| Ijtihad, Rethinking Islam | |
| 04 Sep 2009, NewAgeIslam.Com | |
| Muslims must rethink Islam, learn from the West | |
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URL of this page: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1721 ---------
NEW HATREDS AGAINST NON-MUSLIMS By Syed Akbar Ali 4 Sept 2009
For years now I have been listening in to Internet discussion lists involving all sorts of Muslims from all over the world. It is becoming obvious that there is now yet another group of confused and mistakenly confident Muslims who live in the West. Many of them are the children of Muslim immigrants who left their "Failed State" Islamic countries after the Second World War to find new opportunities in the US, UK and Europe. Their children have now grown up in the West – still firmly holding on to the religion and traditions their immigrant parents have imparted to them in their adopted Western country but not realizing that it was this same religion and values which messed up their countries of origin and forced their parents to escape to the West in the first place. Many have now started to hate the West and non Muslims.
Now there is also the young generation of Muslims who are causing serious problems among their Western societies. In France for example thousands of children of North African Muslim immigrants went on a month long rampage in 2006 - setting fire to cars and buses in protest over alleged Police brutality. The rampage was actually a symptom of a greater malaise i.e. not being able to adapt successfully into the larger society.
The accomplished American journalist and writer Seymour Hersh in his book 'Chain of Command' talks at length about Zacharias Moussaoui – the alleged 20th hijacker in the 9-11 plot – who is facing trial in 2006 in the United States. Moussaoui was born in France of North African parents. According to Hersh's book, a whole generation of North African youngsters like Moussaoui cannot speak Arabic – they only speak French. They see themselves as 'not existing' – either as Frenchmen or as North Africans. Sadly for them they also suffer discrimination from the French. The inevitable result is a hatred for France, and by extension, for the West. Many of them like Moussaoui become attracted to radical Islam. Islam is the only plausible identity they can endorse because it helps them get out of this feeling of being 'less than nothing'. French human rights workers describe them as chair a canon – cannon fodder – easily recruited zealots who were willing to fight, and die, for a religious cause about which they know little. In the United Kingdom, even after 50 years of immigration many Pakistanis are still dependent on welfare handouts to survive. Large numbers of Pakistanis still live in subsidized local council flats within the British socialist system. Now many young Pakistanis are involved in street crime and beginning in the 1990s Pakistani elders were shocked that in places like Birmingham many Pakistanis are involved in the vice trade.
In the United States economically successful immigrant Muslims are proud to trumpet that there are now more than 6.0 million Muslims in the US – more than the number of Jews in that country. Comparing themselves to the highly successful Jewish population in the United States, it is their wish now that they use their numerical strength at the ballot box to press for more "Islamic" rights in America. I have heard American Muslims on the Internet saying that if America embraces their religion then American society will find "true happiness and true greatness". Obviously this is another expression of dislike for their neighbours – in this case very successful neighbours who have welcomed them into their community and provided them new chances at life.
Simple arrogance founded of even simpler ignorance In Canada immigrant Muslims from Pakistan have asked for the establishment of religious courts to cater for their domestic disputes. This is simple arrogance founded of even simpler ignorance. They are suffering intense alienation from reality aka delirium. On September 11, 2005, the Premier of Ontario, Canada's largest province, emphatically declared: "Ontario will reject the use of Shariah law and will move to prohibit all religious-based tribunals to settle family disputes such as divorce." For Muslim immigrants in Canada to make calls for the establishment of a system of religious courts and that too in an adopted Western country that has been kind enough to take them in and give them a second chance at life is indeed the heights of arrogance and ignorance. And of course when they are denied their request it only breeds even more hate from them towards the non Muslims.
There is not one Islamic country in the world that has established a fully functional system of religious laws and courts. There is no such thing. Despite over a thousand years of bickering and arguing and labelling each other apostates the religious scholars have not been able to document and write down a complete and decisive set of religious laws. They have just not been able to do it.
