Since 911, the Western media and the western society at large seem to be at odds with the Muslim world. Every now and then there is an article in western media citing the causes of malice in the Muslim society. The West wants to correct the Muslim world, just like it has wanted to correct every other civilization before ours, by imposing its homespun remedies. America considers democracy to be the solution to all that ails the Muslim world while Europe feels freedom of speech is the answer to all problems. Muslim leaders, aligned with the West, are also recommending their solutions on somewhat the same lines; General Musharraf harps enlightened moderation, Saudi monarchs support wahabi conservatism. But no one seems to have the perfect answer to this dilemma of bridging the gap between the West and the Islamic world.
Before we present our commentary on this situation let us have a brief review of the Muslim world. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has 57 member countries, which can largely be termed as the Muslim World. Out of these 57 only a handful has functioning democracy. The three largest countries, by population, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have struggled with democracies. Almost half of world’s oil reserves are controlled by the Muslim world; it is still one of the poorest segments of the world population. None of the Muslim countries can be termed as fully industrialized except for Malaysia and Turkey.
As we have witnessed during the recent cartoon debacle, the Muslim world is quick to blame the West for all its problems. Even though West as a political unit does maneuver the situation to its advantage whether it is colonization of Africa & Asia or slave trade. West also maintain its control on many parts of the world through proxy rulers and dictators. But the real virus among the Muslim world is its own misunderstanding of the spiritual meaning of the religion and the life style proposed by it.
Islam is the youngest religion among all the other prominent religions of the world like Christians, Hinduism and Budhists. All these religions have struggled with their own problems of mixing politics with religion. For many centuries Christian Clergy maintained political control of the Christian world until the French revolution, which became the benchmark for separating church and government. Once this was achieved it was much easier for people to become less emotional about rejecting religious taboos that made their societies conservative and orthodox. Once church lost its political power it had to struggle to maintain its importance. This irrelevance in the society forced the clergy to gain deeper understanding of the spiritual meaning of their religion.
Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, with which Western media is so fascinated, are not a religious but political movement that gains its appeal from largely impoverished Muslim youth by dictating West as an enemy and a source of their misery. They have used religion as global phenomena to cut across boundaries to gain recruits. Al-Qaeda has single handedly damaged the spirituality of a peaceful religion that has never happened before in its history. Their political movement has brought more misery to the world of Islam than the damage it has inflicted on the west.
In spiritual terms, it is imperative for each individual to seek the absolute truth about life, creation, unity of God and purpose of existence. But this is a quest that should be left to an individual to decide which path he/she wants to choose to find these answers. As Greek philosophers believed that after earning subsistence level earnings each individual should spend the rest of his time with family and quest for knowledge. Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism have all transformed over centuries. Followers of most of these religions look towards their preachers to find answers for them while they are busy running their daily lives, which is government by secular laws.
On the other hand clergy in the Muslim also define the spiritual meaning of the religion but also taint it with tradition and politics, which has nothing, got to do with the spiritual content. This amalgamation of religion with politics has been a deadly combination when it is in the hands of clergy that is trained in narrow science of theology. Only a handful of these clergy truly understand the depth of the religion and its comparison with other religions. These clergy also pressure governments to adopt religiously motivated constitutions. Since most of the Muslim countries are either dictatorships or kingdoms it is in the benefit of these rulers to control the minds of the people through these clergy like in medieval Europe few centuries ago. It is imperative for the Muslim world to resolve this conflict of religion and politics and come up with a form of government that is more in tune with the advancement in science, technology, and economics. Islam does provide means to achieve this through Ijma or conference of Muslim scholars to debate, argue and formation of consensus. But Ijma is difficult as infighting between various scholars has resulted in almost 72 different sects of Islam with each prophesying they are the true bearer of the religion and rigid about accepting the views of the other sects. Although Sunni and Shitte are the two majority sects but even in those two sects there are various shades that don’t agree much with each other.
The worst thing that has happened in the muslim world is appointment of mosque imams that have limited knowledge of the spiritual side of the religion. In order to keep their jobs these imam’s prefer to keep their audiences engaged in following a strict code of tradition through symbolism of dress and appearance rather than providing them the source of getting closer to the creator. These Imams also like to instill fear of religious infidelity among their disciples so that they continue providing funds for their mosques and their religious schools. In its true sense a mosque is a community center where people gather to pray, network, share and comfort each other. At the appointed time of the prayer a person from among those present can come forward and lead the prayer. In order to maintain mosques administrators should be hired who can take care of the place, its cleanliness and safeguard its assets.
Parents prefer their children to be taught about the religion from early childhood for which a board should be established that certify Muslim scholars. These Muslim scholars should be well versed in all other religions, as well, so that they have clear understanding of the spiritual side of religion in general and Islamic spirituality in particular. I recently sent a translation of Qoran to an atheist European friend and asked her to comment on the book once she finishes it. Her first remark was that it is such a simple book like a story while Bible is complicated. This should sum up the message of Islam for everyone. It is a simple religion made complicated by the Imams of the mosque. One positive outcome of 911 is the initiation of a debate in the Muslim world to take a second look at their societies and find solution to their problems. Next generation of youth that are going through this debate will be better equipped to manage their societies and bring positive change.
