The Muslim Predicament?

VIEW: The Muslim predicament —Munir Attaullah
Daily Times, March 14, 2007

What should we do when the dictates of that which we hold dear conflicts with the realities of the modern world?

Every effort at squeezing a quart into a pint bottle — like all other exercises in futility — is flattering testimony to the ingenuity of the human mind. Nor should we underestimate the intellectual satisfactions afforded by such endeavours. But for some of us, such convolutions only succeed in generating that wry inner smile, combined with a resigned sigh of “oh, not again!”

Why is it that we humans are so stubbornly loathe to consign to the rubbish heap some once cherished concepts now long past their ‘sell by’ date? Why do we, instead, continue to be fascinated — even dazzled — by some ideas whose lifeless form betrays itself even through that fresh cloak of refurbished finery it has been dressed in, in yet another vain effort to wrap it in the mantle of immortality? Put it down to the limitations of our evolutionary heritage.

For Nature is nothing if not supremely parsimonious. And that basic ‘principle of least action’ so beloved of physicists, manifests itself in even this that the familiar is instinctively comfortable and reassuring, while the massive flywheel of conditioned bias acts as a powerful inertial force inhibiting directional change: ‘Old is gold’, is how we put it.

You may be wondering what these introductory remarks are leading up to. Well, for some months now I have been debating with myself if yet another foray down that cul-de-sac of the mind engineered by our obsession that our religion has all the answers, will serve any useful purpose. That thought, in turn, was triggered by successively reading in these pages an interview of Abu Bakr Bashir (the head of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Indonesia) by Dr Farish Noor (see Daily Times of 19/9/06), and an excerpt from Allama Iqbal’s celebrated 6th lecture (under ‘Purple Patch’, Daily Times 1/11/06). Do please re-read both to understand my motivations in writing this column, and the one to follow next week.

For, here is a sample of Mr Bashir’s Islamic views: “Islam is fixed, stable, ordered and disciplined. Dialogue with the kafirs is useless unless Muslims are living in Islamic states rather than secular democracies. The Jews cannot be trusted, as laid down in the Quran. The Quran is not to be discussed by those who do not follow the set rules. There is no democracy in Islam. God’s law comes first. It is not up to the people to decide what is right. Rather, the will of the people has to be bent to the will of God. What we want is not democracy but Allah-cracy. The principles of Islam cannot be altered, and democracy is shirk and haram. Those who claim to be muslims and do not support the sharia one hundred percent are all kafirs.”

That requires little comment. Res ipsa locquitor. Of more interest to me were Dr Noor’s personal reflections on his encounter with Mr Bashir, summed up in the last sentence of his column: “I confessed to myself as I walked away from the madrassa: I admire the man.”

Now this conclusion was arrived at despite the acknowledgement that “....everything he said sent a chill up my spine.” So let us check the reasons for such ambivalence. Again, I quote: “Usatz Bashir has the one quality so painfully lacking among most soft spoken moderates whose political will and social commitment extends only as far as their salaries or donor money; he is honest, open and committed to what he says. What you see is what you get. One can trust Bashir. He means and does exactly what he says. There was none of the middling obscurantism of bad postmodernism at work; no grey areas, no hybrid overlaps, and no murky interpretations so beloved of post-structuralist thinkers, in his thinking.” And, to cap it all, there was of course, “.... the warm, strong grip of his handshake.”

Quite. But does it strike readers that those very same phrases could unerringly be used for Atilla, the Hun? Or, for Stalin and Hitler? But Nero would probably not qualify because of his flaccid handshake.

Yes, I know the point Dr Noor was really trying to make is how the so called ‘liberal, modern, and elite’ leadership in the Islamic world has failed its poor, wretched, and ignorant brethren, and how as a consequence it should not surprise us if the likes of Mr Bashir and the Taliban (not to mention Drs Israr and Tahir-ul-Qadri) find it easy to enthral millions by the simplistic and illusory attractions of ‘Islam is the only solution to your many woes” slogan. Fair enough. But there was another equally important point to be made. And explicitly. Dr Noor failed to do so, so I will.

For I, too, understand where Mr Bashir is coming from — just as I understand the motivations of ‘the final solution’ or ‘the great leap forward’ — but such understanding should lead not to admiration but wariness, and the recognition that such men, and such ideas, constitute a great danger even for our own well-being, let alone humanity at large.

Let me do a little bit of my own post-modern analysis (or is it post-structuralist? Never mind. It is what it is—-simply a reading between the lines) of Dr Noor’s column. That the good doctor is a highly civilised and learned man is obvious enough. I am also guessing that he is a good Muslim who is much pained by our plight (and believes American imperialism in its various guises has significantly contributed to this tragic state of affairs). I am sure he rightly despises the narrow, simplistic, and hate-filled doctrines of European right-wing ideologues like Mr Le Pen, and the world-views of American ‘neo-cons’. But for our own Mr Bashir — whose views are scarcely different — he feels admiration?

It is of course entirely possible that in Dr Noor’s case all I have done is unfairly first conveniently construct a straw man in order to have the chance to knock him down. If so, being an academic, he will no doubt be faintly amused by all what I have said, and not take it personally.

But now for the verbal thunderclap. Would you believe that I essentially agree with Abu Bakr Bashir about Islam and its tenets? How about you? Are you honest enough with yourself to admit the same? After all, he is not inventing anything. What he says is there, in black and white. Is that not the well spring of our admiration for such men? Of course that does leave us with a major and troubling problem: what should we do when the dictates of that which we hold dear conflicts with the realities of the modern world? Now you know what I will be discussing next week: Ijtehad, and all that jazz.

The writer is a businessman