My dear Muhammad Ali, This is the third and last part of the essay entitled “The Future of the Muslims” that your grandfather, Altaf Gauhar, wrote 36 years ago when he was in prison for his editorials. “The consciousness of the existence of life after death and the reality of the Day of Judgment, when everyone will be called upon to render a complete account of his life, fundamentally influenced man's conduct and created a new cultural environment in which individual and social behavior acquired a new context and purpose. The fact that some of the Muslim rulers failed to act according to the revealed code is no reflection on the code. I am not unconscious of the argument, which is often advanced, that if the Islamic code was not put to actual practice, except for a very brief period, does it not show that there is something defective or lacking in the code itself? This is essentially a secular way of judging human effort in terms of material results. The Islamic code must be judged on its own merits and not on the basis of the conduct of those who claim to subscribe to that code. No one has identified any defect in the code or in the scheme of values that the code prescribes. The defects have all been traced to human failings. The code recognizes the weaknesses and the temptations that afflict man and it also provides that those who do not live by the code will not be spared from the consequences of their behavior merely because they profess to be Muslims. The Qur'an grants no particular privilege to believers whose claims are not supported by their performance. Divorced from conduct, profession has little value. The Qur'an points out instances of nations and civilizations that came to grief because they did not act in the right way. “Many similar ways (and mishaps of life) were faced by nations (believers and disbelievers) that have passed away before you, so travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who disbelieved.” (Qur'an, 3:137) “Have they not seen how many a generation before them We have destroyed whom We had established on the earth such as We have not established you?” (Qur'an, 6:6) Those who adopt unjust ways come to an unhappy end. The decline begins when a people adopt oppressive ways, and if they persist in their unjust conduct their eventual extinction becomes inevitable. When Western political thinkers and historians comment on the stagnation of Muslim culture and the (absence) of the Muslim mind they fail to take into account the fact that the present situation of the Muslims is the inevitable result of prolonged colonial exploitation. Muslims must be held responsible for their downfall, but the imperial powers set about the task of de-culturizing them in a scientific manner to ensure that they should not be able to recover and reorganize themselves into a unified form. A liberal elite was created who treated their own faith and history with indifference, gradually developing into unconcealed contempt. A sense of inferiority was injected into the masses that were looked down upon for their primitive ways. A native was an outcast whose proper place was the jungle. The Westernized few among them, with their talk of progress and the requirements of science, stood out as a symbol of success for the rest to emulate. In the course of time Muslims were alienated from their moral values and norms of conduct. The colonial masters did not destroy the Muslim culture. They reduced it to a source of embarrassment and shame. Frantz Fanon uses the word ‘mummified' to describe such a cultural condition. In his essay, ‘Racism and Culture', he explains that, ‘the setting-up of the colonial system does not of itself bring about the death of the native culture. Historic observation reveals, on the contrary, that the aim sought is rather a continued agony than a total disappearance of the pre-existing culture. This culture, once living and open to the future, becomes closed, fixed in the colonial status, caught in the yoke of oppression. Both present and mummified it testifies against its members.' Once the Muslims were subjugated, the conquerors closed the door to the future of their culture. A selected few were admitted to the educational institutions of the West and turned into the elite to exercise authority over their people on behalf of their masters. This class consisted of Westernized politicians, bureaucrats, teachers, lawyers, judges, journalists and merchants, and their views became the representative expression of ‘the hopes and aspirations of the people.' The Orientalists found in these views a complete endorsement of their own theories, but they conveniently forgot that they were really quoting themselves, because the liberals among the Muslims did not say anything original. They dutifully reproduced whatever they were taught. “The point about the failure of the Muslims to evolve suitable institutions to ensure the continuity of their culture requires detailed examination which is not possible here. The secularists talk of institutions as if they represent the final solution to all human problems. Institutions are manmade arrangements. It is the willingness of a people to submit to an arrangement that gives it the status of an institution. Tribes are as much an institution as a parliament. Islam introduced a new idea, which radically altered the complexion of all existing institutions, when it insisted that no arrangement should be recognized unless it was based on equality, justice and accountability on the Day of Judgment. “Islam gave to the world the institutions of equality, freedom and the indivisibility of the human race. These institutions are now recognized as fundamental human rights. Muslims established the institution of selection of the leader through consensus. In one magnificent stride the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) left behind all the inequitable and oppressive customs inherent in hereditary succession, monarchy and racial distinction. As a faith, Islam introduced the concept of tolerance and moderation. The equality of rights and obligations of every individual was given institutional recognition in all spheres of life. The administration of laws, without discrimination on grounds of race, colour and language, was not known as an institution before the advent of Islam. These are the institutions that, even today, inspire Muslims throughout the world and bind them in a vision of unity. They command the voluntary allegiance of every Muslim to whichever nation he may belong. But institutions survive and glow in the light of freedom. They are obfuscated by clouds of domination. The secular institutions under which Muslims are forced to live today are a gross imposition, a legacy of imperial exploitation. These institutions were introduced as instruments of oppression and were devoid of equity in their operation. They do not inspire any respect or confidence. Muslims created the finest institutions in human history and failed to live by them. The secular institutions have exhausted their possibilities. Man is looking for faith again. History has offered Muslims yet another opportunity to prove the effectiveness of their institutions. They can do so through pursuit of knowledge and creative activities in the light of the Islamic principles of freedom, equality, tolerance and personal responsibility. I return to the point that I made in the beginning: the need for each one of us to study the Qur'an independently and conscientiously. This is the only way to avoid imitative conformism and to contribute to the creative resurgence of the Muslim community.” So there you have it, my dear Muhammad Ali. Others, like the late great Charles Le Gai Eaton have said much the same thing. In later letters, I will tell you about him also. But let me leave you with this, from Islam and the Destiny of Man. “There has been one constant factor in human history over the past 13 centuries. This is the confrontation between Islam and what was once Christendom and is now the secular Western World.” He talks about how Islam could be ignored by Christendom/the Secular West during European colonization and the Cold War. “It has now resurfaced, as it was bound to do sooner or later since Islam claims a universal mission as does Western civilization.” Eaton too talks of the decline of Muslims. “The Muslim Ummah is, today, weak, confused and divided. It will not always be so…” The author can be reached at [email protected] __
