July 14, 2015
By Saeed Qureshi
I am not an Islamic scholar but I
can quote three Suras from Quran that explicitly emphasize Muslims all over the
world as one united and monolithic fraternity. In one Sura it is stated that
“all the Muslim believers are brothers)”
In another Ayah it is ordained to “hold
fast to the rope of Allah and not to fall into divisions or sects”. Yet in
another Ayah it is decreed that to kill a human being is to kill the entire
humanity. There should be another one that stipulates that a Muslim cannot kill
a fellow Muslim believer.
The above quoted Suras and their
contents look frivolous and useless when we delve into the history of Muslims
and also look around us in the present times. Ever since the demise of the holy
prophet Muhammad (SAWS) some 1380 years ago, the Muslims have been killing
fellow Muslims on racial, regional and sectarian grounds. Banu Hashim the clans
of Prophet Muhammad were sidelined by the more shrewd Omayyad who took the
reins of the caliphate barely after 30 years or so. Three caliphs died at the
hand of the assassins.
Two wars were fought between the
son-in-law of the prophet and the third caliph Hazrat Ali and prophet’s
youngest wife Hazrat Aisha (RA) on one hand and the other between Hazrat Ali
and the governor of Syria Amir Muawiya entailing a huge number of causalities.
The Omayyad snatched power from Banu Hashim Clan and the Abbasid did the same
to Omayyad.
In between the
tragic massacre of Imam Hussain, the grandson of prophet and his companions
happened at Karbala. The Omayyad dynasty in Spain and that of Abbasid in Iraq
and Syria were bitter and irreconcilable enemies although both professed the
same faith. Scores of governors appointed by Abbasid in the Berber areas were
killed by the Omayyad of Spain and their heads returned.
The successive
Islamic dynasties were not even remotely models of the state or society as
Islam ordains. From Omayyad to Ottomans in the Middle East and Central Asia,
Africa, Maghreb and India the more ruthless powerful Muslim invaders occupied
the land and territories already being ruled by Muslim rulers.
The Tulunid, Fatimid,
Ayubids, Mamluk, Seljuk and Ottoman dynasties were all Islamic yet they seized
the power from their Muslim predecessors by sword and bloodshed.
In India the Muslim
invaders from the north deposed the already established Islamic states use of
force and intrigues.
Did you ever ponder that the Muslims
are the most rigid in observance of their religious rituals yet they are the
most backward and downgraded. Presently the Muslims are the most miserable
people on earth. All over in Islamic world, there is an unrelenting turmoil with
raging civil wars prompted by race, region and divergent faiths.
Is this the
way of God or observance of the injunctions given in Muslims guiding book holy
Quran? The argument by the religious zealots that the Muslims will have good
life in paradise is least convincing. Why can’t Muslims have a happy life here in
this world?
I am also not ready to buy the
argument that God is annoyed with Muslims for their sins and negligence toward
observance of religious obligations and thus the Muslims are suffering.
If we
Muslims believe that our God is beneficent and merciful and we are his preferred people in comparison
to non-Muslims then God with infinite compassion and mercy can shower his
blessings on the Muslims and they should be the most prosperous and dignified
nations. But the tormenting fact is that the Muslims are primitive and poor
while the bounties of God descend preferably on non-Muslims.
As stated above it is a convoluted
logic that since we are sinful therefore, God is not kind to us and that the devout
Muslims would be rewarded in the hereafter and not in this material world. According
to our faith man with innumerable drawbacks and infirmities is like a lamb for the
Satan to prey upon. According to scriptures has infinite powers to misguide
us every moment while God simply watches from the heavens and does not stop him
to save the poor humans especially Muslims from his wicked machinations.
If
Satan can defy and argue with God at the time of the creation of Adam, is he
not in a position to hoodwink and misguide the weak humans? Even if the humans
ward off the Satan’s evil intrigues with constant praying, fasting and
fulfilling other religious obligations, no one is still certain if we would still
earn the reward on the Day of Judgment unless the watchful angels sitting on
out two shoulders as well as our limbs would not favorably testify for our
righteousness.
