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Building Muslim Strength:
Reflections on the State of the Muslim Ummah in the Light of
Islam
By:
Dr. Ahmad Shafaat
(2001)
(Revised:
June 2002)
Everywhere in the
world Muslims are subjected to gross oppression but generally they
are unable to defend themselves successfully. They have been
dispossessed of their lands as in Palestine,Best Replica Watches or denied the control
of the lands in which they are in majority as in Kashmir, or denied
independence as in Chechnya or prevented from governing their
countries even after winning a free and fair election, as in
Algeria. Muslims are prevented to pray in Masjid al-Aqsa or they
pray under the Jewish guns and the whole Muslim world cannot do
anything. Our sisters in Bosnia and Kosovo were violated with the
knowledge of the whole world and the Muslim ummah could not do
anything to help them. If sometimes there is some kind of reprieve
against the more powerful enemies, as in Bosnia and Kosovo, it
results from chance combination of circumstances when foreign powers
find it to their advantage to come to Muslims' aid at the brink of
destruction. It is clear from all this that the need for Muslims
everywhere to empower themselves is of the highest urgency.
The attack on the
USA on September 11 has only highlighted the above points. The
oppression from which Muslims are suffering in many parts of the
world, the inability of the Muslim governments to take proper action
instead of suppressing their people, and the resulting helplessness
of the people are the direct cause of the events of September 11.
For,www.loveasie.net
when people are subjected to external oppression and injustice
and to internal suppression by their governments, who miserably fail
in their duty of looking after the interests of the people, some are
bound to take things into their own hands and act militantly.
Responses to
September 11 vary from categorical condemnation to qualified
condemnation to qualified approval to categorical approval. This is
as true of Muslims as of non-Muslims. The response of condemnation
by non-Muslims hardly needs any documentation. But some evidence of
approval of the attack needs to be mentioned. According to reports
broadcast on American TV stations and articles published in the Wall
Street Journal, a poll published in a Greek newspaper a few days
after September 11 showed 30% of respondents considered the attacks
a justified reaction to U.S. policies. Only 10% of respondents
agreed with the view that Greece should cooperate militarily with
its NATO partners in a possible campaign against states harboring
terrorism. Takis Kafetzis, the political analyst who supervised the
poll, claims that in reality over 40% of the respondents felt
pleasure with what happened. "The fact that they did not say so was
simply due to the fact that they felt that they had to somehow
control their responses."
But no matter
what we think about September 11, it should be clear to every Muslim
that we can neither hope that a continuation of the September 11
type of militancy will bring an end to the external and internal
oppression of the Muslims nor be satisfied with showing that Islam
is against terrorism and most Muslims are moderates. We urgently
need an alternative to the 9/11 type of approach. This alternative
must be as effective as or more effective than September 11. That
is, it must result in real empowerment of Muslim societies and
communities all over the world, so that Muslims can defend their
rights and interests by internationally recognized means, less open
to criticism.
The Holy Qur'an
has several verses about strength or power, for which it uses the
word quwwah. It has also many other verses, which, although
do not use the word quwwah have a strong bearing on the
concept. These verses provide us with all the guidance that we need
in order to get the strength and ability to defend ourselves,
provided we interpret the Qur`an according to the following
self-evident principles:
1)
We use some common sense to understand the Qur'an, as the
Qur'an itself exhorts us to do;
2)
We understand the spirit of the Qur'an as a whole and not
simply focus on the literal meaning of individual verses;
3)
We recognize that the Qur'anic words are chosen to
simultaneously achieve two purposes: to deliver a message to the
whole humanity for all times to come and to move its first hearers
so that this message could be transmitted in time and space. If I
want to achieve something for hundreds of years I must first
influence and move to action people around me here and now and to do
that I must say things that would be understood and be effective at
this time and at the same time I must not sacrifice what I want to
achieve in the future.
EIGHT PRINCIPLES FOR BUILDING
STRENGTH
To begin with we
need to keep in mind the following eight principles:
n
Increasing recognition of our weakness
n
Increasing awareness of the dangers and threats we are
facing
n
Having the desire and determination to build our
strength
n
Learning humility and steadfastness in faith and
action
n
Knowing that weakness can turn into strength and vice
versa
n
Overcoming fears without throwing caution to the winds
n
Knowing that things start with individuals
n
Combining self criticism with finding, and building
on, what is positive
1)
Increasing
recognition of our weakness
We need to fully
face the obvious fact that at this stage of history we are extremely
weak. The signs of this weakness are everywhere and we have already
noted some of them. The situation is well described in another way
by a sister in a letter she wrote to the National Post in 2001. In
response to an article by Daniel Pipes, she wrote:
Mr. Pipes should put his mind at ease regarding Islam as a threat to
anyone, least of all the powerful West. Islam in general and Muslim
countries in particular are on the defensive everywhere and losing
ground politically as well physically. In Chechnya, Kashmir and
Palestine Muslims are fighting with little more than their hands to
combat overwhelming forces occupying their lands. Indonesia has
lost East Timor. A movement is afoot to detach Southern Sudan from
the North. Iraq is bombed on a regular basis, its once vibrant
economy and high standard of living smashed to smithereens, its
children dead or dying in thousands.
