As against power, the Sufis for ages carried on a
dialogue with the people of other religious groups, with Jews, Christians, and
Hindus in India. While kings and sultans grabbed power causing so much
bloodshed, the Sufis followed the Islamic civilisation’s values and pursued the
unity of people — Muslims as well as non-Muslims. Ibn Arabi even went to the
extent of saying “My Sharia and din is love”.
The Quran also
lays emphasis on pluralism. According to the Quran, Allah could have created one
people but He created diversity and plurality so that He can test us and it is
better to cooperate with each other in good deeds (5:48). Thus, rather than
fighting, one should cooperate for good deeds the basis on which all
civilisations are built. -- Asghar Ali
Engineer
By Asghar Ali
Engineer
MANY scholars maintain that
Islam and the state are inseparable, thus reducing Islam to a political
ideology. This approach, though in a way, historically dictated, has caused much
power struggle among different groups of Muslims.
The bloodshed which took place
between the Umayyads and the Abbasids is enough to horrify any religious Muslim,
and yet this ideology has remained rooted in Islamic society for centuries; it
has taken another form in a post-colonial society. In the Islamic world,
dictator after dictator has seized power in the name of Islam and declared the
establishment of an Islamic state, making ‘Islamic’ punishments
binding.
They have imposed medieval
jurisprudence uncritically, resulting, among other things, in serious gender
disparity. Countries from various regions of the Islamic world have suffered
from this practice. There are only few exceptions to the rule in the Muslim
world today. Islam, one must understand, is not primarily a political ideology
but a religion which gave rise to a great civilisation, and has its own
foundational values. Islam basically arose in an urban setting, and in view of
inter-tribal disputes it laid great stress on unity and brotherhood of all (all
believers are brothers and sisters [10:49]; the word ‘ikhwatun’ being inclusive
of both genders).
Yet, a lust for power divided
Muslims and caused serious enmities. The Quran stresses non-discriminatory
behaviour between one tribe and another, one ethnic group and another, whereas
power struggles were based on these very divisions. As opposed to that,
civilisations are built on cooperation between all groups, not fighting among
them. The other foundational values of Islamic civilisation are truth, justice
and compassion.
These values were actually
practised by the Sufis on the one hand, and ordinary Muslims on the other. The
Sufis never allowed Islam to be reduced to a political ideology and kept away
from divisive politics. As opposed to power, they emphasised love, another
civilisational value. Great Sufi masters like Muhiyuddin Ibn Arabi and Maulana
Rumi believed in the power of love and persuasion instead of power per se.
A power struggle brings about
what Prof Huntington has theorised as a ‘clash of civilisations’. The US Right
needed an enemy after the collapse of communism and hence they invented one in
the Islamic civilisation. The former reformist president of Iran, Mohammad
Khatami, instead gave a call for a dialogue of civilisations and proposed at a
UN meeting to adopt it as its programme.
As against power, the Sufis for
ages carried on a dialogue with the people of other religious groups, with Jews,
Christians, and Hindus in India. While kings and sultans grabbed power causing
so much bloodshed, the Sufis followed the Islamic civilisation’s values and
pursued the unity of people — Muslims as well as non-Muslims. Ibn Arabi even
went to the extent of saying “My Sharia and din is love”.
The Quran also lays emphasis on
pluralism. According to the Quran, Allah could have created one people but He
created diversity and plurality so that He can test us and it is better to
cooperate with each other in good deeds (5:48). Thus, rather than fighting, one
should cooperate for good deeds the basis on which all civilisations are built.
Today, the world again is torn
by conflict, especially countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine
and Yemen. These are the countries where various American interests are at
stake, making brothers kill brothers with bombs and acts of terror. Everyday
scores die in these countries, taking them away from the path of civilisation.
What Muslims should concentrate
on is their fiqh, bringing it in conformity with the spirit of the Quran rather
than basing it on disputed historical literature. The Quran’s basic emphasis is
on justice, especially gender justice, which in turn is the very basis of a
great civilisation. Muslim societies desperately need gender equality by giving
women their due. The Quran also emphasises the treading of the middle path,
whereas we tend to go towards extremism in religion and politics.
The Quran has not addressed a
single of its verse to kings or rulers but to the Prophet (PBUH) and the people
in general, and believers in particular. If we establish the primacy of
politics, it is the rulers who have to be responsible for everything whereas the
Quran puts the primary responsibility on all believers who, in cooperation with
other non-Muslim groups, should create a just and compassionate society. Thus,
it demands of the believers to “cooperate with one another in righteousness and
piety and help not one another in sin and aggression” (5:2).
Centre for Study of Society and
Secularism
5:41 AM
Sultan Shahin
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