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A few weeks ago, I happened
to be at a religious seminar where a well-dressed and smart moulvi, in
his high-pitched rhetorical speech, was elaborating on a comparison
between the Dark Ages of Europe and the advanced and enlightened
civilization of the Islamic world of that same era. He pitted the
abysmal backwardness of 12th century metropolises like Paris and
London – devoid of even basic amenities such as toilets, baths,
hospitals and schools against the advanced Muslim Spain – replete with
its institutions of higher learning, well-constructed roads and
well-equipped hospitals wherein free treatment was given to the poor.
The more the speaker raised
his voice, the bigger was the applause from the audience, whose
intellectual bankruptcy was as much to be pitied as that of the young
speaker. After all, the moulvi had ironically eulogized the genius of
the West – which had chosen the right lessons from the Muslims and
risen from those dark alleys to the present-day heights of progress
and achievement, there for all to see. The rhetoric was, in effect, a
poor consolation for present-day Muslims - who have fallen from those
ancient heights to the current abyss of ignorance, poverty and a
bigoted ideology and to where they have hardly anything to show or be
proud of.
It is the same story for
almost the entire Muslim world, which is still basking in its past
glory instead of looking directly at the stark reality of its position
in the world today.
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In fact, these are the
symptoms of lost civilizations, whose descendents usually show the
following characteristics:
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They put all the blame for
the ills of their society on some foreign conspiracy.
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They want shortcut
solutions to their problems instead of seriously analyzing the
causes and durable solutions. An attitude that further complicates
problems.
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They throw up such leaders
whose very hands are stained with fraud and usurpation. Those
opportunistic leaders issue edicts against those who try to wake up
the masses from their slumber, and exploit their emotions to serve
their narrow interests.
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These poor masses are put
to sleep on the intoxication of their golden past and are awakened
only to shout, riot, burn and destroy everything on their way and
even kill themselves in the name of religion.
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They spend their meagre
resources on rituals and ceremonies, on ostentatious marriages,
status symbols and false prestige.
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They become lazy and even
take pride in being so, and spend their time in intrigues and
conspiracies. They blame and criticize everyone except themselves·
They develop a habit of living in the present and forgetting about
the future.
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They are more interested
in building mosques and seminaries than in nation-building.
But with such calamitous
diseases looming large over the community, should we sit idle in
despair and lose all hope? I have no such intention. In fact, we have
to be ready for a long fight.
The Government of India
appointed the Sachar Commission to look into the problems of the
minorities. The honorable commission after its exhaustive report came
to the conclusion that the Muslim community is, indeed, one of the
most backward in every respect; be it education, health, economics or
trade. The representation of Muslim minority in government jobs and
even private enterprises is far below their demographic share in the
population.
The cause of this state of
affairs lies somewhere else. My humble suggestion is that our masses
engage their religious leaders only to solve problems related to faith
and leave the rest to those who are experts in their fields. Much of
this mess will be cleared. But to our misfortune, these so-called
religious leaders pretend to have a solution for every problem on
earth, be it economic, political, educational, commercial or even
highly technical fields in which they are appallingly ignorant. It is
because of this crooked leadership that the community is living a life
of indignity and utter depravity.
There are no facilities for
basic education for the children.
Government primary
schools are in a state of total neglect; and private institutions are
unaffordable for the common man. If they fall sick there is nowhere to
go for treatment. Girls keep waiting for marriage and those married
are abandoned by their husbands, who take the dowry and just disappear
or divorce them. The mullahs have taught them that the One who created
them has promised to feed them, only leading to an increase in the
number of malnourished, illiterate and unemployable offspring. The
result is that such children are engaged at a very young age in manual
labor or are made to work in Zardozi and Kamdani workshops to support
their parents instead of being supported by them.
The "respected" Maulanas
collect subscriptions from gullible masses, who do not have even a
house of their own, to build the houses of the Almighty (the mosques)
and then preach from their pulpits obscurantism and bigotry and again
collect money from these places of worship to build madrasas, where
young minds are indoctrinated to harbor hatred towards other faiths
and even other sects of Islam. The pupils who come out of these
madrasas are promised, in the name of God, that those performing such
heinous acts will go straight to Heaven where nubile virgins will be
waiting to welcome them with open arms. No one tells them that killing
of an innocent human being, irrespective of his faith, is a vile crime
in Islam. A sect of so-called Muslims whose very foundation is based
on oppression and aggression, blame their misdeeds on other sects and
minorities. Such line of action has been perpetuated through centuries
and cruelties in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the form of terror and
destruction of the world and by misrepresenting Islam. The imperialist
powers, with the help of their powerful media, are exploiting this
attitude. This misplaced methodology is giving Islam the image of a
religion of terrorists. These powers are making the world believe that
the cause of all unrest and turmoil of the world are Muslims and
unless they are marginalized the world cannot live in peace. Action on
such morbid ideology has intensified already and will continue to gain
momentum, if we do not make amends.
Philosopher and poet Iqbal
had said that the mullah is the cause of all disruption in society. It
is now the duty of all Muslims to marginalize these so called
religious leaders and bring forward enlightened and learned leadership
that can propagate the true spirit of Islam - love and brotherhood;
and that can show to the world the real face of Islam, which is
compassionate and peace-loving.
And last but not the least,
no community can get a respectful place in society unless it is
totally loyal to the country and contributes to nation-building. Such
communities inevitably create a place for themselves and are respected
by the government and administration. On the other hand, a community
that is a victim of ignorance, lethargy and negativism will always be
living in misery and indignity.
The future of our community
is linked to the state of quality education, especially the higher and
professional education of our children. Government institutions alone
are not sufficient to provide high-class education to all. We have to
therefore build our own schools and colleges with professional
expertise that can bring about drastic improvement in our education
system and the administration of our institutions. To succeed in these
efforts, we will have to make conscious efforts to divert our
resources, currently being spent on decadent religious and
non-religious rituals, towards these objectives. We have to bring
simplicity and austerity to our ceremonies and the money thus saved
can be used to help poor students and enable them to afford quality
education.
This is the path that will
lead us to a life of dignity and respect in the twenty-first century.
The alternative is a slow and certain annihilation of the community. |
