ISLAM, MUSLIMS AND 21st CENTURY By Najeeb Kazmi

Dear Friends of the Heart, 

Mr. Kazmi has correctly pointed out that the topic of today’s discussion is very broad and somewhat vague.   He went on to truncate the subject to his own liking and comfort.  He raised some interesting and provocative questions about the character of Islam and the politics of the Muslim world.  However, he did not offer any answers or insights, calling these questions as “generalizations and accusations” but also saying “they have some elements of truth”.

Mr. Kazmi made an important point early on in his presentation that the greatest obstacle to the democratization of Islamic societies is their unwillingness to separate religion and state.  He cites examples of Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are explicitly theocratic.  However, he failed to point out examples of Malaysia and Turkey, which have been quite successful in separating religion and state, as well as many other predominantly Muslim countries like Bangladesh, Egypt and Algeria - just to name a few - that have been resisting pressures from the religious fundamentals to bring the Shari'a laws and govern with an iron fist.

Mr. Kazmi states, “There is nothing documented in Islamic literature that contradicts democracy blatantly” and “there is nothing inherent in Islam that can hinder establishment of secular, democratic pluralstic societies”.  However, I would argue that the ideal government, according to the Quran, is a theocracy, where society is governed by the strict values of Islam. 

It’s left to each Muslim country to decide how much democracy its people want.  Yes, it is possible for Islam and democracy to co-exist, but the actual manifestation of democracy depends on historical and geographical realities, leadership and external forces. 

This is also true in other societies that have been held hostage by religious fanatics – Israel being the prime example, and India and the United States are inching towards religious fanaticism as well.

However, it is interesting to note that in Britain, the Queen is both the head of the church and the government, although her real powers are extremely limited mainly because of the liberal democratic movements that took control of the parliament and enacted law diminishing the power of the church and monarchy.

I agree with the some of the suggestions that Mr. Kazmi made; that of allowing free discussion, self-criticism and not allowing religious groups and fundamentalists to dominate the politics is the only salvation for Muslim societies.

Although Islam, as I understand it, encourages discussion and discovery of knowledge, the Muslims themselves have somehow lost the ability to think and discover for themselves.  This is because of the rising tide of intolerance.  Anyone who questions or challenges the Islamic traditions, e.g. the basic inequality of men and women in Islam, or, suggests modifying some of the practices of Islam to accommodate the modern society, faces strong resistance from within their own society.  God has come to be seen as power to fear if you make the slightest deviation from the prescribed path, rather than one who is generous, forgiving and one who gave humans the mind to think, explore and discover.

A simple way to understand Islam is that it was a powerful social reform in the 7^th century Arab world, and while the basic principles of Islam may still apply today, its practice must evolve.

What I would like to do now is go back to the original topic for this evening and offer my views as to where is Islam taking us in the 21^st century.

I feel that in the beginning of the 20^th century, Islam was on an evolutionary path where Muslim countries had started to question the dogma.  The contributions of Kamal Ataturk in Turkey, of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in India and many others were leading to a more open and all embracing Muslim society.  When I was a child in the early 1950’s, Islam was emerging as a religion and a culture that paid greater emphasis on personal conduct and living an ethical and compassionate life.  However all this changed in the middle of the 20^th century.

Three important things happened in the 40’s and 50’s – the discovery of oil in the Middle East, the creation of Israel in a totally undemocratic manner by the western powers, and the Cold War between USA and USSR, which led to many proxy wars between poor nations. 

The constant meddling in the affairs of the Muslim countries - and indeed all developing nations - by the West to safeguard “the western strategic interests” has caused much of the chaos that we witness today.  The West does not have much interest in the poverty of Africa or other developing countries, or their record in human rights violation, or their aspirations to form democratic societies.  The only interest the powerful nations have is to extract as much wealth as they can, and oil is black gold!

The creation of Mujahedeen and Fedayeens in Afghanistan and the Middle East was all directly financed by CIA, which led to the creation of Al-Qaida.  Unfortunately, this has resulted into much violence, stereotyping and excesses in all sides.  Muslims around the world have had to pay the price.  The Muslim communities in the West have been thrown into a dilemma where just calling themselves Muslims creates an implied association with religious fanaticism and the ire of the world press.  In the Muslim societies the battle is between the rise of fundamentalism vs. evolution of reason and democratic values.

We are indeed at a crossroad.  We have to take a path that gives us our due place in the world – in the East and in the West.  There is much we can learn from the Jewish people, although I am not suggesting that we follow any Zionist tactics.  The Jews are survivors who have suffered much throughout the history, yet they have pulled themselves together into a strong force with self-confidence.  They have excelled in science, arts, medicine and all other professions.  They also speak with one voice.

As Muslims, we must unite to have a single voice, to allow internal debates, to not allow opportunism by our leaders to form subservient governments to serve the Western interests.  And, yes, we must tolerate dissent and diversity of views without labelling people who don’t agree with the mainstream thinking as non-believers.  We must question, we must experiment and we must discover.  If we fail to evolve as a society and as people, we will continue to be manipulated by the mullahs and by powerful nations.  Also, our youth will get dismayed and will start to deny their cultural heritage as is indeed happening now.

History tells us that societies rise and fall.  They must learn to evolve and adapt to the external environment like any living organism, if they are to survive and flourish.

Yes, it’s a difficult task, but each of has a personal responsibility to advance the cause.