In the United States just 6.0 million Jews have been able to compete with and overcome 250 million other Americans including whites, blacks, latins, Chinese and just about everyone else. The Jews are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They control the media, the banks, the major universities and they are also highly influential over the United States Congress and Senate. In other words the Jews do not depend on numbers but brains to be successful. Can the Muslims match this? Although the Jews have even more confusing religious laws, the Jews have never asked for the establishment of any Jewish religious courts in the United States. They function quite well within the American system.
Muslims set themselves apart from mainstream Western society After a few decades of taking their Western comforts for granted, these Muslims who live in the West are perhaps denying the obvious fact that they are enjoying the benefits of other peoples' efforts and other people's civilization. But the fact is whether they are of Indian origin in the United Kingdom, Pakistani origin in Canada, Moroccan origin in France or Arab origin in the United States these Muslims set themselves apart from mainstream Western society. Then when the melt down does happen like it has in France and also in the United Kingdom where a whole generation of immigrant Muslims realizes that it is really not getting along with the rest of Western society their behaviour can be quite predictable and often catastrophic. They show hatred for the people who have fed them and clothed them.
In July 2005 London suffered a series of suicide bomb blasts on its Underground trains which killed 25 people. The bombs were allegedly set off by young men who were the sons of immigrant Muslims. They went to British schools, had British friends and grew up British yet they wanted to kill their fellow British citizens because of religion. The British are now realizing that these young men frequented mosques and madrassas which imbued them with fiery religious hate and a false sense of superiority over the 'infidel west'. Better late than never the British are now restricting the entry into their country of these religious hate mongers from the Islamic countries. In our own country only now the Police are looking to arrest Abu Bakar Bashir the Indonesian hate monger who has been jailed in Indonesia for instigating the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist hate bombers who have killed hundreds of people. But the hate mongers are actually just another symptom of a losing system. The real problem is that their current understanding of 'religion' is not going to deliver wealth, health or happiness to the Muslims in any large and predictable quantity now or anytime in the future. This is just not going to happen. Without critically questioning and overhauling their religion, the Muslims will continue tripping up. This means that the religious hate mongers will continue to find ready listeners and 'martyrs' for a long time to come. There will be more suicide bombers yet to be born.
No superiority complex and hatred in the Quran I have read and re read the Quran and really for the life of me I just cannot detect all this superiority complex and hatred which seems to be the staple of the priests of religion. For example the Quran says that we should feed the poor, the orphan, the wayfarer and the kin. Verse To Edit. I cannot find it anywhere in the Quran where Muslims are told that they should only feed the Muslim poor and not feed the non Muslim poor. A hungry man is a hungry man – no matter what is his religion. Yet I was quite shocked to hear a very dear friend and elder telling me that the meat that is slaughtered by Muslims during the Hari Raya Haji or Hari Raya Korban or Hari Raya Aidil Adha or Festival of Sacrifice cannot be shared with the non Muslim poor. It is only reserved for the Muslim poor.
Every year hundreds of thousands of sheep, camels and cows are slaughtered in Mecca during the Hari Raya Korban. In the old days a lot of this meat would just rot and become wasted. Now after the advent of the petrodollars the Saudis make attempts to collect the meat, can it in factories and then ship it out to poor countries as food aid. But again you guessed it, this canned sacrificial meat is sent to the Islamic countries. Again I cannot find this type of prejudice against the non Muslim poor stated anywhere in the Quran. But when we do things like this, not only does it make us feel prejudiced against the non Muslim but it does not earn us any great friendships from the non Muslims either. If the non Muslims think that we are prejudiced and do not like us – can we really blame them? We do not even share leftover meat with poor non Muslims. Imagine a hungry non Muslim man standing and watching meat being slaughtered and then being told that he cannot be given any portion of the meat because he is a non Muslim.
All these things which the Muslims do as part of their everyday lives cannot be found in the Quran. It seems that their whole way of life is just a constant stream of showing dislikes and hatred towards others especially non Muslims and the things that other people do. It is hate, hate and more hate. What a terrible fate. One non Muslim observer (Dr. B Suseelan) has written a comment about Muslims on the Internet which I thought is worth mentioning here. The writer provides his observation about why the Muslims are in the present predicament. He likens Muslims to a bug crawling on a glass window pane and seeing the garden flowers and trees and the clear light of day through the glass. The window is actually partially open at the bottom and the bug can easily crawl down and escape into the garden.
