The Common Muslim by A.R.
Reading many Western articles, watching Western television shows, and listening to several Western radio stations, I have deduced that there is a great need for education of the Western masses about the views of the common Muslim. To educate the Western world regarding the common Muslim, i have written this short education essay. I have defined the common Muslim as the non-scholar individual residing in the vast Muslim world who professes Islamic faith. The intelligentstia, the political/religious leaders, revolutionary/military leaders, and the Muslim professionals are excluded from the definition of the common Muslim I have presented.
The Misconceptions regarding the Common Muslim
Many Western media outlets refer to the common Muslim constantly in two completely opposite views. These two views are not consistent with each other. The first view is that the common Muslim in the Muslim world is radicalized and has a biased, hatred-filled view of people who are different. This view puts the blame on the Islamic religion and completely ignores Western dominance of Muslim lands as a cause for opposition to the Western will in the Muslim world. The media shows pictures of Islamic revolutionary warriors to develop a correlation with Muslims and radicalization. The second view of the common Muslim is that they need to be liberated from oppressive Islamic religious laws and philosophy by Western secularism. This view ignores the will of the common Muslim, and basically affirms that they are not educated enough to make their own decisions. While the Western secular democractic system professes to support the aspirations of people in the world, when the issue comes to the common Muslim the Westerners deem us unacceptable to run affairs the way we want them to and hence form a consensus for us which is acceptable to them. Both of these views portray a problem with the common Muslim, and in particular with the religion of Islam. This very religion forms the basis of Muslim life and is sacred to the common Muslim. The west because it has abandoned its religion cannot attempt to understand the role of religion in the common Muslim's way of life. To correct these views, the Muslims, layman or not layman, must be courageous enough to correct the negativity in the Western mindset which is instilled by its anti-Islamic media.
The Common Muslim's Correct Point of View
The common Muslim, far from the Western misconceptions about him, is deeply religious and deeply devoted to his religion. The Islamic religion is drastically different than the Christian or Jewish religions in that it demands strict and complete obedience. In Islam, Allah is the final authority in heaven and on earth. The only acceptable system of governance in a Muslim-majority country is an Islamic caliphate. To be a Muslim, one must fully embrace the Islamic religion and practice it in every sphere of his life. We see that the myth about Muslims being disenfranchised by religion or radicalized for war is not true at all. The last decade has resulted in a Muslim world revival of Islamic values and Islamic beliefs. Thus we see that the common Muslim, upon every proceeding year is becoming more and more religious. This strict adherance to religion is the Western media's idea of radicalization. While the west believes that the only Islam acceptable is non-political Islam or Islam without jihad, these do not represent the views of the Muslim world, in particular the common Muslim. Islam should and must pierce all aspects of life, including politics and state. Islam without jihad is not Islam, because jihad is a necessary part of Islam. Jihad becomes more necessary when the Muslim community of a certain ares is being condemned to genocide and massacre. Islam reconfirms what the common Muslim knows to be fact, only Muslims can help oppressed Muslims to the best advantage of the oppressed Muslims. Are not Bosnia, Kosovo, and Albania proof of this? Islam and Muslims are necessary for a just solution in any problems or conflicts which Muslims are involved in.