?.
As for the 1.3 billion "Muslims" of this world, a recent survey of
American Muslims found that only 3% are actively engaged in the
political defense of Islam and Muslims in America. Which means that
97% have no time or do not care enough about their religion to stand
up for it.
?.
So Mr. Pipes stop worrying about the threat of Islam. There isn't
any, it?s just a paper dragon. Go find another dragon to slay! (Sherbanu
Parpia)
We need to
recognize the reality that the Muslim ummah is a paper dragon. But
there are indications that many of us do not do so. Since a long
time we have been victim of a "denial syndrome" when it comes to our
weakness. Connected with this is the fact that our talk has often
been more powerful than our power itself. Thus, for example, in 1967
our leaders talked of throwing the Jews into the sea, but when the
actual war took place, the hollowness of those slogans and a lack of
real power became obvious. Similarly, in Afghanistan the Taliban
could not show any real power against the US aggression and were
quickly dissolved.
2)
Increasing awareness of the dangers
and threats we are facing
In addition to
recognizing our extreme weakness we need also to face the fact that
we are surrounded by all kinds of powerful forces hostile or
unsympathetic to Islam and Muslims. Despite Muslim weakness these
forces never cease. One way they sustain their hostile actions is to
keep presenting Islam and Muslim as a threat. Mr. Pipes knows very
well that the Muslim world is a paper dragon, but he is still
fanning islamophobia to make sure that it stays a paper dragon.
Some of the
powerful forces in the world -- the US State Department, Western
Media etc -- may not themselves be deliberately committed to hurting
and harming Islam and Muslims, but they are used by well-organized
groups, e.g. evangelical Christians, Zionist Jews, for that purpose.
They keep the Muslim world under close watch to make sure that it
does not get any real strength and to undermine Muslim religion and
civilization. Human rights and women issues are among the weapons
used. One sister, Shariffa Carlo has provided a first-hand
testimony. Talking about what happened to her before she accepted
Islam, she writes:
When I was a teenager, I came to the attention of a group of people
with a very sinister agenda. They were and probably still are a
loose association of individuals who work in government positions
but have a special agenda - to destroy Islam. It is not a
governmental group that I am aware of; they simply use their
positions in the US government to advance their cause. One member of
this group approached me because he saw that I was articulate,
motivated and very much the women's rights advocate. He told me that
if I studied International Relations with an emphasis in the Middle
East, he would guarantee me a job at the American Embassy in Egypt.
He wanted me to eventually go there to use my position in the
country to talk to Muslim women and encourage the fledgling women's
rights movement. I thought this was a great idea. I had seen the
Muslim women on TV; I knew they were a poor oppressed group, and I
wanted to lead them to the light of 20th century freedom. With this
intention, I went to college and began my education. I studied
Qur?an, hadith and Islamic history. I also studied the ways I could
use this information. I learned how to twist the words to say what I
wanted them to say. It was a valuable tool (Shariffa Carlo,
Becoming Muslim).
In the last
couple of centuries the European nations went to Asia and Africa
accompanied by missionaries carrying the seemingly harmless symbol
of the cross and an innocent message of love. The result was that
the Asian and African countries were soon under colonial rule by the
Christians. In the last century the USA was "yet another Civilized
Power, with its banner of the Prince of Peace in one hand and its
loot-basket and its butcher-knife in the other" (Mark Twain,
?To the Person Sitting in Darkness?,
1901, describing the United
States playing the European- style imperialist game in the
Philippines). Now the instrument of sabotage and conquest is
human rights and women's issues. This is not to say that we should
not pay careful attention to these issues and reform ourselves to
the degree reform is needed. But we must be aware of what is really
going on. Very often the use of the human rights issues are not used
in a fair way. Thus the Christian crusade against ?slavery? in Sudan
was primarily a deception. Rebel officials rounded up local
villagers to pose for the cameras. They recruited fake slavers to
?sell? them. The money exchanged hands and the ?slaves? were then
?set free? (Reported in 'The Irish Times', London's 'Independent on
Sunday', 'The Washington Post' and 'International Herald Tribune').
In addition to
the above examples, there is the example of the two American
Christians -- Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer ? who went to
Afghanistan pretending to be ?aid? workers but whose real objective
was to aggressively spread the gospel in Islamic countries. They
belong to a missionary group deceptively named as Shelter Now, one
of many groups well-organized, highly motivated and not short of
cash. All this is now common knowledge in the West, since the ?aid?
workers have gleefully admitted all this on public TV, probably in
order to use their fame to encourage other Christians to go on
similar adventures under various guises.
As for Muslims,
most of us are not fully aware of the degree of hostile actions that
are being planned and executed against Islam and the Muslim world.