The bug really wanted to fly out into the beautiful garden but instead the bug only moved around the periphery of the section to which it had become attached. Then it would crawl diagonally; fly in desperation only to crash against the deceptive transparency of the glass. The bug was obviously a prisoner of his frame of reference, or probably his lack of frame of reference. If freedom was his object, an escape passage was readily accessible at the bottom of the window. But not able to question his instinct and bereft of reason, his behaviour became blinded to his real options. He ended up in frustration, fury and futility. Just like the bug the Muslims are caught up in the limitations of their own frame of reference. The Muslims are squandering resources in wealth, manpower and human energy in a misguided quest for Islamic development, Islamic power, Islamic influence and maybe Islamic conquest.
Muslims want to reinvent the wheel and call it the Islamic wheel They want to reinvent the wheel and call it the Islamic wheel. In his book 'Crisis in the Muslim Mind' Dr Abu Hamid Abu Sulayman even talks about Islamic economics, Islamic communications, Islamic social sciences, Islamic international relations, Islamic political thought and Islamic political systems' (pg. 150-151). Dr Suseelan continues:
If Muslims want to succeed in anything useful, determine new directions and new dimensions and if they want to influence the world and restore their glory they need urgently to re-examine their religion. For example are all their religious beliefs Quran compliant? This is something they should really explore and satisfy themselves. Dr Suseelan notes that regardless of how much blood is spilled in the Middle East and the relentless fighting in Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan and India, Muslims are not able to dramatically change the world. The Muslim hatred of democracy, pluralism, religious tolerance, co-existence and freedom of expression still continues unabated. The battle between the rigid, closed and dogmatic ideology of religion and unfettered thinking is by no means decided but its outcome will determine whether Muslims will embrace freedom, democracy, pluralism, coexistence, progress and tolerance or succumb to non-compromising fundamentalism, conflict and relentless war against the civilized world. The incessant rage, hostility and violence of the dejected Muslims will further destabilize the entire world. Dr Suseelan further notes that almost all the Islamic countries from Algeria to Yemen have either dynastic rulers or military dictatorships. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iran, Muscat and Oman, Bahrain, Sudan and Libya have varied historical experience with tyranny, brutality and persecution of minorities. In the vast majority of Islamic nations, citizens are barred from the political or democratic process. Compared to the non Islamic countries, freedom of expression, political assembly, open debate and religious tolerance are nowhere in the Islamic countries. In Malaysia if you are a Shiah or if you do not accept the mainstream Sunni version of religion then you can be jailed under the law. Whether it is a dictator or dynasty, military or Mullah regime, persecution, torture and execution are frequent in many Islamic countries. In Saudi Arabia offenders are beheaded in public on Friday. Two Islamic countries Iraq and Iran killed more than three million people during their war.
For the last fifty years Arab Muslims have made no notable inventions or discoveries in science, medicine and technology or in humanities. Islamic fundamentalists still oppress women, and place restrictions on art, literature, philosophy and discussion. No Islamic nation other than Turkey has taken the path of secularism, rationalism, democracy, pluralism and human rights. From Morocco to Malaysia, Muslims follow dogmatism, fundamentalism and religious intolerance. Obviously the Muslims cannot last. Correction - they have already failed. That is why we see Islamic countries all over the world imploding and falling down. Muslims must accept the fact that they are failures. And they will never ever succeed unless they escape from the closed and dogmatic ideology and learn to tolerate, accept and genuinely respect those who differ from them. Their vision of the world and other religions is fragmented, distorted and their approach to problems is misguided. Because of their narrow mindedness and simplistic framework of the world they mistrust the rest of the world and mistrust rational, open and democratic concepts and ideas. The closed paradigm of orthodoxy and interpreting matters on the rigid, narrow-minded, bigoted and dogmatic term are the main reasons for the present crisis, violence and backwardness in which the Muslims are stuck. A solution for the Muslim crisis can be found. The solution must begin with the acknowledgement that they have a serious problem. They must also acknowledge that this problem is from within their religion and not from without. What they need is a fundamental change in thinking about their religion, perception and values. A complete overhaul of their religion.