State of the Muslim world Since 911, the Western …
May 27, 2006 at 7:52 pm · Filed under Political Commentary
State of the Muslim world
Since 911, the Western media and the western society at large seem to be at odds with the Muslim world. Every now and then there is an article in western media citing the causes of malice in the Muslim society. The West wants to correct the Muslim world, just like it has wanted to correct every other civilization before ours, by imposing its homespun remedies. America considers democracy to be the solution to all that ails the Muslim world while Europe feels freedom of speech is the answer to all problems. Muslim leaders, aligned with the West, are also recommending their solutions on somewhat the same lines; General Musharraf harps enlightened moderation, Saudi monarchs support wahabi conservatism. But no one seems to have the perfect answer to this dilemma of bridging the gap between the West and the Islamic world.
Before we present our commentary on this situation let us have a brief review of the Muslim world. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has 57 member countries, which can largely be termed as the Muslim World. Out of these 57 only a handful has functioning democracy. The three largest countries, by population, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have struggled with democracies. Almost half of world’s oil reserves are controlled by the Muslim world; it is still one of the poorest segments of the world population. None of the Muslim countries can be termed as fully industrialized except for Malaysia and Turkey.
As we have witnessed during the recent cartoon debacle, the Muslim world is quick to blame the West for all its problems. Even though West as a political unit does maneuver the situation to its advantage whether it is colonization of Africa & Asia or slave trade. West also maintain its control on many parts of the world through proxy rulers and dictators. But the real virus among the Muslim world is its own misunderstanding of the spiritual meaning of the religion and the life style proposed by it.
Islam is the youngest religion among all the other prominent religions of the world like Christians, Hinduism and Budhists. All these religions have struggled with their own problems of mixing politics with religion. For many centuries Christian Clergy maintained political control of the Christian world until the French revolution, which became the benchmark for separating church and government. Once this was achieved it was much easier for people to become less emotional about rejecting religious taboos that made their societies conservative and orthodox. Once church lost its political power it had to struggle to maintain its importance. This irrelevance in the society forced the clergy to gain deeper understanding of the spiritual meaning of their religion.
Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, with which Western media is so fascinated, are not a religious but political movement that gains its appeal from largely impoverished Muslim youth by dictating West as an enemy and a source of their misery. They have used religion as global phenomena to cut across boundaries to gain recruits. Al-Qaeda has single handedly damaged the spirituality of a peaceful religion that has never happened before in its history. Their political movement has brought more misery to the world of Islam than the damage it has inflicted on the west.
In spiritual terms, it is imperative for each individual to seek the absolute truth about life, creation, unity of God and purpose of existence. But this is a quest that should be left to an individual to decide which path he/she wants to choose to find these answers. As Greek philosophers believed that after earning subsistence level earnings each individual should spend the rest of his time with family and quest for knowledge. Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism have all transformed over centuries. Followers of most of these religions look towards their preachers to find answers for them while they are busy running their daily lives, which is government by secular laws.
On the other hand clergy in the Muslim also define the spiritual meaning of the religion but also taint it with tradition and politics, which has nothing, got to do with the spiritual content. This amalgamation of religion with politics has been a deadly combination when it is in the hands of clergy that is trained in narrow science of theology. Only a handful of these clergy truly understand the depth of the religion and its comparison with other religions. These clergy also pressure governments to adopt religiously motivated constitutions. Since most of the Muslim countries are either dictatorships or kingdoms it is in the benefit of these rulers to control the minds of the people through these clergy like in medieval Europe few centuries ago. It is imperative for the Muslim world to resolve this conflict of religion and politics and come up with a form of government that is more in tune with the advancement in science, technology, and economics. Islam does provide means to achieve this through Ijma or conference of Muslim scholars to debate, argue and formation of consensus. But Ijma is difficult as infighting between various scholars has resulted in almost 72 different sects of Islam with each prophesying they are the true bearer of the religion and rigid about accepting the views of the other sects. Although Sunni and Shitte are the two majority sects but even in those two sects there are various shades that don’t agree much with each other.
The worst thing that has happened in the muslim world is appointment of mosque imams that have limited knowledge of the spiritual side of the religion. In order to keep their jobs these imam’s prefer to keep their audiences engaged in following a strict code of tradition through symbolism of dress and appearance rather than providing them the source of getting closer to the creator. These Imams also like to instill fear of religious infidelity among their disciples so that they continue providing funds for their mosques and their religious schools. In its true sense a mosque is a community center where people gather to pray, network, share and comfort each other. At the appointed time of the prayer a person from among those present can come forward and lead the prayer. In order to maintain mosques administrators should be hired who can take care of the place, its cleanliness and safeguard its assets.
Parents prefer their children to be taught about the religion from early childhood for which a board should be established that certify Muslim scholars. These Muslim scholars should be well versed in all other religions, as well, so that they have clear understanding of the spiritual side of religion in general and Islamic spirituality in particular. I recently sent a translation of Qoran to an atheist European friend and asked her to comment on the book once she finishes it. Her first remark was that it is such a simple book like a story while Bible is complicated. This should sum up the message of Islam for everyone. It is a simple religion made complicated by the Imams of the mosque.
One positive outcome of 911 is the initiation of a debate in the Muslim world to take a second look at their societies and find solution to their problems. Next generation of youth that are going through this debate will be better equipped to manage their societies and bring positive change.
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