For quite some time now we have a head-in-the-sand type of attitude
towards the threats and dangers that face us. One reason for this is
the natural human tendency to avoid facing uncomfortable facts. But
there are also some historical reasons.
It is a great
mercy of God on Muslims and one of the blessings that he bestowed on
them for the sake of the Holy Prophet, rahmah li al-?alamin
(mercy to all the worlds), that for most of their history they have
not experienced suffering as other nations have. After an initial
persecution in Makkah, the brunt of which was born by the Prophet
himself and his early followers, Islam has mostly seen successes.
Muslim lands were free of foreign occupation. Even where they were
in minority, as in India and Spain, they were in a position of
power. Internally we enjoyed a great deal of stability and
prosperity by the standards of those times, which resulted in the
flourishing of scientific and intellectual activity. Our lives had
as much value as that of an American or a Jew today. In 712 C.E.
some Muslim pilgrims were attacked by some pirates off the coast of
Sind. When the ship carrying the pilgrims docked at Basrah and their
complaints reached the governor of the province, Hajjaj bin Yusuf,
otherwise not the best of Muslims, he immediately sent a 17-year
general Muhammad bin Qasim, to punish the pirates. The young
general not only meted justice but also introduced Islam to what is
now Pakistan.
It is only
relatively recently that we are experiencing serious difficulties
and defeats. Although in Europe the Muslim power came to an end when
on Jan 2, 1492 the last of the Muslim rulers were defeated, the
Muslim world has experienced large scale defeat and suffering only
in the last two of the 14 centuries. To be sure, the Muslim ummah
was viciously attacked twice in the past and suffered a great deal
of death and destruction, once by the Mongols and then by the
Crusaders. But this was temporary. The Mongols converted to Islam
after destroying Baghdad and the Crusaders were finally defeated.
The result of this is that it is difficult for us to fully accept
and deal with this relatively new experience of defeat and
suffering. For, manners of a people continue long after their
conditions change. Our manner is still in many ways that of an ummah
living in security, if not with a superpower status. But now we are
a weak and oppressed people. We need to change our manner
accordingly. We need to develop a language to talk about suffering
and defeat without, of course, being defeatist. The Qur`an contains
such a language because the Prophet and the companions went through
a great deal of suffering and often defeat; even total annihilation
was seemingly a possibility for them. But we have not built on this
language to deal with our present situation.
3)
Having the desire and determination
to build our strength
To simply face
the facts that we are weak and that we are surrounded by dangers is
just one side of the picture. To stop at that is of course very
depressing and totally useless. We need to start from where we are
and build up our strength with determination. This requires knowing
the eight sources or means of strength (see below).
In times of
weakness the desire for strength is natural and was shown by
prophets. For example, the Prophet Lut, when faced
with the force of his wicked people, says:
Would that I had some strength (quwwah) to resist
you or had some strong support (to assist me) (11:80)!
More generally the Qur`an gives the following principle:
(Believers are) those who when a wrong is done to them they help
themselves (yantasirun) (by some
action in self-defense) (42:39)
If it is a
characteristic of believers to do something in the face of wrong
done to them, then clearly they must have the desire and
determination to build their strength if they already do not possess
such strength.
The Qur`an also
gives the following principle:
And God changes not the condition of a people unless they first
change (by his will) themselves (13:11).
This verse can be
and has been understood in two ways: 1) God does not take away his
favors from a people unless they depart from the religion of fitrah
on which God created them. 2) God does not bring a people out of a
miserable state unless they change themselves and put them back on
the religion of fitrah. Both meanings apply to us. We
must have gone terribly wrong somewhere to find ourselves in our
present state and we need to change ourselves to get out of that
state. It is clear that among the things that we need to change is
our denial of our weakness, our complacency in the face of dangers,
and lack of any action to rebuild our strength. We also need to
abandon the idea that when we are on the right, the world or God
should automatically give us our rights. The Qur`an and the whole
history of humanity show that this world is a place of perpetual
struggle between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and
falsehood, and justice and oppression. In order to get our rights
and justice we need to build the strength to fight for them.
4)
Learning humility
and steadfastness in faith and action
Our response to
our defeats and adversity is usually one of the following: i)
denial; ii) rage against our enemies; iii) putting ourselves down;
or iv) not caring because we ourselves are not affected. All these
responses are inadequate. The proper responses are taught by the
Qur`an in the following verses:
We have indeed sent to communities before you (O Prophet)
affliction of suffering and adversity in order that they may learn
humility. If only when suffering reached them from us, they had been
humble! But their hearts hardened and Satan made all that they used
to do seem fair unto them! (6:42-43).
If you have received a blow, the (other) people have also
received a similar blow. These (good and bad) days We cause to go
around among men so that God may manifest (lit. know) those who are
faithful and may choose witnesses (shuhada`)
from among you (to faith and truth). And God loves not the
wrong-doers (3:140).
