As the war goes on in Lebanon, the Muslim world is slowly getting united against the aggression of Israel. The latter justifies its actions as a response to the acts of Hezbollah who killed Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two. This conflict has also fueled the ongoing discussions of whether Islam accepts nationalism or prophase to ignore culture to form one global Ummah. It is a question discussed through ages by various Muslim scholars. Throughout Muslim history, rulers to impose their will on neighboring Muslim countries to form an Islamic Empire have used this concept of one Ummah. But after each episode of centralization the culture won over and divided the Islamic world into many nation states.
As Western influence raised in the 17th century the process of colonization of these smaller and weaker Muslim states started. Once subjugated to a foreign influence it started a debate among the Muslim masses to find the cause of their failure. This resulted in a two-pronged theorization. One group blamed the corruption of their rulers and departure from the orthodox practices of Islam. To correct the situation this group aspired to re-establish the rule of Shariat as it was in the times of the first four caliphs. They emphasized to get rid of amendments made to the Shariah law during last centuries. The other group emphasized maintaining their nationalist ideal and relegated religion to be a subject of individual persuasion.
During the struggle for independence, the latter group won out and spearheaded the independence movements in different parts of the Muslim world; whether it was Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Indian sub-continent demanding a separate Muslim state after the departure of ruling British or struggle of various African and Middle Eastern countries. By the mid 20th century, independence was achieved by these nation states but centuries of foreign rule had deprived the masses of necessary skills to control their own destiny. It was like a caged bird with clipped wings suddenly allowed getting out and flying. The result was devastating. Most of the countries were not able to create stable political, social and economic institutions that could lead the masses towards a better life. Since the West still needed access to the natural resources of these countries they maintained their influence through proxy ruling elite class.
Inefficient governments produced disenfranchised masses that increasingly looked towards the religious organizations to provide some relief and direction. This resulted in the creation of largely religio-social organizations, which later took on an increasingly political role. Organizations like Jamat-i-Islami in Pakistan and Muslim Brotherhood in many African states refused to accept the validity of nation state and emphasized that Islam is a way of life without boundaries. Iranian Islamic revolution of 1978 and Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 provided a potent breeding ground of these philosophies.
The Afghan struggle against a superpower became a struggle of Islam against an un-islamic power. Volunteers from all over the world participated in this war. The US, with its own agenda in mind, provided the necessary training and equipment to this Islamic militia. Russia, weak internally, eventually succumbed to this volunteer force and was forced out of Afghanistan after almost a decade. US who could have played a positive role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the departure of Russians suddenly lost interest and left this Islamic militia to its own design.
When the Afghan war volunteers returned to their home countries they became the members of their local religious organizations who started an increasingly armed conflict with their Western influenced rulers. Besides that extremely radical elements needed another enemy to fight and the West provided a potent target considering their inability to contain Israel, Russia, Serbia and India to exploit their Muslim populations. These religiously motivate organizations also formed a way of coordinating their efforts based on the concept of one Ummah fighting their Western exploiters.
Quran on the other hand accepts the validity of separate cultures living in harmony under one system. According to Qoran Surah 49 verse 13;
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other).”
For the Muslim world, the solution lies in creating institutions that respects the validity of each unique culture but share same values offered by their religion Islam. To achieve this objective, EU provides a good working example, which has members from diverse cultures and tradition but still finds a common ground to achieve social, economic and political unity. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) should be reconstituted to be more influential in helping its member states in introducing reforms in political and economic spheres. OIC should also be accepted as the arbiter of representing Muslim opinion in the resolution of conflicts where Muslims are affected whether it is the issue of Middle East or right of self-determination of Kashmiri people or negotiating a cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel.
The first step in achieving this objective is to amend the charter of OIC so that it can formulate a constitution acceptable to all member states. Instead of appointing a Secretary General elected by Foreign Ministers Conference, a President should be elected based on votes awarded to each member state either based on their populations or economics. OIC should also create a foreign relations secretariat to represent the Muslim world in world summits and organizations instead of participating as an observer in the current structure.
West cannot fight a civilization by attacking their value structure. Muslims cannot gain a respectable position in the world unless they unite under one organization to fight for their grievances. Strengthening OIC is a way to counter religious fundamentalist organizations with their own political agenda. If we don’t act on it now we will be heading towards a larger conflict with an unfathomable loss of life and property.