The Common Muslim on Politics
The Muslim world, recovering from Communism and the massive interference from the west, is trying to achieve more independence from the west and more interdependence between other Muslim countries. Following this global Islamic revival, the west has embarked upon a multitude of fresh colonial adventures which echoes in the mind of the Muslim world, reminding it of the years of colonial Western rule that was summed up by oppression, genocide, and subjugation of the Muslim people. This is the backdrop of the common Muslim's environment. He finds himself in what he sees as a war against Islam. These colonial expeditions occuring in the Muslim world are the result of the west's most sought after goal, an elusive all encompassing organization named Al Qaeda which has been blamed for the freedom movements of Palestine [Israel's native Muslim population], Kashmir [Muslim majority area in India], Chechnya [Russia's Caucasus suppression of Muslim revolutionaries] , Xian Jiang [China's northwestern Muslim-dominated province]. The common Muslim is aggravated by the blame of his religion for calling for independence of Muslim majority areas, while the occupying nations are seen as being completely right because of their Westernism. The common Muslim, as well as the Muslim intelligentsia, are deeply concerned with the double standards of the west's dealings with the Muslim world. Each country's Muslim person has his own countrymen's concern in mind, as well to a great degree the suffering of Muslims in the entire world. Most of these conflicts are on the fringes of the Muslim world. These conflicts are the result of the dissolving of the Islamic caliphate, which many Muslims yearns for to return, and the European invansion of the Muslim world during the Imperialist period. After the dissolving of Islamic unity, many neighboiring and rival nations moved in to take over indigenous Muslim populations of the Islamic world. These people fought against many odds to obtain some degree of autonomy, most of them achieved great successes, but some areas are still under foreign rule. The non-Muslim world seems unsympathetic, especially the west, so it the duty of the Muslim world to join together to solve these problems. This is the general view of the common Muslim concerning politics. In the palestine dispute, the common Muslim does not accept the Israeli nation, because it is founded on indigenous Palestinian land which was obtained through massacre and genocide of native Palestinians with the support of the Europeans. To the common Muslim, it mirrors the treatment of the native American Indians, the Aborignes of australia, and the native people of south America. The common Muslim feels great sympathy for oppressed people, and also closeness to these exterminated people because of the terror they went through. The issue of the African-American slavery is very sensitive to the Muslim, because these people were originally Muslims themselves, but forced to become Christian through years of slavery. The has referred to the russia's independence movement in chechnya as a front on the war on terror. This is a very negative step in the role of Western relations with the Muslim world. The common Muslim completely and fully supports the freedom movement of his Muslim brethren and even feels its his duty to help them achieve freedom from oppressive foreign rule. The methods in which he can help is extremely limited, but he has great pride for the oppressed people in the world who fight Western Imperialism in all its fronts. The issue of Indian relations with the Islamic world is a very difficult issue to analyze. The common Muslim's idea of the Kashmir issue and communal violence of hindu fanatics against Muslim men, women, and children is in the same view. The common Muslim living in Pakistan and Afghanistan has much more sympathy for the Muslim freedom of movement of Kashmir and the ethnic cleansing in India. The reason for this is because these suffering people are essentially of the same culture, heritage, and many Kashmiris, Indian Muslims are even related to people living inside Pakistan and Afghanistan. The common man in other countries sees the Kashmir movement as distant, but still reaffirms their support for the freedom movement. The difficulty is in discussing the arab governments in relation to their treatment of the Kashmir issue. Althought the government heads are Muslim, they dont see any problem with India, nor do they care for Kashmir, while Pakistan and Afghanistan's policies revolve around the issue of Muslims in India. Many Indian workers live in the middleeast in various countries in the oil-rich, trade countries of the gulf states. India depends on these workers for sending money back to India. The Muslim world could easily choke India for oil and money, and bring it to its knees in one day. There many other issues which we do not have time to discuss, however, these examples shall suffice to illustrate my point. The common Muslim feels helpless to foreign policy of his government, and doesnt have a say in these affairs. If the common Muslim had a more active role in his affairs, this would lead to an Islamization of politics in the Muslim world and the establishment of governments based on Islamic law and ideology. The common Muslim is not radicalized at all, infact he is very understanding to people who are suffering, be they Muslim or not. The common Muslim, in many respects, has a softer heart and loving personality which puts the worldwide man to shame.
Common Muslim's Compassion
Compared to the rest of the world, the Muslim world gives alot more in charity than people who profess other religions do, even though the Islamic world is only 1/4 of the world's people. The common Muslim is the one responsible for this phenomena. The common Muslim is by far more religious than the common Christian, Jew, Hindu or his other religionists. The Islamic religion states that the minimum amount of charity one has to give is 2.5 percent of total wealth of surplus. This is a mandatory charity, which no other religion has an example of. The common Muslim also donates generously to beggars and poor family members. This issue has increased the number of beggars in the Muslim world to such a degree that there are now professional beggars who take advantage of the generosity of the common Muslim. This example is solely reserved for the Islamic world, because of its intense religious ferver and great compassion to the poor. When natural disasters occur in the world, particularly the Muslim world, many of the common Muslims donate vast sums of money out of sadness for the afflicted. When there is not a natural disaster relief program, the common man donates to help starving children in the Muslim world and humanitarian relief programs in areas of war and famine. In many areas of politics where he cannot support freedom movements physically or politically, he sends money to humanitarian organizations to help the people suffering from occupation of various foreign powers.