(Believers are) those who when a wrong is done to them help
themselves (yantasirun) (by some
action in self-defense) (42:39)
O believers! Seek assistance through patience (sabr)
and prayer. Truly! God is with the patient. And say not of those who
are killed in the cause of God, ?They are dead.? Nay, they are
living, but you perceive not? (2:153-154).
Thus the proper
responses to defeat and adversity are humility, deepening of faith,
and steadfast action. Rage against injustice and oppression is fine
if it is translated into suitable and effective action.
Humility does not
mean to walk with our head down, but to face our weaknesses rather
than close our eyes to them. Humility means accepting existing
realities, including the reality that some realities need to be
changed.
Patience or
steadfastness implies that we should not always expect quick results
but realize that some particular tasks may require long-term
commitment on the part of individuals. The last of the Qur`anic
passages quoted above (2:153-154) talks of prayer and patience as
means of assistance. This patience may at times be simply enduring
whatever hardships one faces but in this passage it refers to
steadfastness in action as is clear from the reference to martyrs:
in the time of the Prophet people were not martyred sitting at home
but during some action.
Action in
self-defense mentioned in 42:39 is not necessarily fighting back in
a physical sense but any action that is effective. It may sometimes
be forgiveness, as is stated in the next verse: ?whoever forgives
and amends (aslaha), he shall have his reward
from God?.
5)
Knowing that
weakness can change into strength and vice versa
The Holy Qur`an
says:
God is he who created you from weakness, then gave strength (quwwah)
after weakness, then after strength (quwwah) weakness and
gray hair. He creates what he will and he is the knowing and the
mighty one (30:54)
When Lut
spoke the words in Qur`an 13:11, he was not aware that the very
guests in his house that he was wishing to protect were angels in
human disguise who had been sent to save him and destroy his wicked
people. The meaning is that the sources of strength are sometimes
nearer than we may think.
It is indeed one
of the central elements in the teaching of the Qur`an that power
ultimately belongs to God Almighty. If anyone else has any power it
is only because God has temporarily given it to him:
Say: Lord of all dominion (mulk)! You grant dominion to
whom you will and you take away dominion from whom you will. You
exalt whom you will and you abase whom you will. In your hand is all
good and surely you are able to do all things (3:26).
?And to God (alone) belongs the dominion (mulk) of the
heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what
he will and God is able to do all things (5:17).
There is no power (quwwah) except by (the help of) God
(18:39).
The oppressors often behave as if their power is theirs to keep
forever and as if there is none who can bring them to justice. But
this is an allusion that will be destroyed on the judgment
day:
And among people there are those who take besides God rival
(deities) loving them with a love that should be given to God
(alone). Those who have (true) faith, they love God with the
greatest intensity. If only the transgressors knew (what they will
know) when they will see the punishment, that all power (quwwah)
belongs to God alone ?(2:165).
But the truth
that power really belongs only to God will be seen not just in the
hereafter. This truth has also been demonstrated in history again
and again:
Do they not travel in the land and then see the end of those who
were before them and they were so much greater than they in power (quwwah)?
And God is not such that anything in the heavens or in the earth can
foil him. Lo! He possesses knowledge and power (35:44; see also
40:21-22, 82-83, 47:13).
The simple but
profound truth that power really belongs to God is not something
that only the unbelievers need to learn. It is something that the
believers also need to keep in mind, both in times of weakness and
in times of strength. In times of weakness it should teach us
patience and steadfastness in obedience to God and in times of
strength it should teach us humility and constraint in the use of
power. Both lessons are demonstrated by the noble example set by the
Holy Prophet. For thirteen years in Makkah and for several years in
Madinah he was in a position of weakness when he patiently suffered
or steadfastly struggled with faith and courage, certain that in the
end truth and justice will prevail. And when towards the end of his
life God gave him a clear victory against the Makkans he acted with
humility before God, as the Qur'an instructed him:
When there comes the help of God and the victory, and you (O
Prophet) see the people enter the religion of God in crowds,
celebrate the praises of God and seek his forgiveness, surely he is
ever ready to turn in mercy (110).
This principle
that weakness can turn into strength and strength into weakness
means that we should never regard the enemies of Islam and Muslims
as invincible, no matter how much economic wealth, military might
and technological superiority they might have. The Holy Qur`an
reminds us:
How many of a little group has overcome mighty host by God's
leave. God is with the steadfast (sabirin)
... So they routed them by God's leave and David slew Goliath ...
(2:249-251).
Here the Qur`an
talks of a little group, but the same principle holds for a big weak
group like the Muslim ummah today.
6)
Overcoming fears
without throwing caution to the winds
The Holy Qur`an
often states that believers should fear none but God. This one fear
of God should free us from all other fears. This has two important
implications in the way we live as Muslims. First, we should not
compromise Islamic teachings to appear moderate. Second, we should
not stop regarding ourselves as Muslims first and then Canadians or
Americans or Pakistanis or Turks etc. In North America Muslims have
come under some pressure since 9/11 to view themselves Americans or
Canadian first, then Muslims, despite reports showing that most
practicing Christians/Jews in these countries regard themselves
Christians/Jews first and then American or Canadian.