Nationalism vs. Pan-Islamism As the war goes on i…
August 17, 2006 at 4:50 pm · Filed under Political Commentary
Nationalism vs. Pan-Islamism
As the war goes on in Lebanon, the Muslim world is slowly getting united against the aggression of Israel. The latter justifies its actions as a response to the acts of Hezbollah who killed Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two. This conflict has also fueled the ongoing discussions of whether Islam accepts nationalism or prophase to ignore culture to form one global Ummah. It is a question discussed through ages by various Muslim scholars. Throughout Muslim history, rulers to impose their will on neighboring Muslim countries to form an Islamic Empire have used this concept of one Ummah. But after each episode of centralization the culture won over and divided the Islamic world into many nation states.
As Western influence raised in the 17th century the process of colonization of these smaller and weaker Muslim states started. Once subjugated to a foreign influence it started a debate among the Muslim masses to find the cause of their failure. This resulted in a two-pronged theorization. One group blamed the corruption of their rulers and departure from the orthodox practices of Islam. To correct the situation this group aspired to re-establish the rule of Shariat as it was in the times of the first four caliphs. They emphasized to get rid of amendments made to the Shariah law during last centuries. The other group emphasized maintaining their nationalist ideal and relegated religion to be a subject of individual persuasion.
During the struggle for independence, the latter group won out and spearheaded the independence movements in different parts of the Muslim world; whether it was Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Indian sub-continent demanding a separate Muslim state after the departure of ruling British or struggle of various African and Middle Eastern countries. By the mid 20th century, independence was achieved by these nation states but centuries of foreign rule had deprived the masses of necessary skills to control their own destiny. It was like a caged bird with clipped wings suddenly allowed getting out and flying. The result was devastating. Most of the countries were not able to create stable political, social and economic institutions that could lead the masses towards a better life. Since the West still needed access to the natural resources of these countries they maintained their influence through proxy ruling elite class.
Inefficient governments produced disenfranchised masses that increasingly looked towards the religious organizations to provide some relief and direction. This resulted in the creation of largely religio-social organizations, which later took on an increasingly political role. Organizations like Jamat-i-Islami in Pakistan and Muslim Brotherhood in many African states refused to accept the validity of nation state and emphasized that Islam is a way of life without boundaries. Iranian Islamic revolution of 1978 and Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 provided a potent breeding ground of these philosophies.
The Afghan struggle against a superpower became a struggle of Islam against an un-islamic power. Volunteers from all over the world participated in this war. The US, with its own agenda in mind, provided the necessary training and equipment to this Islamic militia. Russia, weak internally, eventually succumbed to this volunteer force and was forced out of Afghanistan after almost a decade. US who could have played a positive role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan after the departure of Russians suddenly lost interest and left this Islamic militia to its own design.
When the Afghan war volunteers returned to their home countries they became the members of their local religious organizations who started an increasingly armed conflict with their Western influenced rulers. Besides that extremely radical elements needed another enemy to fight and the West provided a potent target considering their inability to contain Israel, Russia, Serbia and India to exploit their Muslim populations. These religiously motivate organizations also formed a way of coordinating their efforts based on the concept of one Ummah fighting their Western exploiters.
Quran on the other hand accepts the validity of separate cultures living in harmony under one system. According to Qoran Surah 49 verse 13;
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other).”
For the Muslim world, the solution lies in creating institutions that respects the validity of each unique culture but share same values offered by their religion Islam. To achieve this objective, EU provides a good working example, which has members from diverse cultures and tradition but still finds a common ground to achieve social, economic and political unity. The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) should be reconstituted to be more influential in helping its member states in introducing reforms in political and economic spheres. OIC should also be accepted as the arbiter of representing Muslim opinion in the resolution of conflicts where Muslims are affected whether it is the issue of Middle East or right of self-determination of Kashmiri people or negotiating a cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel.
The first step in achieving this objective is to amend the charter of OIC so that it can formulate a constitution acceptable to all member states. Instead of appointing a Secretary General elected by Foreign Ministers Conference, a President should be elected based on votes awarded to each member state either based on their populations or economics. OIC should also create a foreign relations secretariat to represent the Muslim world in world summits and organizations instead of participating as an observer in the current structure.
West cannot fight a civilization by attacking their value structure. Muslims cannot gain a respectable position in the world unless they unite under one organization to fight for their grievances. Strengthening OIC is a way to counter religious fundamentalist organizations with their own political agenda. If we don’t act on it now we will be heading towards a larger conflict with an unfathomable loss of life and property.
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