Muslim Ummah and Contemporary Issues

Introduction:

Muslim Ummah

 50 Muslim majority Nations

 Turbulent phase of Muslim History
 Dawn of 21st century witnessed the US occupation of the Muslim World
 Sovereignty of Muslim Ummah threatened
 War on Terrorism
 Clash of Civilizations
 Growing Islamophobia
 Future of Islamic world in doldrums
 Arab spring—An emerging challenge

Main Body:

Challenging faced by Muslim Ummah

 Islamophobia of the West

 Rise of extremism
 Absence of Pluralistic Society
 Lack of vision and unity
 Appalling condition of human development
 Internecine rivalries between Muslims: Iran-Saudi, Hamas- Alfateh feuds etc.
 Inter-sect conflicts
 Dependence on the west
 Challenges of globalization
 Static knowledge
 Problems of economic integration

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  Growing sectarian cleavages
 Arab Spring

How Muslim Ummah can regain its lost glory?

 Bring the real essence of Islam to the fore
o Remove distorted concept of Jihad
o Disseminate the Islamic message of peace and brotherhood
o Build societies on the pillars of a pluralistic philosophy
 Ensure Muslim solidarity
o Remove the disputes through amicable arbitration
o Develop collective Security Mechanism
o Revamp the OIC
o Endorses the cosmopolitan view of the world
 Remove the Sectarian hatred and animosity
o The differences between the various sects are minute in nature
o Ensure that differences are not exploited by the fringe elements
o Work for the inter-sect harmony
 Ensure democracy in Muslim societies
o Islam and democracy are compatible
o Islam endorses liberalism and democratic participation
o Emulate the Turkish and Indonesian examples
 Promote education among Muslim societies
o Comparison of Muslim and Christian societies
-Excerpt from the speech of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
o education as Investment
o Invest in research and development
 Ensure the robust economic growth
o Implement the Islamic economic system
o Is Islamic economic system a solution to present financial crisis?

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 o Islamic economic system: a panacea
 Improve the Human Development Index
o Contain population explosion
o Improved Infrastructure
o Adhering Concept of Philanthropy
o Contain the military spending
 Ulema must act as change agent
o Excerpt from adage of Syed Sulaiman Nadvi
o Excerpt from the speech of Mahathir Mohammad

Conclusion:

 Do not let the posterity suffer from our bequest of myopia, rather evolving the concept
of cosmopolitan approach
 Build symbiotic relationship with the whole humanity
 Muslim world needs to emulate Turkey and Indonesia’s example

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 Muslim Ummah and Contemporary Issues

For more than a thousand years, Muslim remained the flag bearers of humanism, and the
Moorish kingdom was the eminent seat of learning in the medieval period but the dawn of 15th
century and the subsequent centuries experienced the crucial phase. Muslim Ummah is now
passing through the most turbulent phase of her history. The dawn of the 21st century
witnessed the fall of the major Muslim countries like Iraq and Afghanistan and the looming
specter of the occupation of Iran has worsened the crisis. The so-called ‘Growing Islamophobia’
of the west and its false accusations against Islam and Muslims has caused disillusionment and
discontentment in the Muslim minds.
Arab spring or Arab winter as it is known has emerged as a challenge for the Muslim
countries. Hitherto, most of Muslim countries were reeling under the despotic tendencies of
their illegitimate ruling elite. The self immolation incident of ‘Sid Bouizazi’, where a young
educated but unemployed man set himself on fire all because of the corrupt practices of the
Tunisian Government and the lack of opportunities for the young and the educated one. This
activity burst forth a spring of protests against the government and the revolt swept to other
countries, most importantly, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Libya. Arab spring has shown a new
way forward and injected a new blood into the body of subservient population that has been
reeling under the despotic rule for years now. Though some dictators were ousted and others
are weakened, yet the true democratic spirit has yet to pervade into the Arab world. Threats
from inside and outside along with the looming specter of hijacking the revolution, still remains
at large.
Muslim Ummah is haunted by a series of crisis. The gravest challenge that Muslim
Ummah has recently faced is that they are pigeonholed as extremists and Islam as a religion is
branded as violent. Ironically, the nation which was supposed to be the torch bearer of peace,
love and brotherhood is considered as the epicenter of terrorism. Extremism has no space in
Islam. Only a few grossly ignorant people, who are involved in the inhuman and barbaric
activities, are tarnishing the image of Islam. Islam has nothing to do with the suicide bombings

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and the distorted concept of Jihad, rather it presents the real essence of Jihad which is fighting
with oneself, thereby controlling the whimsical desires of an individual. Our religion teaches us
tolerance, and even demands to treat non-Muslims with respect and honor. How can this
religion be so violent? There is gross misinterpretation of the religious texts. The Islamic
governments must facilitate the contextual interpretation of the religious texts so that the
divine injunctions at the heart of the Quranic verses could be understood. Ulema and other
religious leaders must categorically denounce the suicide bombings and extremism. Muslim
countries need to build the edifice of their respective societies on the pillars of a pluralistic
philosophy. Full religious freedom needs to be granted to all communities and religion must not
be used for political purpose. Muslim should follow the course of dialogue with west instead of
confrontation. Muslims need to clear the misconception of western world. What can be
obtained through peace, justice and goodwill and dialogue cannot be achieved through
aggression. As Milton once remarked:

“Peace hath its victories not less renowned than war.”