No real freedom of speech in Malaysia I would like the reader to know that if there is real freedom of speech in Malaysia I will gladly and openly discuss how this overhaul can be done. But there is no real freedom of speech in Malaysia, especially about Islam. Writers like me can be easily prosecuted under a variety of 'religious' excuses. Under the threat of such attention, I don't see any great reason to publicly depart with my real thoughts when there are people who may be tempted to prosecute me and throw me in jail for expressing those same thoughts. It almost happened once before. It is a safer option to just let them blunder along. But perhaps a verse from the Quran will give a hint: Surah 2: 268 "The Satan promises you poverty and enjoins you to be niggardly, and God promises you forgiveness from Himself and abundance; and God is Ample-giving, Knowing."
Indeed the Satan promises people poverty. If a people are mired in poverty for generations and centuries, isn't it sufficient evidence that they have been misled by the Satan? But unfortunately some people may think that they are still guided. According to the Quran when people forget God, the Satan becomes their companion. The Satan will then make them think that they are still guided. Surah 43:36-37] And whoever turns himself away from the remembrance of the Beneficent God, We appoint for him a Satan, so he becomes his associate. And most surely they turn them away from the path, and they think that they are guided aright:
The never ending crisis and despondency we witness in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other Islamic countries is due to misinterpretation of the truth, distorting the Quranic message, ignoring the reality of their total collapse and a simplistic and unworkable problem solving model advocated by the religious folks.
Looking Toward the Future Dr Suseelan, a non Muslim observer offers hope for the Muslims. In the changing context of modern technology and pluralism, Muslims cannot survive in a closed system. They have to interpret, analyze, examine and accept the social, political, cultural, scientific and technological developments taking place around the world. Islamic society should undergo a planned change and learn to coexist with non-believers and accept rational and free expression of ideas. Islamic scholars, thinkers, political leaders and media persons have an immense opportunity, responsibility and obligation to generate new knowledge, ideas and strategies based upon a rigorous and disciplined assessment of the crisis they have been in for a thousand years. Islam needs a reformation and Muslims must embrace change, democracy, pluralism, coexistence, religious tolerance and freedom of expression. Creative and systemic problem solving strategies should reduce the possibility of future crisis and conflict with the civilized world. Introduction of humanism, secularism and creative thinking can be an instrument for reform and reformation in the Islamic world. Can the Muslims do this? My short answer: NO. It is my view that the Muslims will be stuck in their present rut for a very long time to come. It is my firm belief that the vast majority of Muslims will not be able or allowed to question their beliefs or to question their scholars. They will continue to follow their scholars blindly. Thus are they doomed.
In the Quran, which the Muslims claim is their "holy" book, God tells them that He did not reveal the Quran to cause any hardship for the human being. In other words God has made life easy. Here is the reference: "We did not reveal this Quran to you to cause you any hardship" Surah 20:2.
This is where the Muslims miss the whole point of living. They do not know how to make life easy for themselves or for other people. They are constantly tying themselves into knots over many illogical beliefs which are not from God or the Quran. The West has made 'making life easy' the very reason for its existence. That is why the West is so successful. Politically, socially and economically the success of the West is based on making life easy for its people. Politically everyone has the right to speak – hence making democracy a successful and frighteningly (for those outside the West) robust institution in the West. In Western society everyone has the freedom of faith. Hence there is little chance for the priests to mess up peoples' lives. Consequently there are few or no religious conflicts in the West. The freedom to pursue happiness and the freedom to pursue wealth means the West is constantly innovating and using its mind to 'build a better mousetrap' to be sold in the market. Bill Gates became the richest man on the earth because he produces a computer program that makes life much easier. Writing this book for example is a breeze for me because of the Windows software produced by Bill Gates' Microsoft Corporation. Sam Walton was also the richest man in the world once because he made life easier for millions of Americans who bought quality goods at his supermarkets.
