nobody, be they militants or Americans, should be allowed to attack and kill the civilians in markets, schools, hospitals and let alone mosques and churches. These militants should be punished severely but at the same time the sympathies for them should be minimized by addressing the real problems and ensuring the prosperity because when the real problems are not solved amicably then the masses are frustrated and many people resort to desperate measures.
Another problem is that Muslims have allowed the growth of priest like hierarchy among them to be guided for spiritual matters and basic rituals. Whereas, at least every educated person should seek to posses the basic understanding of the Holy Quran and the simple matters of religion in order to avoid being misled by traditional greedy mullahs; instead majority of Muslims are ignorant of these basic things and are reliant on Mullahs even for such mundane things as marriage and divorce. During the early times of Islam, the secular as well as religious teachings were taught simultaneously but with the advent of modern schools and colleges the two have been separated between seminaries and western type schools. Moreover, those possessing religious education are devoid of modern education and those educated in modern means are totally ignorant of religious teachings thereby a wide gulf exists between the approaches of these two groups ultimately causing an eternal difference of ideologies between the two. Even though it is the personal choice of every person whether to act upon religious teachings or not, but at least an educated person must seek to gain some basic religious knowledge so as to be free of exploitations of so-called monopolists of the Heavens.
Regarding the Muslim history, it must be said that the history of Umayyad, Abbasids, Turks, Mughals and others should not be equated as the history of Islam but it should be treated as the history of Muslims and the same should be studied and treated just like that of other rulers during these times. Islam can neither be credited nor be blamed for the deeds of Muslim rulers even if they used the name of Islam to serve their own interests. History of Islam is something totally different from the history of Muslims.
It is about time for the Muslims to start focusing on their present realities instead of eulogizing their past glories. They need an introspective approach and they should start owning their shortcomings and failures by eradicating their internal weaknesses and evils rather than just pointing out fingers at other nations and blaming them for all their ills and evils. This type of rationalization misleads the nations away from the solutions of the problems dooming them towards the eternal disgrace. The other nations may exploit the internal weaknesses and loopholes rather than working in vacuum and creating problems anew. So if the internal weaknesses are done away with, nobody would dare to exploit a nation. Given the present nation-state system, Muslims should focus upon their own countries and only then they might ultimately be in a position to advocate the cause of other oppressed Muslim and non-Muslims.
The Muslims as well as the non-Muslims need to work out peaceful and accommodating worldwide policies for all religions and nations. They need to exhibit tolerance and respect for other cultures and nations while adopting the good points from across the continents and avoiding to blindly follow every other innovation introduced by others whether practicable in the local environments or not. Peaceful coexistence is the requirement of modern times and dialogue of civilizations (suggested by former Iranian President Mohammad Khatmi) is needed instead of clash of civilizations. To promote and ensure such spirit the Middle East crisis may be solved by considering the Abdullah Formula seriously. This continuing problem has led to many wars and a lot of bloodshed and extremism worldwide. The Holy places may be placed under the control of United Nations and access to these places should be allowed to people belonging to all religions and nations. It is sorry to note that the successive governments of USA after President Bill Clinton have neglected to accord due importance to this bleeding problem. The realistic and early solution of Middle East issue would pave the way for long lasting peace and harmony throughout the world.
Islam does not offer a particular system of government for all times, rather it provides the general principles for the masses as well as for the rulers to adhere to in their overall conduct and lives. Even the four pious Caliphs were not chosen in a single manner therefore the details of the political system and the selection or election of the leaders is left open to be decided in the light of prevalent conditions and environment. It would be useless and futile to attempt to establish a unified worldwide system of Muslim Caliphate presently because there is a deep nationalistic and racial consciousness among the Arabs, Iranians, Turks and other Muslims clouding over their Muslim identity; the impotence, irrelevance and uselessness of OIC may be cited here as an example to elaborate the point. The efforts to restore past glory in shape of Islamic Caliphate are not practical enough. The emphasis of Muslim states should be placed upon alliances borne of mutual interests and principle-based standings instead of trying to establish worldwide Islamic Caliphate.
Presently western nations are overemphasizing the myths of Muslim saints and Sufis and downplaying that of orthodox religious scholars. During the history of Muslims, not only the Sufi saints but the orthodox scholars also raised their voice against the tyrannies of the rulers. Although peaceful coexistence is desired and should be promoted among Muslims as well as non-Muslims but it is not suitable to encourage all excesses in the name of Sufism. The USA is on record to have allocated funds for the promotion of Sufism in Pakistan and elsewhere. The western nations have overemphasized the perceived threat of militant Wahabi view of Islam and to counter that view they are promoting so-call Sufism that better suits their interests. Such an artificial approach would aggravate the situation as when the masses would realize that they are being led away from the true teachings of Islam in the name of Sufism, they would hit back and would further harden their approach therefore what is needed is that Sufism should be left on its own to flourish on the basis of its essence instead of imposing it by way of western money.
To conclude the discussion it can be said that Muslims cannot make progress until and unless they establish and institutionalize qualitative educational and scientific centers that can produce original thinkers in every field of the life. They should stop blindly following western ideas or rejecting them outright. What is needed is that western knowledge should be utilized productively to move forward from there and to start producing better ideas in our institutes. Economic growth and well being is another very important requisite of attaining respectful position among the nations. Muslims must seek to productively utilize their human and economic resources in order to become free of dependency on west. Muslims need leaders like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Kamal Ataturk and Mahathir Mohammad to lead them forward.
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