Individualism & collectivism

By Muhammad Burdbar Khan | 3/1/2013 12:00:00 AM IN the last 100 years, the world has seen a unique struggle between the two ideologies of capitalism and communism. Only a generation ago hardly anyone could think that this struggle would vanish within a decade. Yet this is what has happened. It is widely believed that capitalism and communism abided by beliefs in individualism and collectivism, respectively. Furthermore, these two systems also represented the excesses inherent in these opposite creeds. Also, both were secular in nature and distanced themselves from any religious beliefs. During the middle and later part of the second millennium, in the struggle between religion and the state in Western societies, everything religious came to be associated with dogma and persecution by the very nature of religious aristocracy and its high-handedness in that part of the world. However, the close relationship of religion with the state did not prevent Muslim societies from flourishing during the very time when Western civilisation was supposed to be in the `dark ages`. In sharp contrast to what we find in these systems, Islam presents a fine balance between individualism and collectivism. In the Islamic concept of the universe, man has been appointed a vicegerent (khalifah) on this earth by God and everything has been given to him in trust (amanah). As part of society, he has to perform his duties while being conscious of that trust. As the Holy Prophet (PBUH) said: `Each of you is a keeperor a shepherd and will be questioned about the wellbeing of his fold` (Bukhari and Muslim). The dynamics of earlier Islamic scholarship do not place any barrier between the religious and the secular. Moreover, there is an emphasis on education that not only leads to individual progress but also helps in developing a civilised society. From an Islamic perspective, there are three concepts we need to consider for an individual andhis development: tarbiya, radib and taalim relating to individual development, understanding of society along with the inculcation of right social behaviour, and the right process of learning and knowledge transmission, respectively. Islam endeavours to maintain a balance between an individual and society. It believes in the freedom of a man and holds everyone personally responsible and accountable to God. We find verses in the Quran pointing to this. Islam aims to promote such individual freedom that is geared towards the betterment of society and harmony in the community. Islam does not approve of an economic and political system that suppresses the individual identity for the benefit of the community, as it happens in the communist social system. Nor, on the contrary, does it favour a system of unbridled economic and social freedom, as in the present

Western capitalist systems, which give individuals carte blanche to achieve their objectives at the expense of the larger community. By following the middle path, Islam calls upon individuals to accept certain restrictions in the interest of society before they are left free to regulate their own affairs. As the Prophet said: `Live together, do not turn against each other, make things easy for others and do not put obstacles in each other`s way` (Ahmad). Islam has wisely proposed certain duties for individuals towards society after safeguarding their individual rights. Furthermore, while catering to the rights of the individual, Islam asks individuals, in turn, to work in the service of the community. In this regard, individuals have to think about others and cannot live in luxury in an Islamic society when there are others who live in penury and want. The Prophet once said: `He is not a believer who takes his fill while his neighbour starves` (Bukhari). Nor can a true Muslim flourish at the expense of others or by exploitation as is the norm these days. Again there is a hadith in which the Prophet said: `A Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands the Muslims are safe` (Bukhari and Muslim). The concept of individualism and collectivism is also finely displayed in the five pillars or obligations of Islam declaration of faith, prayers, fasting, zakat and Haj. By removing social hierarchies and barriers, these five duties show the obligations and duties of Muslims. Besides, these emphasise the rights and relationships of individuals while encouraging the spiritual, moral and social development of individuals and the community at the same time. The five daily prayers remind the believer of his place on this earth vis--vis his relationship to God. Mandatory fasting not only inculcates habits of patience in humans but also makes them aware of feelings of hunger and thirst felt by the poor, thus creating a feeling of social empathy. Similarly, the concept of zakat requires that Muslims make mandatory deductions from their wealth for redistribution among the poor thus leading to social welfare. As stated in the Quran: `In their wealth the beggar and the destitute have their due right` (51:19). Haj is a microcosm of how humanity ought to live in this world. During Haj, millions of Muslims assemble around the Kaaba in Makkah from all corners of the world where they spend prescribed days praying to God and living in complete harmony with others without any consideration of gender, race, class, status, etc. The intended result through all these five duties remains individual and societal development. Islam, thus, always endeavours to maintain this fine balance between individuality and collectiveness. E The writer is member of the adjunct faculty at Stirling Management School, University of Stirling, Scotland.

