Dilemma of Islamic world: Perspective of democratic countries

“The foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is excluded as sinful. What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned.”

~Friedrich Nietzsche (Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality)

 As far as I understand we have only ONE World. However, nowadays, it has become very common to suffix the world after Abrahamic Religion – such as Islamic World, Christian World etc. To some extent funny while considering literally, at the same time horribly dangerous a trend we are heading towards. The entire Arab nations jumped into the chorus, as a part of the so-called ‘Islamic World’, against India over a provocative statement from the BJP spokesperson (presently suspended) in a Live TV debate. A perfect example of how to make a mountain out of a mole. Thousands of such abusive statements against every religion are posted or uploaded in social media or e-media platforms worldwide every day. However, this one got an exceptional response from ‘Islamic World’. Even though the entire population of Uighur Muslims were wiped out from China’s Xinjiang province, Chinese goods were never taken out from Qatar's supermarket.

Throughout the history of mankind, religions have influenced civilisations more profoundly than any other single factor. Religion has been both a dominant cause and effect of rise and fall of civilisations, influencing the conduct of war and peace, social intercourse, political and economic life, cultural motif and individual and group ethics. Like all other religions, Islam too promotes all the nobilities of human society – compassion, love, justice etc. However, there are several issues/values which raises the dilemma – specifically the values that were needed in 6th century in order to bring order in Arab society. Right from the very beginning Muslim society were very reluctant to reform. Efforts in this direction were equated with apostasy, punishable with death. Majority of Islamic World is not flexible with the ideas such as Rights to Equality, Democratic System, Gender Equality and last not the least -Freedom of Expression.

Rights to equality have been won by human society after a centuries of long struggle during which the concept of democracy kept on continuously evolving. Magna Carta, Reformation, Renaissance and Elected Governments were milestones in this journey. However, the true spirit of democracy is far from democracies that are practiced today. Still, the situation is far better than the Islamic World that does not permit freedom of independent thought or conscience at all. Anyone who dares to exercise such liberty, like Salman Rushdie, and Taslima Nasrin are immediately targeted.

The Islamic World turns down gender equality also. In the earlier era women’s status was equated to property. Even today they are discriminated against in matters relating to inheritance, marriage, education, dress etc. In the Islamic World’s social, cultural and political front, women, as a class, still remain far removed from liberation and equality.

The Islamic world imposes strict censorship on free expression of ideas. In this matter no meeting point exists between modern and Islamic thought. Democracies allow their citizens full liberties of expression and thought except in fields relating to public safety and morality. Responsible media in such countries exercise self-censorship so as not to offend Muslim sensitivities but Muslim intolerance does not keep itself bridled even when the law of the land is taking its due course on such issues. This was most recently seen in reactions by Muslim people all over the world. Similar outrage from Islamic World happened over the depiction of the Prophet in cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2005. The Danish action was an exercise to test the principle of freedom of speech against Muslim intolerance. The point it sought to make was that immigrants must live by the cultural values of the land to which they immigrate. The nature of reactions showed that this was unacceptable to Muslims.

 There is plenty in each religion which can be quoted against cruelty, killing of or inflicting injury on the innocents, causing wanton destruction etc. The problem arises when drawing from the same or equally authentic and impeccable sources, the opposite can also be justified. Contestants take subjective positions, deliberately or otherwise, which are in consonance with their self-interests, predispositions or psychological fixations and then find religious justifications to rationalize their actions. This begs an objective examination of how much space different religions provide, if any, in support of violence which is inhumanly cruel, can be directed against the innocents, and target people for having a faith and belief system in variance of their own.

Clash of civilisations, a prediction of Samuel Huntington, seems to be looming into a reality. The chasm between Islamic world and the democratic countries is widening. European nations are now seriously considering how to protect their native culture, block fresh immigration and reduce the scope of rights to the immigrants. There is little evidence to suggest that the Muslims of Islamic countries of the sub-continent think differently from the Islamic World, depending on the regions where they live. The near total elimination of Hindus in Pakistan and the ongoing similar process in Bangladesh disclose a similar Arab mindset.

 Worldwide Democratic Governments need to promote reformist, modern and courageous Muslims and Islamic scholars, who must be encouraged to speak out, through radio, TV, seminars and debates, inviting the silent majority in a movement of reforms. The role of the Democratic Governments must remain that of enablers and facilitators without treading into the sensitive area of the religious domain. That could be highly counter-productive and invite genuine concerns of interference in personal religious beliefs and practices of individual citizens. A mass movement and campaign, initiated from within the Muslim community of democratic countries alone can avert the calamity towards which the world seems to be headed. In this context it is worth mentioning that some Danes feel that the intense debate within Danes Muslim Community on cartoon controversy has progressed the Islamic society in Denmark forward at least by 300 years.

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer)

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