Politically, Muslims have divided themselves into different cantons and the internecine
rivalry among themselves has retarded them to act as an en bloc. Approximately 50 countries
are Muslim-majority nations, and their farce solidarity is fairly depicted at the OIC, and
resultantly OIC has become a toothless tiger. The Iran-Saudi, Hamas- Alfateh rivalries are open
secrets. Though they are so-called Islamic countries but their political and diplomatic standings
suggest something else. Muslims needs to understand that Islam not only encourages
interdependence among Muslim nations but also endorses the cosmopolitan view of the world.
In the contemporary world, where there are economic, regional and political blocks, Muslim
must consolidate their own block-which is probably the oldest union of nations- based upon the
binding force of Islam. They must resolve the conflicts through amicable arbitration and trivial
disputes must not be allowed to develop faults and fissures among the Muslim solidarity.
Moreover, the Muslim economies are not interrelated. Their interdependence i.e.
strengthening of the trade can water down their mutual conflicts and can bring them closer to
each other.

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 Another unfortunate element is the incessant dependence of Muslim World on the
western Nations. Rulers of the Islamic world have their vested interests to safe guard and to
remain in power, they always deprive the gullible masses of their basic rights. They have kept
the sovereignty of their states at stake in order to please their western forces. Such
dependence has led the Muslim world to eat the humble pie despite having the 70 percent of
world resources.
The differences between the various sects and followers of various schools of thoughts
have been accentuated to such a degree that one faction is not ready to tolerate even the
existence of the other faction and armed sectarian conflicts are common, especially in Iraq,
Iran, and Pakistan and in various African Nations. Maulana Ishaq, a renowned scholar
remarked:
“Different Islamic schools of thought are formed due to the difference in the opinion,
thinking and the time frame of human thinking, yet the differences are not in any way
pernicious if read with an open mind and Ijtihad and common contemplation can work
toward understanding the differences and working toward a common goal.”
Muslims must work for the inter-communal harmony and must not let the few
intolerant, myopic and grossly ill-educated people to hijack the whole institution of Muslim
World. Muslims not only need to work of cordial relationship within their own ranks but also
need to affable to the international community and strive for the betterment of humanity.

In the domestic purview, the so-called Muslim governments always used Islam as a
crutch to satiate their own agenda. Of the 50-plus countries where Muslims are in the majority,
only two, Indonesia and Mali, enjoy political liberty as defined by Freedom House, a New York-
based monitor of human rights and democracy. The Democracy Index, run by the Economist
Intelligence Unit, adds Malaysia to that shortlist, rating the three countries as “flawed
democracies”; other Muslim lands are put in a lower category.

There was a time when Islamic Civilization was considered to be the most advanced,
tolerant and progressive Civilization in the world. This was mainly because of their
accomplishments in practically all the disciplines of knowledge. After 16th century AD, the

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situation changed drastically. Learning and inquiry was no more the hallmark of the Muslims
and resultantly they occupy the lowest position in the ladder of the world. Dr Kenneth David, an
eminent scholar, presented the educational and economic status of religious societies of the
world in his book titled as “The Cultural Environment of International Business” and compared
the various living conditions of all the religious societies. He concludes that Christian society is
the most advanced society of the world with regard to education, health and economic wealth
whereas Muslim society is the most backward on these counts. The Human Development Index
of the UNDP, also show such disparities in the status of Muslim and Christian societies.

According to UNDP reports, Islamic countries have an average of 60 percent literacy rate
and in the Western nations of Christians it is between 95 to 100% Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,
once said : “You have spent several nights of indifference and complacency. For God’s sake,
get up now and see how much the sun has risen and how far your co-travelers (non-Muslims)
have gone ahead of you………….after 16th Century, the situation of knowledge (Scientific) in
Muslim and Christian societies changed completely. Now Christians started following
Muslims way of progressive thinking and enquiry whereas Muslims copied Christian’s way of
life of Middle Ages that was full of superstition, bigotry and retrograde thoughts”.

Muslim nations must lay emphasis on education, and they should consider education as
an investment, but the priorities of Muslim world are different. Even the economically rich
countries of the Arabian Peninsula do not spent much on education, the amount allocated for
education and research is amusingly 0.1 per cent of their total income. The world highest and
would be highest building is in the Muslim world. Muslim needs education not the sky scrapers.
During 1949 the world Jewry planned to build a gigantic place of worship in Jerusalem and to
accomplish this lofty task they collected $1billion from all over the world. When this huge
amount was finally handed over to the chief rabbi to start doing the needful, he contended that
the spread of education was more exalted a cause than building a synagogue. The result of their
investment is before us. The world’s tallest buildings would not bring any change in the lives of
people. It is the investment in education and research which can provide a better opportunity
to the young generation.