The Common Muslim in After-Thought
As we can see, the common Muslim is just as caring as any other human being, if not more caring. He is deeply religious and devoted to the preservation of his religion. The common Muslim views Islam as the only true religion, however professes that everyone has the right to practice their religion, whether or not it be Islam. The common Muslim deeply detests Colonialism, Imperialism, Secularism, Communism, Socialism, Fascism, Nationalism, and Capitalism. He sees these views as foreign to his way of life, and resides to live his life according to his religious beliefs which give him guidance in all spheres of his life. Regarding politics, the common Muslim is deeply sympathetic to suffering populations, especially if they are Muslim, who are seen by him as those who have done nothing to earn anyone's anger, but just want to live the way they want in peace without being forced into subjugation or rule of people who don't care about their well-being. The common Muslim feels utmost sympathy and love for the poor and helpless. The common Muslim donates far more in charity and aid than any other common man of another religion. Politically, he does not have a voice, however his voice has a voice, and he is very vocal about apparent injustice done in his presence. The common man of the Muslim world is becoming more religious every succeeding decade.
The Common Muslim's Future
This brings us to the fact that the Islamic revival is starting from both the Muslim intelligentsia and the common Muslim. The success and rapidity of this process is frightening many kings, dictators in the Muslim world and many west governments who want to keep the Islamic revival low as it is a threat to their hegemony. Many people feel in less than a few decades time, another Islamic caliphate will be born, and a model Islamic government will excite religous zeal and sympathy throughout the Muslim world, resulting in a chain of revolutions overthrowing kings and dictators with religious based governments more representative of the people. This process could lead to the formation of a strong Muslim federation of countries which act as one body. Such an organization would be far more effective than the European Union could ever be. It would essentially rise to superpower status with nuclear capablities and be able to challenge Western worldwide hegemony. Many nations disenfranchised with the double standards of the Western world could look to the east for a much fair model for support and aid. The west is very concerned about the increased Islamization of the Muslim world, and views this as a threat to worldwide Western dominance. To prevent any other rival in worldwide affairs, the west has very difficult bi-polar strategy they are engaging in. To control and suppress Islamic revolutionary fervor and thought, as well as win the hearts and minds of the common Muslim. So far the west's efforts have resulted in directly the opposite results, in increasing revolutionary Islamic thought and earning anger in the common Muslim's heart and mind. Unless the west desists meddling in the Muslim world's affairs, the trend will only increase drastically every year. Inventing lies and misconceptions about the thoughts of the common Muslim is the west's most absurd idea yet. When the common Muslim reads these lies about him, he will grow more oppossed to Western dominance and he will lose trust of the west. The view that the common Muslim is not intelligent enough to know what is good for him is another Imperialistic, colonial tactic used many times in the past by the west. Infact, it is a remnant thought from the colonial period which still resides in the modern Western ideas. That same colonial period is also fresh in the Muslim mind. The common Muslim's images of hundreds of slaves being forced to labor for the Europeans, killing of the intelligent leaders to suppress rebellion, and transferring enormous amounts of their wealth to Europe became much more vivid when reflected on the Americans actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. They mirror the start of another age in which Muslims must fight again, this time for true freedom. The freedom to rule themselves by the way they choose, and the freedom to aspire for their own form of religious morals without pressure from the west. Now, to the common man the occupier is the enemy, the foreignor doesn't belong, and to get real freedom the Westerners must leave the Muslim world's affairs to Muslims. For Muslims Islam, for the rest what they chose for themselves.