7)
Knowing that things
start with individuals
We have a
tendency to expect the ?community? to do something for solving our
problems. But how do things start in the ?community?? From some
individuals! This means that some individuals have to rise and
commit themselves to some of the work that needs to be done for
rebuilding Muslim strength. Moreover, because of the complexities of
the modern age, adequate strength cannot be built overnight. This
means that individuals must rise with a very long-term commitment to
very specialized type of work. Individuals can work separately or in
small teams. Some individuals or teams then need to rise to find
ways to use what other individuals or teams are doing for more
general objectives.
8)
Combining self criticism with
finding, and building on, what is positive
We talk a lot
against ourselves but the effect of all this talk is that we put
ourselves down, create despondency, and hence make ourselves weaker.
This type of talk is against the teachings of Islam. In Islam there
is only critical analysis of what went wrong and how it can be
corrected (see the Qur`anic verses about the setbacks suffered by
Muslims in the battle of Uhad) but there is no room for
putting ourselves down and thus creating despondency, which the
Qur`an equates with dalalah (going astray)
(15:56).
Also, our
criticism of ourselves needs to be combined with a search for, and
appreciation of, what is positive in our communities and countries
and then finding ways to build on that. The Qur`an along with a
criticism of some aspects of companions? conduct also mentions their
good qualities in order to build on them.
EIGHT PILLARS OF STRENGTH
There are six
sources of strength that human beings can use to empower themselves
with God's leave and which Islam encourages us to use:
1) Iman (faith)
2) Knowledge and
understanding
3) Military or
police force
4) Economic
wealth
5) Da?wah
6) Political
activism
7) Organization
8) Unity
1)
Iman
Faith gives us
the light by which we can see what needs to be done and how. It
gives us the inner strength to persist patiently and make necessary
sacrifices. It enables us to use power responsibly, wisely and
therefore more effectively. Above all, it brings the help of God and
whatever strength we possess is increased. The Holy Qur'an says:
And [the prophet Hud said], O my people! Seek forgiveness
of your Lord and then turn to him in repentance; he will send down
on you rain in abundance and add strength (quwwah) to your
strength (quwwah). Do not turn away as sinners (11:52).
Thus turning to
God in repentance, seeking his forgiveness brings prosperity and an
increase in strength or quwwah. This principle is stated in
the words of the earlier prophet Hud (may peace be upon him)
but the following verses address directly the faithful and steadfast
followers of the Prophet Muhammad (whom God blesses, glorifies and
loves):
If there be of you twenty steadfast they shall overcome two
hundred, and if there be of you hundred steadfast they shall
overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, for they (the
disbelievers) are a people who do not understand (8:65).
Now has God lightened your burden, for he knows that there is
weakness in you. So if there be of you a steadfast hundred they
shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a thousand, they
shall overcome two thousand by the permission of God. And God is
with the steadfast (8:66).
Thus faith can
increase the effective power of a people by two to ten times
depending on the strength of the faith.
Faith gives us
some moral and spiritual force that can sometimes conquer without
the use of physical force. Thus one of the two groups that in the
past attacked and devastated the Muslim lands - the Mongols -- won
the military victory but they were conquered by the superior moral
and spiritual force of Islam in that they themselves became Muslims.
The second group ? the Crusaders ? was physically defeated, but they
also encountered a superior moral and spiritual force of the
Muslims. When the Crusaders temporarily won control of some Muslim
lands, they unleashed horrific death and destruction. But when Salah
al-Din defeated the Crusaders he did no such thing. The
Crusaders did not convert: apparently, the hate in the Christian
heart for Islam and Muslims was too great to be conquered by this
act of love and tolerance. Nevertheless, ever since there have been
many Europeans who developed a better view of Islam and Muslims.
2)
Knowledge and
understanding.
In one of the
verses quoted above (8:65) the Holy Qur'an says that believers can
overcome ten times bigger force of the disbelievers because the
disbelievers "are a people who do not understand."
This means that lack of understanding leads to weakness while
understanding leads to strength. And of course the Qur`an repeatedly
says that it is a guidance for people who reflect or understand or
have knowledge (3:190-191, 6:98, 10:24, 13:3, 16:11 etc) or that it
makes people reflect, understand, or have knowledge (2:219, 7: 176,
9:122, 16:44, 34:46 etc).
This
understanding should be thought of in general terms and include
knowledge of science and technology and of what is happening in the
world around us as well as knowledge of moral and spiritual truths.
This may be obvious to some of us, but in the past this was not so
obvious even to many scholars.