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 The total GDP of all the members of the OIC is only $7.74 trillion; while United States
alone has GDP of $15.04 trillion. Only a few oil producing countries have reasonable per capita
incomes but they constitute hardly ten per cent of the entire Muslim population. One must
bear in mind that total GDP of all the Arab oil producing counties (12 in numbers) is less than
the GDP of Japan alone. Ironically Muslim Spain during Middle Ages had higher revenue
(because of the industrial products like Textile, Paper, mineral etc) than the whole of the
Christian Europe (eleventh Century AD). Muslim countries do not follow the Islamic economic
system.

The global financial crisis is rearing its ugly head. Around the world stock markets have
fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even
the wealthiest nations are unable to pay their debts and the very existence of European Union
is in danger! Individuals are striving even harder but are unable to make the both ends meet.
Capitalism, the economic order in vogue, has failed to safeguard the economic interests of the
people. Marxists advocated a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism that led to socialism,
before eventually transforming into communism. But communism lacks the required steam to
fuel the economies, and tend to bring inefficiency.

Response all over the world to present financial crisis has been imbecile, for instance
the bailed-out plans are tantamount to just patching the road where signs of crumbles emerge.
A long term solution is required, a neo-capitalism- a restrained form of capitalism, which
provide avenues to individual progress as well as ensure the well being of the marginalized
masses-, can address much of the woes of modern civilization. Islam has provided an ideal
economic system, which encourages individuals progression and at the same time underscore
the welfare of the people. Islamic economic system is neither socialist nor capitalist, but is a
"third way" with none of the drawbacks of the other two systems. This is the ripe time for
convincing the advanced economies that only Islamic economic system can be a panacea. But
for this happen, Muslim economies need to portray themselves as the paragon of true Islamic
economies and depict the viability of their economic system.

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 Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by UNDP gives a very dismal picture of
Muslim nations. In the first 25 best countries listed under HDI, no Muslim country figured in the
list. Barring few small oil producing Muslim nations, majority of the Islamic world lies in the
middle and low categories of human development, a clear indication that the Islamic nations
needs to increase their focus on human development. High population growth is another major
factor for Muslim backwardness because this rapid population rise neutralizes whatever
economic development takes place in Muslim Societies. Asghar Ali Engineer, a well known
Islamic scholar in the article ‘Islam and Family Planning’ have argued that Islam allows family
planning and it is injustice to allow family grow large enough in the name of religion to such an
extent that the family head is unable to provide quality education, health and other necessities
of life. Through family planning and social nets like Zakat, Muslim societies need to work for the
betterment of the respective communities.

After the Second World War, almost all the countries of the world have been busy in
increasing their military capabilities. Muslim nations, in spite of the poverty are also involved
in this insane marathon for military might. They have large trained armies, which are estimated
to be 100million, about one third of the total world armed forces. Muslim nations spend mind
boggling sums on procuring sophisticated and deadly arms and ammunitions from the West. On
the other hand, western nations spend about 10% of their wealth on their arms procurement,
which is carried out within the Christian world. Instead of devouring resources in the name of
national security, the leaders of the Muslim world need to drive their strength from Muslim
solidarity and invest the funds in the provision of basic necessities to their respective
communities. Rich and affluent Muslim countries which are technically advanced should
arrange for the transfer of their technological advancement to the other Muslim countries.
Similarly, the interchange of human capital and resources is also needed.

Collective security mechanism is another major issue to be addressed timely. Muslim

countries are suffering from an unending spate of terrorists’ activities which can only be
stopped by following collective and comprehensive security measures. Yet it is also to be

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guaranteed that these measures do not become a tool in the hands of dictators of Muslim
world to curb indigenous uprising. As John Lindsay remarks:

“Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order”

According to Kenneth, practically every society of the world put hindrances in the name
of religion, in the way of scientific development during 19th and 20th Century. Buddhists Priests
opposed fast changing social order. Conflicts between Catholics and Protestants were the
causes for slowing development in Europe. Caste differences among Hindus were reflected in
the slow growth of their society. Sectarian hatred and too much interference of religious
leaders put difficulties in proper development of Muslims nations. In this regards David
Kenneth says ‘the way of life in Muslim countries cannot be altered unless the Ulema are
favorable to proposed changes.” Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, remarked, “Ulema ignorant of modern
knowledge cannot serve the Ummah”. Mahathir Mohammad, former Prime Minister of
Malaysia also declared during the Islamic Conference in Kuala Lumpur that, “ it is necessary for
Muslims to give up their illogical beliefs and regressing thoughts and be prepared to face the
challenges of the fast changing social order.” There is a dire need that ulema should be well
conversant with western education in order to face the challenges of the contemporary world.
Also, there is also a need of comparative study of different scriptures of all the major religions
as the underlying doctrine of major religion is same.

Moreover, we should not make posterity suffer from our bequest of myopia and illogical
narrow mindedness. A symbiotic relationship with the whole humanity will not only undo the
colossal tarnishing rather it will also usher in an era where people will experience the essence
of golden age. Turkey and Indonesia have done their part, now it is the job of rest of the Muslim
Nations to emulate their cherished traditions.

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