An Evaluation and Prescription
by
Mohammed Sharif
1. The Muslim World on Fire
We call ourselves Muslims. There are 1.2 billions of us on this planet and the number is increasing. Our number is increasing in the Western countries also and we take pride in that. However, others call us terrorists, fundamentalists, medieval, backward, barbaric, irrational, and everything else other than civilized human beings. If they could, probably some of them would call us non-humans. These characterizations are done not only in words, but also in actions. Look at the Muslim world, it is on fire, almost everywhere it is burning. The Muslims are dying in hundreds and thousands. We are killed not by others only; we are killing ourselves. The world does not care; we do not care even. Do we? Look at the data compiled in the tables below. There is
Table I Table II
Muslim Countries in Turmoil Number of People in the Muslim World
Afghanistan Algeria Killed in Armed Conflicts
Azerbaijan Bosnia-Herzegovina Afghanistan --- Fight against USSR and Civil War
Cambodia Chechnya Algeria 60,000 Civil War
China Comoros Island Azerbaijan 16,000 Fight with Armenia
Dagesthan Djibouti Bosnia-
Egypt Eritrea Herzegovina 300,000 Ethnic Cleansing
Ethiopia India Cambodia 700,000 Khmer Rouge Massacre
Indonesia Iraq Chechnya 60,000 Liberation War
Kashmir Kosova China 360,000 Cultural Revolution, Religious
Kuwait Lebanon Freedom, and Autonomy Fight
Libya Malaysia Iran-Iraq 800,000 Iran-Iraq War
Myanmar (Burma) Palestine Iraq 1,200,000 Gulf War and UN Sanctions
Philippines Russia Kashmir 50,000 Liberation War
Somalia Sri Lanka Kosova 50,000 Ethnic Cleansing
Sudan Turkey Lebanon 100,000 War with Israel and Civil War
Myanmar 180,000 Religious Persecution
Palestine 40,000 War with Israel
Philippines 35,000 Fight for Autonomy
___________________________________________
Total Killed 3,903,500 Approximately
Table III Table IV
Refugees throughout the World Terrorist Attacks against the US Interests
(As of December 31, 1997) (1997)
Total Number Percentage --------------------------------------------------------
of of Africa Eurasia North Middle Asia Europe Latin Total
Refugees All Refugees America East America
-------------------------------------------------------------- Number 2 3 4 4 6 7 97 123
World 13,566,000 100 of Attacks
Muslim World 9,392,050 69 Percen- 1.63 2.44 3.25 3.25 4.88 5.69 78.86 100
Middle East 5,708,000 42 tage
-------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------
Source: U.S. Committee for Refugees; 1998, USCR. Source: US Department of State Report, 1998.
trouble in almost every Muslim land-we are killed, maimed, our sisters and daughters are violated, we are starved, we are deprived of our basic human rights, our homes are demolished and burned, and we are ejected from our own lands and turned into refugees. The figures listed in Table IV show that we are terrorized in our own countries-although we account for 20 percent of the world's population, we make up 69 percent of the world's refugees. This situation is even worse for the Middle East that accounts for about five percent of the world's population, but 42 percent of the refugees. Do these figures speak out something?
In spite of suffering this precarious condition throughout the world, Muslims are referred to as terrorists. The evidence presented in Table IV from the US State Department Report does not provide any support for this grossly unjust reference. In 1997, out of 123 terrorist attacks against the US interest, only four, a meager 3.25 percent took place in the Middle East. If all the attacks that took place in Africa, Asia, and Europe are added, assuming that Muslims are responsible for all of them, it still comes to 15.45 percent only-majority (78.86 percent) of these attacks took place in Latin America, a non-Muslim region. Why then are Muslims blamed for everything?
2. Muslims are a Subjugated Nation
Nobody can deny the fact that we are a subjugated nation. Why? Let us get to al-Qur'an:
And whatever misfortune strikes you, it is what your hands have earned.
And He forgives much. (al-Qur'an, 42:30)
Allah does not task a soul beyond its scope. It gets which it has earned,
and it suffers which it has deserved. (al-Qur'an, 2:286)
So the conditions we are suffering today are our own earnings. We are subjugated so much that we even have lost our own identity-the Westerners, no doubt with Allah's Will, do not call us Muslims; they very appropriately call us, may be without knowing the meaning, but definitely with Allah's direction, ?????, the Oppressed. Some of us Muslims even have accepted that and call ourselves ????? -may be under the assumption that whatever others say is right and everything we say is wrong; therefore, we have to learn from others even our own identity. Abu Sayeed Khudri � reported from Prophet (S):
Definitely you will follow the path of those who came before you, inch by inch
and yard by yard, until your obedience to their path will be such that if they enter
the lizard hole, you will enter into it. We asked, Oh Rasulullah, you mean the
Jews and the Christians? He replied, Who else? (Sahih al-Bukhari)
What an irony of fate it is? Is this a punishment from Allah? Allah says,
Unless you go forth, He will punish you with a severe punishment, and will
replace you with another people, and you will not harm him at all." (al-Qur'an, 9:39)
Ibn al-Arabi � reports from Prophet (S),
The severe punishment is in this world, through occupation by the enemy,
and in the hereafter by fire. (Sahih al-Bukhari)
These make it very clear that the conditions we are suffering are the results of our own doings.
3. The Nature of the House of Islam We Own Today
We have a house that does not have any walls. Therefore, the armies of marauding beasts stampede through our house killing and maiming us, destroying everything we posses, and violating our sisters and daughters. Look at Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya, Dagesthan, Kashmir, Kosova, and Mayanmar. Because we do not put any walls to our house, Allah allows others to put walls around our house so that we do not get anything we need-look at Iraq and Libya.
