Time for introspection in the Muslim world

Other than the cognitive wedge in Muslim world, there are many other exogenous factors responsible for its dire strait

The Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman, Maulana Sherani, at the conclusion of a recent three-day session of the Council, made a noteworthy statement by categorically stating that implementation of one’s wish by force cannot be termed jihad. He was also of the view that the establishment included jihad-based content in textbooks in the 1980s to please the US and buttress the CIA-funded war in Afghanistan. Truth indeed has its own way of coming full circle. For Muslims around the world, it is time to think about why certain elements amongst them keep turning towards a violent discourse. The lack of an effective narrative has resulted in a sad state of affairs where any act of terror anywhere in the world results in people instantly inquiring whether the perpetrator was a Muslim. If that is indeed the case, the act of terror is instantly considered to be an example of radical Islam even if the perpetrator was a loner with a criminal record. In case the perpetrator is of a different creed and colour, his act of extreme violence is filtered through the sieve of ‘diminished responsibility’ and is often termed a schizophrenic act of a lone wolf.

According to a report, there have been 94 killings in the US in terror attacks attributed to Muslims after 9/11, while 228 Americans were killed through gun violence in the week following the Orlando attack alone. In 2015, 475 US citizens lost their lives in gun shootouts. This stark reality hardly matters in a country where a presidential candidate has built his campaign around fostering feelings of antipathy towards Muslims.

Muslims are living in this state without seriously questioning its basis. This is understandable as questioning of this kind requires intellectual rigour, which has been absent from the Muslim world in recent times. Inquisitive reasoning with regard to the key precepts of Islam is barely contemplated upon and an easy path of conformism is preferred most of the time.

The recent Quetta carnage jolted the nation to the hilt. Last Friday was marked by another deadly suicide attack in Mardan. A suicide attack targeting a marriage party in Istanbul rocked Turkey recently. Earlier, during Ramazan, we witnessed mayhem in Dhaka, Istanbul, Qateef and Medina resulting in the loss of innocent lives. The cold-blooded murders in a high-end cafe in Dhaka, especially, caused deep grief as I had lived in the city as a student, and had found it to be a place of tolerance, love and empathy. The people of Dhaka used to respect each other’s views. It was a city of mosques and liberal ideas. The slain perpetrators were wards of well-to-do families. They had reportedly indulged in the bloody orgy to avenge the killings of Muslims dying through aerial bombings. These radicalised extremists could not see that their victims were Japanese and Italians whose countries were not even remotely connected to any war going on in the Muslim world. Religious extremism in Bangladesh has been on the rise. The government of Hasina Wajed is in denial and sees no links of such elements with deadly organisations like the Islamic State. According to reports, around 2,000 Bangladeshis had been part of the Afghan jihad of the 1980s. These people, on their return to Bangladesh, did not lose any time in setting up militant outfits like Jamiatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Jihad and Ansarul Bangla. These organisations have been claiming responsibility for violent acts in the country.

It is now time for Muslims to indulge in some deep introspection. On a reflective note, what one finds is that militant outfits have, through force and violence, snatched the mantle of interpreting the verses of the Holy Quran out of context to justify and legitimise their horrendous actions. The task of interpreting the holy text requires a very high degree of responsibility on the part of religious scholars and inquisitive thinkers, who should be seeped in both theology and modern disciplines, and should also have the capability to assume the mantle of intellectual leadership.

An Indian scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Karakunnu, is of the view that there have been instances of interpreting Quranic verses out of context in a manner that misses the larger picture. Islam sanctifies struggle against acts of aggression and subjugation. It also iterates that the killing of an innocent person is akin to the killing of the whole of humanity. Of late, a small militant minority has arrogated the role of interpretation through silencing Muslims by threatening them with untold consequences if they do not fall in line. Inquisitive reasoning, the hallmark of Muslim societies of yore, is now foundering. Dogma has dug its heels deep within Muslim societies while voicing of reason has become a life-threatening phenomenon. Notable Muslim scholars around the world have condemned acts of terror carried out in the name of the religion. Notwithstanding their edicts, there are elements who fall prey to the designs of ideologues espousing a lethal ideology.

Other than the cognitive wedge in the Muslim world, there are many other exogenous factors responsible for its dire strait. The West is responsible for a lot of the current woes afflicting it. The Chilcot report is a sharp indictment of state terror which was foisted on Iraq by the Bush-Blair duo. The war they started not only pulverised Iraq, Syria and Libya, it also led to the birth of the IS. The thoughtless misadventure unhinged delicately poised fault lines in the Middle East for all times to come. As a result about a million people lost their lives and about eight million were rendered homeless with a record influx of displaced persons migrating to Europe.

Muslims feel deeply grieved by the terror attacks in Paris, Nice and Orlando, but would someone in the West take the lead in constituting a war crimes tribunal to try George Bush and Tony Blair? The sufferings of the uprooted people of Iraq and Syria need to be assuaged but by the look of things, sadly, this isn’t going to happen any time soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2016.

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