Dr Mahathir's logic wanted to create instant bumiputra (Muslim) billionaires On the other hand the richest 'Muslims' in the world include the Saud clan which monopolises the oil revenue in Saudi Arabia and the Sultan of Brunei who monopolises oil revenue in Brunei. They did not get rich by making life easy for their fellow human beings but by denying others, especially the Muslims, access to the same wealth. In Malaysia Dr Mahathir's logic wanted to create instant bumiputra (Muslim) billionaires by loading selected individuals with Government granted monopolies. The handful of these billionaires made more headlines marrying extra wives or hanging out with starlets than by producing world class products and services. Not surprisingly not even one of them is around anymore. They only thought about making life easy for themselves – they did not make life as easy for others. So they have disappeared.
But the Islamic world seems to have built up a tolerance for such despotic wealth because the Islamic world has been confused into believing the role of the 'Khalifah' or Caliph as ruler. The priests have brainwashed the Islamic world into subconsciously waiting for the return of the old Caliphate where the Caliph would rule the realm. Actually the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the Sultan of Brunei and the dictatorships in the Arab countries are already behaving like the old Caliphs. If we study Islamic history the old Caliphs were more likely to get murdered than to die a natural death. The famous Abbasid Caliph Harun Al Rashid was poisoned to death. Lets listen to Abu Hamid Abu Sulayman (from his book 'Crisis in the Muslim Mind) about the caliphs of yore:
"The first sign of the Ummah's emerging crisis was the fitnah (infighting) which broke out in a series of destructive civil wars within the Islamic state. The third khalifah (caliph) 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, was martyred during these wars, as was his successor 'Ali ibn Abi Talib. Eventually the khilafah (Caliphate) came to an end and was replaced by the profligacy despotism, and tribalism of the new rulers of the Ummah the Umayyah royalty" (pg 23).
So the Caliphs were murdered. Big deal. They were replaced by a profligacy, despotism and tribalism. Is there anything here that we all do not know already? This is still happening everyday amongst all the so called Islamic countries. Profligacy, despotism and tribalism are the stock in trade of most if not all the rulers in the Islamic countries until today. So without doubt, the Islamic countries are still carrying on the traditions that preceded them. Bloodshed, cruelty, power struggles, hoarding wealth, palace intrigue and schisms seem to have been the forte of the old Caliphates. This is not much different from what happens today among the despotic rulers of the 'Islamic countries'. So the Muslim ummah need not hurry to replicate the rule of the old Caliphs anymore. It is already here.
But unfortunately there is more confusion. Dr Abu Hamid continues: "The infighting that ultimately resulted in the fall of the khilafah is such an important event in the history of the Ummah that it should not be passed over until we have gained a correct understanding of it, of what caused it, and of what it engendered. We need this information because the events of this period continue, even in our own day, to influence the ummah's behaviour".
I really beg to differ. The ummah does not need to correctly understand what happened in this Caliph's plotting or that Caliph's scheming of a thousand years ago. If, according to Dr Abu Hamid, even after 1,400 years the ummah has not "gained a correct understanding of it", then please let's not waste another 1,000 years trying to sort out the reasons why what happened or who did what to whom a thousand years ago. We will never know. Let's drop the tribulations of the Caliphs, wish them well and move on with our own lives. If the West is going to colonise us again over the next 50 years or place really cheap 3G, 4G or 5G telecommunications tools in the hands of even their schoolchildren we need to be part of the process because it is going to accelerate change at an even faster pace. Sorting out the differences among the ancient Caliphs has nothing to do with the realities of life anymore. Let's just drop the subject.
In brief Muslims still make a career out of making life more difficult for themselves. They do not make life easy. Yet many of them think that they are being good Muslims and pleasing God in the process. They actually deserve what they get because it is they who make their lives so difficult. Perhaps they have a sense of humour after all.