Our house does not have a roof. Therefore, thunder and lightning volts rain from the sky killing us in thousands-Chechnya, Dagesthan, Iraq, and Lebanon are examples.
Our house does not have a floor. Therefore, poisonous insects grow in it, and bite, cripple, and kill us. Look at Algeria, Turkey, and to a lesser extent, almost all the Muslim countries.
Our house does not have any doors, windows, ceilings, rooms, furniture, and appliances. It does not have any bedding even. What does it have?
O NLY FIVE PILLARS.
AND WE CLAIM:
WE ARE THE CUSTODIANS
OF
THE HOUSE OF ISLAM.
What a travesty of Islam we make? In our worldly judgement, if anybody puts up five pillars and calls it a house, we will call that person crazy or insane. But do we really understand how Allah is judging us? Is it because of this, Maulana Jamaluddin Afghani, after traveling all over the world, said in one of his speeches?
I have traveled all over the Muslim world, I have seen millions of Muslims, but
I have not seen Islam. However, I have traveled through the Western world,
I have not seen any Muslim, but I have seen Islam.
What an indictment of us, the Muslims, it is! Why? We have to start thinking: Are we practicing Islam as al-Deen, the Way of Life, as Allah said in al-Qur'an,
Verily, to Allah, Islam (submission to His Will) is the way of life (al-Deen). (al-Qur'an, 3:19)
Or, have we turned Islam into a religion among many religions? The answer should be obvious from an examination of our daily lives and from an assessment of our present situation in the world.
4. What Should We Do?
Allah says,
Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it
themselves (with their own souls). (al-Qur'an, 13:11)
It seems that the ball is in our court and we have to do something to change our lot. Before we can do anything, we need to know what Allah wants us to do.
Let there be from you a nation of people who invite to goodness, and enjoin
right conduct, and forbid indecency. Such are they who are successful. (al-Qur'an, 3:103)
If we claim to be the Ummah Allah is talking about, our job is very big:
We are the custodians of the humanity.
It is our job to try to set the humanity right.
Unless we start thinking about all of humanity,
We are a non-starter.
We cannot be successful.
Why? Let's see what Allah enjoins,
It is not for you not to fight for the cause of Allah and for the cause of the weak
among men, for the women, and for the children, who are crying: Our Lord!
Relieve us out of this nation of oppressive rulers! Oh, give us from Your nearness
some protecting friend! Oh, give us from Your nearness some defender! Those
who believe fight in the cause of Allah and those who reject faith fight in the cause
of evil: so fight ye against the friends of Shaitan: feeble indeed is the cunning of
Shaitan. (al-Qur'an, 4:75-76)
Allah is enjoining us in the strongest (double negative) terms to fight, as a sacred duty to Allah, on behalf of
the weak, the women, and the children against injustice and oppression.
5. How to Fight in the Path of Allah?
The cardinal principle of fighting in the path of Allah is prescribed in the following two verses:
Who is better in speech than the one who calls people to the path of Allah, practices
righteousness, and says "I am of those who surrender to the Will of Allah?" The good
and the evil are not alike. Repel the evil deeds with good deeds (in such a way that)
those, between whom and you there was enmity, will become as though they were
your bosom friends. And no one will be granted this (status), except those who
exercise patience and self-restraint. And they are none but the persons of the
greatest fortune. (al-Qur'an, 41:33-34)
The people who take the responsibility of winning the hearts and minds of the human race by practicing patience and self-restraint in replacing the evil with good are promised by Allah to be the best nation on earth. This is the formula to be the best Ummah Allah promised in the following verse:
You are the best of people raised for mankind to enjoin righteousness, forbid evil,
and have faith in Allah. (al-Qur'an, 3:110)
I must emphasize that Allah has raised us to be the best by performing the duties enjoined by Allah. We are not the best if we do not fulfil the conditions Allah set forth for us. We may take pride in what this verse says, but our condition on earth today clearly testifies to the contrary. No body should have any doubt that we are not performing what Allah has raised us for. Not only that we are not the protecting friends for the oppressed as required by Allah, we cannot even protect ourselves-we have become the oppressed practically and by name. Allah's Promise for human success on earth is very clear:
Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do righteous deeds that He
will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those
before them; that He will establish in authority their Deen, the one which He has chosen
for them; and that He will change (their condition) after the fear in which they (lived) to
one of security and peace. (al-Qur'an, 24:55)
6. The Course of Action Prescribed
In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the conditions we are suffering today are our deserved earnings, and that we have to stop complaining and start looking deep into our own hearts. If we want to change our ill fate, we have to do it ourselves by our own actions following the blueprint set forth by Allah for achieving success. The injunctions are very clear-to practice and enjoin righteous deeds, refrain from and forbid indecency and evil deeds, practice justice and fight injustice and oppression against anybody, and thereby, establish peace with justice on earth, and have faith in Allah.
These are the conditions set by Islam as a universal way of life for the humankind enjoined by Allah through all the messengers (pbut) and finally through Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Allah's prescribed way of performing all these is by winning the hearts and minds of the people by exposing the true nature of Islam through practice and through public education. This means that the Muslims must be positive and proactive, and avoid, at all costs, being negative and reactive, which require the use of utmost patience and restraint on the part of every Muslim. Most importantly, the leaders of the Muslim community must get the community together in serving the cause of humanity in the path of Allah in a positive and proactive nature, and discourage and condemn negative and reactive actions by anybody from any community. Finally, Muslims must join hands with good people of other communities for the cause of humanity.
The author is professor of economics at the
University of Rhode Island, founding president of
the Southern Rhode Island Islamic Society and
Muslim Heritage Council, chief organizer of the
annual Muslim Cultural Heritage Program and
frequently displayed Discover Islam and Muslim
Culture Exhibit.
Another version of this article is published in IQRA, 2002.