Shaykh Ahmad
Sirhindi (1564-1624), otherwise a great reformer and thinker and
called Mujaddid-i Alf-i Thani (Reviver [of Islam] for the
second millennium of Islamic calendar) considered philosophy and
pure science useless. In his Maktubat, I/266, we read:
?Among [the philosophers?] firm and sure sciences is mathematics,
which is utterly meaningless and absolutely useless.? He said that
one should not waste time on arithmetic and only learn enough of it
to calculate shares of inheritance and to determine the direction of
Qiblah. He considered geometry to be utterly useless, there being no
point in knowing that the sum of the angles of a triangle equals two
right angles. Clearly, Sirhindi had no appreciation of the necessity
and power of pure thought and ideas. The philosophy and mathematics
to which Sirhindi refers is not of the European variety because
major European developments in these fields came later and whatever
work the Europeans had done at the time of Sirhindi would not be
known to him. Sirhindi is referring to the pursuit of philosophy and
mathematics among Muslims. This shows that even in Sirhindi?s time
Muslims were taking interest in philosophy and mathematics and that
his outlook was not shared by all Muslims.
There is no
evidence of any persecution of philosophers, mathematicians, and
scientists at that time in the Muslim world, at least not by any
central authority. But at about the time of Sirhindi the Christian
church was tormenting Galileo Galilei (1564- 1642) for his
scientific theories. At this time the Western and Muslim worlds are
at a comparable state as far as philosophy and science are
concerned. However, whereas in the West the attitude represented by
Galileo begins to win over that of the Church, in the Muslim world
the attitude represented by Sirhindi was to persist for centuries.
In assessing the
outlook of Muslim scholars like Sirhindi we may exaggerate either by
condemning them too harshly or by trying to defend them too
sympathetically. I will attempt to avoid both extremes.
In fairness to
the scholars I think we must recognize the following points: They
are not against the rational method. Indeed, they constantly apply
reason within their Islamic assumptions to arrive at their
positions. The mistakes they made are not unlike those that even
reputed scientists have made in the application of the rational
method within their own set of assumptions. It is also noteworthy
that Sirhindi gives a reason why he is not in favor of pursuing
study of philosophy and mathematics: these fields do not serve any
useful purpose, that is, they do not benefit man. If it were
demonstrated that these fields of knowledge are useful, Sirhindi and
other scholars of his caliber would have encouraged their study.
These scholars were living in a time when the Muslim world was
secure and had the status of something like a superpower. There were
no visible signs, as they exist today, that the pursuit of the study
of sciences, including pure sciences like mathematics, is vital for
the security of the Muslim ummah and hence our collective
obligation. There was also a lack of easily accessible clear signs,
such as exist today, that science was useful in solving many
problems of human existence, even apart from providing security from
external aggression.
Nevertheless, we
must unequivocally state that Sirhindi made a mistake. This mistake
may not take away much from his greatness as a religious reformer
and scholar, but it surely calls into question the role ascribed to
him of the Mujaddid for the second millennium of the Islamic era,
since his outlook has landed us today in a disastrous position.
If Sirhindi is
excusable for the above mentioned reasons, there is no excuse for
those ?ulama who were opposing science and technology even in the 19th
and 20th centuries when it should have been obvious that
the Western colonialism was defeating Muslims mainly because of
their superiority in science and technology. This is so especially
because the Qur`an clearly commands the Muslims to prepare a
deterrent force for the defense of Islam and Muslims. Some ?ulama in
the early 20th century were discussing whether loud
speakers can be used for adhan. Why did they not also discuss
how best to fulfill God?s command to prepare a deterrent force in
the defense of Islam and Muslims?
One of the
reasons that the ?ulama discouraged the pursuit of science was that
it will reduce adherence to Islam. But the failure on the part of
Muslims to implement the Qur`anic commandment to provide a deterrent
force illustrates that intellectual stagnation in
the Muslim world had just the opposite effect. Only practice of some
of the Islamic teachings ? those within an individual?s control,
e.g., prayers, fasting etc ? continued. Islam became much less
effective in solving social, political and economic problems. For,
Islam can solve such problems only if it is applied intelligently
(with fikr, fiqh, and ?aql). Positions need to be debated rationally
and then some decisions reached collectively. Otherwise we live with
whimsical, abstract, oversimplified positions divorced from reality
and from the purpose of Islam -- falah of humankind. Today
some Muslims insist on a lot of such positions. Here are some
examples:
Preserving historic sites is wrong.
Selecting ruler by democratic vote is un-Islamic.
Women cannot vote.
Women cannot drive.
Taking pictures of living things is haram.
All musical entertainment is haram.
Flying kites is haram.
If we follow the
logic used to arrive at these positions, it would be found at least
inconclusive, if not highly defective. An intelligent debate on the
basis of the Qur`an and the authentic Hadith would probably not lead
to these positions.
3)
Military or police force
In this world where
God has for a determined time allowed oppression and evil to exist
along side with justice and righteousness it is often necessary for
individuals and nations to defend themselves. If everyone in this
world were a just and righteous person human beings would live
together in perfect peace and harmony and there would be no need for
anyone to build and use power. But that is not the way God willed
this world to be. Consequently, in this world the building and
sometimes the use of force are unavoidable.
