Democracy at Work
By Dr Ghulam M Haniff
St. Cloud, Minnesota
In an unprecedented bold move President Obama took up the topic of the foundation of the constitution in his State of the Union message and capitalized on “American exceptionalism” bringing the audience to their feet eighty-three times in the course of an hour. It was a remarkable presentation. The listeners in the Congressional Hall were as enthralled as the words that poured forth from Obama’s lips mesmerizing a huge national audience. Judging by the approval expressed, instantaneously and belatedly in the mass media, the listeners were pleased.
American exceptionalism is the idea that America is an exceptional nation for having a written constitution in a single volume and it embodies values such as the idea that men and women are created equal. Its most basic achievement is having a put down in writing adopted before any other nation and today that constitution is the oldest one among the nations of the world. More remarkably, that constitution was adopted by an open debate consisting of those who had signed the Declaration of Independence.
The constitution also embodies the notion that “dignity of government is not enhanced by scaring the people, but by making them feel safe and respected, preventing injustice and ensuring that the weak have their right.” These words were uttered by Omar ibn Al-Khattab, the second Caliph of Islam, in an advice to one of his governors. Even though these words were said by a Caliph it is unlikely to be found in the governance manual of any Muslim country, either today or in the history of Islam. Muslims are notorious for ignoring ideas which are not in their cultural framework.
Since the American Revolution the concept that all humans are created equal regardless of race, creed or caste has really caught. Even though the concept of equality is an Islamic one it has become a popular idea only in the twentieth century.
Muslims are to be faulted for not having written about rights, and most of all, for not having done research on the idea of rights. Of course, they had considerable material and could have greatly expanded on the topic.
The State of the Union message favored the security of the individual as has been done throughout the history of constitutional amendments. Among these Obama named employment for the individuals, the struggles of the immigrants seeking citizenships, a rise in the minimum hourly wage and the security for the women.
It is amazing that the Republicans keep on telling the nation about their reverence for life but they are also willing to cut benefits for the children and women through sequestration. As usual the Democrats are rising in the defense of the women given that many of the reforms in the constitution are the work of the liberal agenda.
It is ironic that something akin to the constitutional amendments can never be seen in a country like Pakistan. The general history of the Pakistani nation has been to keep the women confined to the kitchen, bare-feet and pregnant. Most Pakistanis are neither embarrassed nor ashamed of their treatment of females and see it as natural for the females to occupy an inferior position. They claim that destiny has intended for the females to be at a lower level.
Recently when shots rang out in the direction of Malala Yusufzai not too many leaders turned out in support of the victim. Instead, they waited on the sidelines hoping for the entire incident to blow over as it always does when females are involved. Malala, however, survived the bullet in her head and subsequently made full recovery in a British hospital.
The Taliban who pulled the trigger, vowed revenge and expects to mount the global stage for the dastardly act at some future point in time. It is strange to see this medieval drama being played out in the twenty-first century.
Many individuals are still not in the twenty-first century not only in Pakistan but in almost all of the Muslim countries. Even among the Muslim expatriates it is not unusual to find those whose irrationality is in full control of their intellects.
Caliph Omar declared in his advice to the governor that “the state is their means of protection rather than what they need to be protected from.” In Pakistan and other Muslim countries it is hard to determine where the state ends and anarchy begins.
