The Challenge
to Muslims
By Dr. Nazir Khaja
Los Angeles, CA
When people lose consciousness
of the true spirit and values of their faith, their
actions and practices no longer reflect the message
of the religion they practice. The forms become
an end in themselves as the greater vision that
is meant to uplift and transform individuals and
societies is lost. The significance of faith is
reduced to a mere preservation of, and adherence
to, the traditional outer practices that had once
complemented and reflected the message.
Religion becomes a museum for the preservation of
the outer shell that was a container for the sustaining
and life-transforming core. Focus is turned towards
concepts of individual piety and self-righteousness
disengaging people and groups from humanity. It
is lost to such followers that belief in the Oneness
of God is an acknowledgement of the oneness of humanity
and serving God is serving and doing justice to
humanity. True followers of any religion must concern
themselves with human rights which is the ultimate
purpose of faith. When human rights are trampled,
religion is betrayed.
Ideologues whose aim is to uncritically glorify
the Muslims in history at the expense of other groups
remain in control of the mosque pulpits. Through
the fog of deliberate misrepresentation these ideologues
create an illusion of the unity of the Ummah, disregarding
any appreciation of the responsibility and value
of free community. Without any legitimate central
authority to speak on behalf of the majority of
Muslims who are Sunnis and with hardly any Government
within the Muslim world having any credibility with
its own people, there is a chronic deficiency of
legitimacy allowing a "dictatorship" of
obscurantism. The spirit of free inquiry, a major
reason for Islam's past glory, has been long buried
and forgotten.
The Sharia to the Muslims is God's law, yet it is
human understanding and interpretations through
which it has acquired the present framework. It
is clear that its dynamism needs to be revived since
it is frozen in time and its relevance and applicability
to the present is being called into question daily.
Self-appointed scholars reduce Islam to a tribal
doctrine defended by zealots assigned to protect
the honor and integrity of a faith that is everywhere
under attack. Incapable of making the case of the
perceived and real injustices to Muslims by their
own and others except through violence and confrontation
they are helping to nurture extremism. The wrath
of tribal Islam towards those it considers its enemies
is mirrored in the intolerance of fundamentalist
Christians who also regard the current situation
as a religious war, each party claiming God on its
side.
Muslims' most glaring failure lies in their inability
to reconcile Islam's doctrine, with the modern world.
In failing to reconcile Islam they have opted to
allow it to regress into its past. This is where
the insecurity of Muslims stems from and that is,
since the past is undeniable and cannot be changed,
they hark to the past, because it feels secure and
not threatened. The past has become a sort of "security
blanket" for Muslims and they wrap themselves
in it, whenever they feel threatened.
The concern regarding Islam's threat to others is
necessitating not only political restructuring but,
more interestingly, ideological retooling.
Serious and legitimate questions are being raised
daily about Islam and Muslims: what do democracy
and human rights mean in an Islamic society? Can
democracy and human rights make any headway at all
in a society deeply divided between the rich and
the poor, included and excluded, educated and uneducated,
enlightened and the otherwise? To these and many
other such questions, which affect the peace and
stability of the world order, Muslims need to furnish
the answers. They must engage urgently in a radical
reinterpretation of the Qur’an and their legacy
if they wish to reverse the use of the scriptures
as an ideological legitimization and justification
for social injustices so prevalent within their
societies.
There needs to be a Qur’anic renaissance that
will reconcile Qur’anic passages with the
social responsibilities and accountability that
the Qur’an demands for the upliftment of the
oppressed and the marginalized. This is itself the
true intent of the Sharia.
It is about empowerment, choice and deliberation
at individual and collective levels rather than
control, dependence, obedience and passive reception.
Muslims must rise to the challenge and not let others
define them.
(Dr. Nazir Khaja is Chairman, Islamic Information
Service based in California. He can be contacted
at nkhajamd@earthlink.net)
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