Muslims & the Western World Have to Work Positively
By Dr. Mohiuddin Waseem
Karachi, Pakistan

Prophet Mohammad once told his companions that Muslims will follow the foot steps of Jews and Christians (their religious cousins) span by span and cubit by cubit, so much so that if they have entered a hole of a mastigure Muslims too will follow them there (Sahih Bukhari). One may appreciate the genius of the Prophet’s statement as well as the prophecy hidden in his saying by identifying many similarities in the religious and political history of Judeo-Christianity and Islam. Because Islam is the youngest of the three Abrahamic faiths identification of certain traits in its predecessor religions might help us better understand our modern day problems and their solutions.
You’ll agree that Islam as a religion is far closer to the Judeo-Christian traditions than to any other religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism or Confucianism. Both Judaism and Islam share a belief in divine law which regulates all aspects of human activity from the cradle to the grave.
All three religions have their own period of triumph in history; their belief that they alone are the chosen people of God and therefore the fortunate recipient and custodian of God’s final message to humanity which makes it their duty to bring this message to the rest of the world. This doctrine of election did not so much proclaim a privileged status (as the more easy-going often liked to think, a phenomenon common to all Abrahamic faiths) as a glorious destiny and an ineluctable fate but a responsibility towards fellow human beings (Holy Bible, Amos 3;2). Unfortunately corrupted “privileged” mentality and “chosen of God” ideologies are big reasons which prevent rational thought process in its adherents and thus lead to early resort to intolerance and violence.
It is true that all three religions had a tolerant and a humble beginning where the act of war was either deferred or refused as was done by early Muslims of Mekkah and the ancient Israelites of Sinai desert respectively.
Christianity too grew and developed as a religion of the downtrodden with frequent references of Christ’s preaching “render unto Caesar the things which belong to Caesar’s; and unto God the things which are God’s (Holy Bible, Mark 12; 17).
But once weak all three became triumphant in due course of history with Jews citing King David’s monarchy, Christians conversion of Emperor Constantine and Christianisation of the Roman Empire and Muslims establishment of Islamic statehood by Prophet Mohammad and the first four rightly guided Caliphs as the golden era and zenith of their respective faiths. Like all great civilizations these faith-based civilizations too suffered losses and defeats but to the adherents of their respective faiths the consolation rested in striving to achieve that golden era once again and therefore inspires both the revivalists as well as the extremists.
The most important period of Jewish history which defined the fate of Jewish people for the last two millennia started after the arrival of Alexander the Great in 330 BC and lasted up to 135 AD when Roman Emperor Hadrian banished Jews from Palestine and scattered them throughout the Roman Empire as a final solution for their constant rebellion and unrest. Being the “chosen people” of God it was difficult for Jews to comprehend that God will allow heathen Greco-Romans to enslave them and occupy their lands. As a result, many violent revolutionary groups which emerged in those perilous times included Maccabees, Zealots, Scarii and others. Among them Maccabees were the only lucky ones able to defeat the Greeks and establish their own rule till the arrival of Romans who successfully eradicated each and every one of them. The rallying cry of these groups was “no lord but God”, therefore refuting man-made Greco-Roman laws and a reason for condemning to death their own fellow Jews who cooperated with the Romans and did not follow their brand of ideology. Other than the violent groups there were also apocalyptic visionaries who called their followers in a divine war against Rome. They called the people to return to their true faith, not to arms, expecting God to fight for them through miracles especially by letting Messiah to appear. Unfortunately it was only after the fall of Jerusalem and the total destruction of Solomon’s Temple at the hands of the Romans in 70 AD, that Josephus (a priest and commander of Jewish armies) realized that those few Jews who recklessly led the nation into revolt were entirely idiosyncratic. Their mad squabbling among themselves and ruthless behavior in Jerusalem proved that they were only out there for personal gain. As for the Romans, Josephus inferred from their obvious supremacy that God was on their side and Jews were committing a sin fighting against them. In the course of his oration to those warring Jews Josephus states, “God when he had gone round the nations, bringing to each in turn the rod of empire, now rested over Italy.” It is thus that he was able to say in the same context that Fortune, that “unconditional, absolute, and predetermined divine favor,” has passed over to the Romans (The War of the Jews, Flavius Josephus, 5.367).
Clearly many parallel in Muslim history can be drawn from the above mentioned Jewish account. In the last two centuries Muslims too have lost two of their great empires, Ottoman and Mogul to European colonialists. Because they too believe in the “chosen” status many violent revolutionary groups can be cited in last the last 2-3 centuries especially armed with the concept of “Mehdi” a redeemer, who like the Jewish Messiah is expected to appear before the end of time and fight on their behalf. The most recent such group was the Taliban who in trying to fulfill the prophecy of Prophet Mohammad that “Mehdi’s army will come out of Khurrasan (Afghanistan) holding black flags (Musnad Ahmad)” colored their turbans black for obvious political reasons. Because the apocalyptic reactionary groups believe in self-righteousness they see it fit to kill anybody who does not follow their ideologies which was the case behind the murder of Egyptian President Anwar Saadat and the attempt on the life of Pakistani President Parveiz Musharraf, both professed Muslims.
Clearly like Judaism before, Islam is in a state of both religious and political crisis, especially within itself. Many of its sects, because of divergent religious ideologies, consider each other apostate and therefore condemnable to death. The situation becomes more evident with the disappearance of law and order situation as for example in Afghanistan and Iraq, where sectarian violence has killed more people than the casualties of war together. Because no Muslim leader has been able to eradicate the theological differences and unite the Muslims into one body it is in their own interest to at least provide a common enemy which could be either communism or capitalism which really does not matter much as long as this diversion serves the purpose. The situation is akin to the time of Pope Urban II (1095 A.D) who unable to prevent the split in the Catholic church on the issue of Jesus Christ’s status in trinity, into Eastern orthodox and Western Churches; gave a call for crusades to expel the infidels (Muslims) from the Holy Land as a mean and way to divert the attention of the people from an issue which the Church was unable to settle effectively.
In conclusion, to make our world a safer place to live both the Muslims as well as the Western world have to work positively keeping the larger good of humanity in mind. To this end Muslim clerics and political leaders should focus ‘inward’ and try to resolve the theological differences in the Islamic world which will reduce the need for an ‘outward’ enemy and the appeal to violent groups. As for the Western powers resolving the long awaited political conflicts in Kashmir, Chechnya and Palestine is all that is required as has been pleaded many times by President Parvez Musharraf.

 


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Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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