‘Religion has always sought politics to keep its societal hegemony’

ISLAMABAD:

There is a strong relationship between religion and politics, where the former dominates the latter, said historian Prof Dr Aslam Syed at a lecture here on Wednesday.

He added that religion inevitably becomes instrumental in the power game, a space it does not deserve. He was speaking at the South Asia Free Media Association’s secretariat.

“We have given religion to those who fail to practice what they preach and teach, and they have been given an unjustifiable space in our lives,” he maintained. However he stressed the importance of the people, saying that their role can “make good nations, as sickness and emotions have a short life and things must be determined rationally.”

Dr Aslam said that history has proven that the greater the number of followers of a religion, the greater the danger to politics, as everyone is forced to follow the ideology of the majority without being fully convinced of it. “The doctrine of necessity is not a new phenomenon in politics and Islam has implemented it more than any other religion,” he said.

He cited the Iranian revolution — where Khomeini led a combined force of students, leftists and various other groups against the Shah regime — as an example for the patronage of religious forces to certain groups for gaining power, which simultaneously has nothing to do with religious ideology.

“Our nation is a shocked nation. We are shocked by religious clerics, by politicians and by the military,” he said, adding that when such a situation arises, a nation loses its rationality and the next step is apathy. This fuels a situation that allows non-political actors to arrive in the political arena.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 29^th, 2012.