Would a God who runs the atoms at a terrific
speed of 196000 miles per second and keeps the earth rotating in its track
around the Sun at 66000 miles per hour and not to move a fraction of a
centimeter from its orbit would need physical witnesses to reward or punish a
faithful who would already be roasted in the sweltering heat of the dooms day.
On
that horrific day each person would be handed over judgment by God himself.
Isn’t like the court of a king although the courts of the worldly kings have
always been cozy, comfortable and cool. There should be billions awardees till
the judgment day arrives.
Yet God would administer his indictment
or reward while sitting on a couch in an open ground while the sun would be above
only by the length of a pole. Scientifically, if the sun comes down by a
fraction of a millimeter the earth and all the heavenly bodies revolving around
it would burn.
A lord of the universe administering the universe on immaculate
scientific principles could have devised a system by which the good or bad
deeds would be automatically recorded and a person after the death immediately
goes to heavens or the hell. The humans have devised computers that store the
limitless information and data in seconds.
The fact is that the religions were evolved
at time in the human history when societies were very primitive and lacking in
rational or scientific explanations for this huge phenomenon that is mind
boggling and is an eloquent testimony to the power and intelligence of its creator
or the system.
Yet our religious demagogues want us to believe god in the image
of a human being who is extremely sensitive and gets annoyed or pleased every moment
by our each and every action or movement and maintains a record of that through
two angels sitting on our shoulders.
The stark fact is
that Islam as an enlightened religion has always been a captive in the hands of
biased and ignorant religious guides and preachers. They keep emphasizing the
fear and enticement dimensions of religion and binding the ordinary Muslims in
more suffocating rituals and obligations.
It all depends on
the nature of the interpretations of Islamic injunctions according to one’s liking
to inculcate fear or allurement as personified by hell and heaven. And that has
led to the divisions of Islam into countless sects hampering and undermining
its doctrinal unity. One such glaring division is between Sunnis and Shias.
The Shia- Sunni
conflict has cost the Muslims grievous harm, incurable instability and persistent
chaos down the centuries and which unfortunately is still wrecking the Muslims
societies. This conflict can be resolved if all the Shias die or all the Sunnis
become non- existent which either way is not possible. So coexistence is the
only way-out.
The western societies
have separated the role of religion from the state and society. Religion in
those societies is now a personal obligation of an individual which a citizen
may fulfill or not.
The Muslims societies should follow the way the western
societies brought about a rapprochement and reconciliation between the irreconcilable
Catholics and Protestants. The Church with countless denominations is
independent in religious domain but remains out of the state affairs.
Let us take a look
at the Muslim Spain (756-1492) where there has been laudable peaceful
coexistence not only among the Muslims sects but between Muslims, Christians,
Jews and other minorities. They all contributed towards shaping Spain into one
of the most progressive and civilized Islamic state in those times.
Instead of fighting
for a radical Islamic system in Islamic lands and also throwing challenges to
the non-Muslim societies through a kind of crusade as ISIS and Al-Qaeda are waging,
the Muslims should give utmost priority to excel and delve in scientific and technological
fields.
They should follow the
advanced societies in matters of good governance, galore of civic and social
amenities and establishment of democratic order, secular culture, freedom and
openness for building up modern and progressive states with tolerant Islam as its
religion.
By sticking to the
past and reviving it in the primitive and orthodox form cannot work or succeed
in an enlightened world of today that is drastically different from those of
the past. Islam allows modifications and changes as needed by the changing
times.
The American
constitution drafted in 1776 is a beacon of guidance for countries like
Pakistan towards ensuring human rights, personal liberties and human dignity.
It incorporates a solid system of checks and balance and accountability and
separation of powers.
It is time for a
giant leap for Pakistan and other Muslim polities to emerge as nation states so
that our coming generations can stand side by side with the people of modern,
prosperous and intellectually advanced societies. We have a lot of human talent
that needs to be unfurled.
I wonder if
this miracle can happen. For that the initial breakthrough would be tolerance, secular
outlook, equality and eliminating the religious fanaticism which is a recipe for
disaster for any country worth the name.
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