Some states that often
act against Islam and Muslims such as the USA and Israel do believe
in force. The following words of an American writer represent the
thinking of many influential Americans: "For globalism to work,
America can't be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it
is ...The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden
fist -- McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the
designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe
for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army,
Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps." ("What
the World Needs Now", by Thomas Friedman, New York Times, March 28,
1999." -- from Backing Up Globalization with Military Might).
Even those Americans who are primarily for peace regard the use of
force an option to be always kept. When it comes to Israelis,
especially the Zionists, their faith in power is evident in the way
Israel has been established and maintained.
In view of this, it is
not possible for Muslims to ignore the building of military force.
Hence the Qur'an says:
Make ready for them whatever you can of (armed) force and of
horses tethered, that thereby you may dismay the enemy of God and
your enemy, and others beside them whom you do not know but God
knows. Whatever you spend in the way of God it will be repaid to you
in full, and you will not be wronged (8:60).
This verse
commands Muslims to make ready to the best of their ability the type
of force that will deter aggression against them by known and
unknown enemies. Obviously, in our age this commandment can only be
fulfilled if we do our best to acquire or build the sort of weapons
that other nations possess, which in turn requires us to acquire and
develop the best possible knowledge of science and technology.
Had Muslims paid
attention to this commandment of God as soon as they came into
contact with the colonial forces, they would not have been in such a
mess today. They would have immediately turned to acquiring such
military force as was necessary to deter colonial powers from making
their advances against the Muslim world and against other Asian and
African countries. This would have required developing science and
technology and organizational techniques to the same level as, or
higher than, the Europeans. As a result Muslims today would have
been not only militarily strong enough to defend themselves but also
would have reaped all the benefits of advancement in science and
technology. But, alas, by the time the Europeans came Muslims had
closed their eyes to part of the teachings of Islam, reducing them
mostly to the five pillars and the rituals connected with them and
to some rules about personal and family life (e.g. prohibited foods,
marriage, divorce, inheritance). As a result, although Muslims
continued using whatever military force they had, they never made
ready adequate force, as God commands. The results for this
disregard for a commandment of God are now there for all to see.
As a further
comment on the above verse it may be added that military force is
viewed in the verse primarily as a defensive and deterrent force.
From the rest of the teachings of Islam, it becomes clear that what
must be defended are the following rights:
a)
The right of the Muslim nations to live in freedom, security, and
prosperity and to live by the laws and constitutions of their own
choice without impositions from outside.
b)
The right to hold the word of God entrusted to them as supreme.
Finally, it may
be noted in regard to the above verse that it may not be limited to
military force only. It can also be interpreted to include police
force. Thus when the world truly becomes a global village and wars
between nations are therefore eliminated, the application of this
verse would consist of keeping an adequate police force to deal with
crimes and an adequate military force to deal with any civil wars.
4)
Economic wealth
In the last verse
quoted above, after commanding the Muslims to make ready military
force, the Qur`an says:
Whatever you spend in the way of God it will be repaid to you in
full, and you will not be wronged (8:60).
This takes for
granted the obvious fact that before there can be military force
there has to be economic wealth, part of which may be spent for
building a military or police force or for developing the scientific
and technological knowledge needed for building such a force. Of
course, economic wealth is useful not just for building adequate
military strength but also in other ways, e.g. in political defense
of Muslim causes.
To help increase
our economic strength, the Qur`an gives us some very useful general
principles:
i)
Honoring contracts and fulfilling commitments (5:1, 2:177,
17:34, 23:8);
ii)
Writing business deals and having them witnessed (2:282-283).
The Qur`an does
not condemn acquisition or possession of huge wealth in itself. Thus
when it talks about Korah or Qarun (an ancient
equivalent of the modern multi-billionaires) it does not condemn him
for having wealth but only for forgetting God, the hereafter, and
the rights of the poor. In the past Muslims have seen the pursuit of
wealth in a negative way because this pursuit can often make us get
lost into the life of this world and forget God and the hereafter.
This is no doubt an attitude that is taught in the Qur`an and Hadith
and we should never abandon it. But it needs to be balanced by
another aspect of Islamic teaching: we must do whatever necessary
for defending Islam and Muslims. This means that in this age we have
to learn to remember God and the hereafter and at the same time
create wealth, for, our self-defense will become very hard indeed if
all the nations of the earth around us -- Americans, Europeans,
Japanese, Indians, Chinese, Koreans etc. are becoming wealthier and
wealthier while our economies are generally stagnant or in decline.
5)
Da?wah
This can increase
our strength by:
a)
Providing an opportunity to interact with non-Muslims and
hence to better understand and deal with them;
b)
Increasing our own understanding of Islam and thus make us
better Muslims;
c)
Increasing our numbers in non-Muslim countries, although this
should not be our primary objective.