At this point I would like to speak about the supremacy of the West again. Some of the proverbial horses indeed have to be thoroughly beaten until they are truly dead. One of these horses that has to be killed is the concept of the 'leadership of the ulema'. In Malaysia the religion based political parties frequently try to sell the idea of 'pimpinan ulamak' or leadership of the ulema. Among the religious folks the term ulema has become a generic description meaning practitioners or priests of religion. This is an incorrect understanding of the term ulema. Ulema is derived from the root word 'ilm (ilmu) which means knowledge. And of course the Greek word for knowledge is 'science'. The word ulema is the plural of the word alim which means 'knowledgeable' – pertaining to people. An alim is one knowledgeable person, ulema means many knowledgeable persons. That is all. But knowledgeable in what? This is where the confusion starts with the religious scholars. The scholars say that they are the ulema because in their reckoning ulema means those who are expert in religion – like them.
Again what the religious scholars say is very different from what the Quran says about the ulema. The Quran says: 'Do you not see that God sends down water from the sky to produce fruits of various colours? The mountains show white and red streaks of different shades, and the ravens are black. Also the people, the animals and the livestock are of different colours. That is why the servants of God who truly reverence Him are the knowledgeable (ULEMA). God is almighty, forgiving' Surah 35: 27-28.
Clearly here God is talking about His creation which we call Nature. The verse starts with 'Do you not see...'. Indeed we have to see and observe what God has created and provided for us and wonder at all of God's creations. We have to study and appreciate the water that God sends down to make our plants grow, we have to study and appreciate the rocks and the mountains, the colours of the birds, the different types of people, animals and livestock. Obviously God is asking us to observe and understand all of his Creation. This is knowledge and those who derive this knowledge will reverence God. According to the Quran these are the ulema or the knowledgeable people.
At one time when I was still searching for the truth, my friends and I thought that the verse I have quoted above about "the mountains with the white and red streaks" referred to Mount Sinai or Jebel Musa. We undertook a trip to the Sinai desert in Egypt where we climbed Mount Sinai. We stayed at the Monastery of Saint Catherine – built about 1,600 years ago and still the oldest functioning monastery in Christendom. We did see red and white streaks on the mountain rocks. But you can also see plenty of red and white streaks on our limestone cliffs in the Kinta Valley and in Gua Musang. The red coloration is caused by the oxidation of iron and other minerals in the rock. This is the realm of the science of geology. There were also many Christian pilgrims from Germany who came to Mount Sinai to pray. They believe that God spoke to Moses on that particular mountain. Other than that the mountain vista during sunrise and sunset was fantastic.
But the fact is the West has derived tremendous benefits from observing and understanding all of God's creations. It is called Science or 'ilmu. Western 'ilm has studied the cycle of rain, the atmosphere, the clouds in the sky, the plants that grow in the soil, the animals, the geology of rocks and mountains, the human body and a million other things. By making these careful scientific observations the West has become the supremacy that it is today. They do not teach geology or hydrology at the madrasas and the religious schools.
But the Quran does have another very specific word for the religious clergymen. It is definitely not ulema. Instead the Quran calls them habar. This word habar appears four times in the Quran. Here is just one example:
'O you who believe, many priests (habar) and monks cheat the people out of their money, and divert them from the path of God. Those who hoard gold and silver, and spend it not in the cause of God, promise them a painful retribution' Surah 9:34.
So it is such an ironical truth that it is indeed the West that is prospering under the leadership of the ulema (pimpinan ulamak) or the leadership of those who are knowledgeable.
Indeed the West runs almost entirely on 'ilm or knowledge. On the other hand the Islamic countries are often shackled by the ideas of the habar or the priests of religion who run on hot air. [Syed Akbar Ali is a noted Muslim writer and activist from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He can be contacted on ali.syedakbar@gmail.com] URL of this page: http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1721
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If Muslims want to succeed in anything useful, determine new directions and new dimensions and if they want to influence the world and restore their glory they need urgently to re-examine their religion. The Muslim hatred of democracy, pluralism, religious tolerance, co-existence and freedom of expression still continues unabated. The battle between the rigid, closed and dogmatic ideology of religion and unfettered thinking is by no means decided but its outcome will determine whether Muslims will embrace freedom, democracy, pluralism, coexistence, progress and tolerance or succumb to non-compromising fundamentalism, conflict and relentless war against the civilized world. The incessant rage, hostility and violence of the dejected Muslims will further destabilize the entire world…. 
7:57 PM
Sultan Shahin
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