The dogs of war

By F.S. Aijazuddin | 3/1/2013 12:00:00 AM THERE was a time when wars needed to end before historians could begin writing chronicles about them. Today`s wars have become prime time television viewing. History is as immediate as instant coffee. Almost two years ago, on the night of May 2, 2011, 79 US Navy SEAL commandos (and a dog) conducted a raid on a nondescript house in sleepy Abbottabad. The house was like many Pakistani homes. It encroached upwards into a third storey, it had no internet, no landline telephone connection, no stand-by generator. Its master bathroom contained a bottle of Just for Men hair dye. The house stood less than a mile away from the Pakistan Military Academy where intelligence gathering and counterintelligence are taught. There could not have been a more carelessly located, more vulnerable bunker in which to squirrel away the man most wanted by the United States Osama bin Laden. That night, as President Obama and his team of advisors watched the action at Abbottabad live on screens in the White House, the US SEALs flew in and flew out unchallenged, their return cargo the bullet-ridden body of their quarry. Since that night, there have been numerous eyewitness accounts, some unauthorised revelations, a few books, and even an Oscar-nominated film Zero Dark Thirty that purport to provide a plausible narrative of that attack and its gruesome finale. The only voice that has not been heard so far has been of the dog which accompanied the SEALs. The dog has not barked. In that sense, he is not very different from our costly watchdogs the F-16s that Pakistan`s defence forces maintain to safeguard our borders. That night they also did not bark. One former SEAL who has barked, using the pseudonym David Owen, has described in his book No Easy Day that their helicopter flight from Jalalabad to Abbottabad had taken 90 minutes. It takes that time for a commercial flight from Islamabad at one end of Pakistan to reach Karachi at the other end. `We evaded the Pakistani radar and anti-aircraft missiles on the way in and arrived undetected. Having completed their mission, they detonated charges that destroyed the second helicopter that had crashlanded earlier on their arrival at Osama`s hideout. `The explosion at the compound had finally attracted the attention of the Pakistan military. Unknown to us, they grounded all of their aircraft and started a head count. With everyone accounted for, they scrambled two F-16s armed with 30mm cannons and air-to-air missiles. Pakistan`s military has always maintained a state of high alert against India. Most of the country`s air defences are aimed east towards that threat. The jets roared into the sky and raced towards the Abbottabad area. The SEALs meanwhile had already escaped into Afghan airspace. Somewhat kindly, David Owen avoided likening our defence strategy to the Egyptian tank designed for use in the Arab-Israeli war. It was said to have three reverse gears and one forward gear the latter for use in case the

Israelis attacked from the rear. As Pakistanis, we support one of the largest armies in the region. It feeds first from the beggar`s bowl that is shaped like our national budget. As civilian Pakistanis, we are prepared for the defence of our motherland to eat grass, even cake, provided we know that if we are attacked, our protectors will not spend precious time doing a head count before responding, while we civilians busy ourselves with a body count. It is ironical that this summer, Pakistanis will be asked in the forthcoming general elections to vote on who should represent them, but not on who should defend them. One is not suggesting that the public should be allowed to vote in (or out) the defence leadership. That would be strategically impractical. There is an argument, however, for some level of accountability, some mechanism that should be able to ask why our planes remained grounded and silent. History we know is the version of the victors. Today, it is the United States version of conflicts since the end of the Second World War that is the Authorised Version. They won in Vietnam, they won in Cambodia, they won in Grenada, they won in Chile, they won in Iraq, and they are winning in Afghanistan. The popular British historian William Dalrymple, during his recent round of lectures in Pakistan, has put forward a proposition that Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the US and Allied forces in 2014could well degenerate into another Kashmir. Interesting as such a supposition is, it seems unlikely. History argues against it. Over the past thousand years, Afghanistan has survived intact precisely because it is the sort of place people prefer to visit, rather than to stay or settle in. When Obama`s troops quit Afghanistan in 2014, he will still be in the White House, the studio where his wife Michelle opened the envelope to announce the Oscarforthe best film this year. The award went to Argo, a film about the rescue of six US diplomats from Tehran while Ayatollah Khomeini`s revolutionary guards were preoccupied with 52 others incarcerated in the US embassy there. The film that lost out to Argo was Zero Dark Thirtp. Was it perhaps because Obama had seen it already, on television, live? The writer is an author. www.fsaijazuddin.pk