6)
Political activism
Within Muslim
countries political activity is needed to bring governments that are
more faithful to Islam and more sensitive to the interests of Islam
and Muslims. In non-Muslim countries political activism is needed
for defense against the anti-Muslim hate, media bias against Islam
and Muslims, and legislature that targets Muslims. Our political
activism should also help non-Muslims who are victims of injustice
and oppression. In all these forms, political activism is the main
part of the religious obligation of jihad for the present age.
7)
Organization
In building and
maintaining strength an important role is played by efficient
organization in all efforts involving more than a few persons. After
iman, sound organization is the single most urgent need of
the Muslims in the present age.
Efficiency of
organization can be achieved within the four broad principles given
by the Qur'an:
a)
Participation of the people involved, through a consultation
process (shura) suitable for the type of task
an organization is engaged in (Qur'an 42:38).
b)
Avoiding waste (israf) of every type of
resource (Qur'an 7:31, 17:26-27, 25:67 etc).
c)
Acceptance of the authority of those who are given some
responsibility (ul al-amr), when the authority
is acquired by a due process and is exercised to carry out the task
assigned (Qur'an 4:59).
d)
Accountability of all people involved, no matter what
is their position, with convenient procedures for relieving persons
from their responsibilities in case of incompetence, misuse of
authority, and serious violation of rules (4:135, 5:8, 9:71 etc).
(See also other
articles on consultation and organization on this website.)
In non-Muslim
countries our communities are fragmented in various organizations
that are far from realizing their full potential. This is because
some or all of the above Qur`anic principles of organization are
ignored. In order to strengthen ourselves, the answer is not to
replace these various organizations by one big organization, but for
each existing or yet to be conceived organization to apply the above
principles and flourish and for these flourishing organizations to
come together under an umbrella organization to cooperate and
participate in larger efforts. In other words, it is perfectly
alright, even desirable at this point, to form small teams that
concentrate on limited tasks and aim for the highest goals.
September 11 has proved that individuals working together with
strong and sustained commitment can shake the very foundation of the
world. Similarly, sustained effort can have massive impact in other
ways: in building our economies, our militaries, our level of
education and research, intellectual and artistic activity, helping
those who are in need, and even enhancing unity amongst us.
8)
Unity
Unity and
strength are connected in the following verse.
And obey God and his messenger and do not quarrel, for then you
will be weak in hearts and your strength (rih) will
depart and be steadfast; surely God is with the steadfast
(sabirin) (8:46).
We often stress
unity as if it can come by itself and once achieved it will give us
strength. This is doing us a lot of harm. The unity never comes and
strength never follows. The proper emphasis is that we stress
empowerment, take steps to achieve it, and stress unity as a
necessary ingredient of our ongoing efforts to build strength rather
than stress unity in a vacuum.
Also, we should
divide unity into two types and work on them separately. One is the
unity of hearts and the other is unity of minds. The unity of the
hearts is built on common objects of love, which in our case, are
Islam and the Holy Prophet. The unity of mind is built by agreement
on how to interpret, implement, and serve Islam. The two types of
unity are to some degree independent. Thus it is possible for people
to feel close because they love the same things even if they have
serious differences on some matters. Similarly, it is possible for
some people to share the same opinions but not feel close otherwise.
We should feel
close to everyone who has a deep love for Islam and the Holy
Prophet. At the same time we should keep working on increased unity
of mind by dialogue and debate. In this process we should show the
maximum possible tolerance to different points of view without
compromising what we know to be the truth.
When we think of
strength we must think of all of its sources: faith, knowledge,
wealth, arms, da?wah, political activism, organization, and unity.
These eight sources are like eight pillars that support our overall
strength. If even one of them weakens, our strength can be seriously
reduced. Thus if iman weakens, then knowledge,
military strength, and economic wealth may begin to be misused and
then begin to weaken. If knowledge weakens, military and economic
strength begins to weaken, which creates internal and external
problems and results in the weakening of faith. If there is not
enough economic wealth to leave a surplus after fulfilling people's
basic needs, then military strength will be adversely affected.
Knowledge will also suffer, since it would be impossible to sustain
necessary educational and research institutions of adequate quality,
which will weaken the military still further. Even iman may
be affected if there is too much poverty. Likewise, it is not hard
to see that if organizational efficiency or unity reduces, then this
will weaken all other sources of strength as well.
There are some
pious Muslims who think that we should work mainly on our iman
and the rest will follow. There is also an attitude among some
Muslims that we must first get united and then somehow we will
become strong. This is a dangerous thought because this world does
not allow us the luxury of putting off the building of economic and
military strength or advancing in knowledge till a sufficiently
large proportion of Muslims can reach an adequate state of faith or
till they have achieved some imagined ideal of unity. We must work
simultaneously on building all six types of strength.
Finally, as noted
earlier, our strength cannot be built overnight. It will require a
lot of hard work to improve our faith, to build our businesses, to
produce a suitable number of scientists, engineers and experts in
various fields of learning and to build our armed forces. Many of us
have to take up many specific tasks, commit to them on a long-term
basis, and work patiently over years. Blessed are those who will
take the challenge. May God make me among them. |