Muslim Ummah and Contemporary Issues
Introduction:
Muslim Ummah
50 Muslim majority Nations
Turbulent phase of Muslim History

Dawn of 21st century witnessed the US occupation of the Muslim World

Sovereignty of Muslim Ummah threatened

War on Terrorism

Clash of Civilizations

Growing Islamophobia

Future of Islamic world in doldrums

Arab spring—An emerging challenge



Main Body:
Challenging faced by Muslim Ummah

Islamophobia of the West

Rise of extremism

Absence of Pluralistic Society

Lack of vision and unity

Appalling condition of human development

Internecine rivalries between Muslims: Iran-Saudi, Hamas- Alfateh feuds etc.

Inter-sect conflicts

Dependence on the west

Challenges of globalization

Static knowledge

Problems of economic integration

Growing sectarian cleavages

Arab Spring



How Muslim Ummah can regain its lost glory?
Bring the real essence of Islam to the fore
Remove distorted concept of Jihad
Disseminate the Islamic message of peace and brotherhood
Build societies on the pillars of a pluralistic philosophy
Ensure Muslim solidarity
Remove the disputes through amicable arbitration
Develop collective Security Mechanism

Revamp the OIC

Endorses the cosmopolitan view of the world
Remove the Sectarian hatred and animosity
The differences between the various sects are minute in nature
Ensure that differences are not exploited by the fringe elements
Work for the inter-sect harmony
Ensure democracy in Muslim societies
Islam and democracy are compatible
Islam endorses liberalism and democratic participation
Emulate the Turkish and Indonesian examples
Promote education among Muslim societies
Comparison of Muslim and Christian societies
-Excerpt from the speech of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
education as Investment
Invest in research and development
Ensure the robust economic growth
Implement the Islamic economic system
Is Islamic economic system a solution to present financial crisis?
Islamic economic system: a panacea
Improve the Human Development Index
Contain population explosion
Improved Infrastructure
Adhering Concept of Philanthropy
Contain the military spending
Ulema must act as change agent

Excerpt from adage of Syed Sulaiman Nadvi

Excerpt from the speech of Mahathir Mohammad

Conclusion:
Do not let the posterity suffer from our bequest of myopia, rather evolving the concept of cosmopolitan approach
Build symbiotic relationship with the whole humanity
Muslim world needs to emulate Turkey and Indonesia’s example
Muslim Ummah and Contemporary Issues



For more than a thousand years, Muslim remained the flag bearers of humanism, and the Moorish kingdom was the eminent seat of learning in the medieval period but the dawn of 15th century and the subsequent centuries experienced the crucial phase. Muslim Ummah is now passing through the most turbulent phase of her history. The dawn of the 21st century witnessed the fall of the major Muslim countries like Iraq and Afghanistan and the looming specter of the occupation of Iran has worsened the crisis. The so-called ‘Growing Islamophobia’ of the west and its false accusations against Islam and Muslims has caused disillusionment and discontentment in the Muslim minds.
Arab spring or Arab winter as it is known has emerged as a challenge for the Muslim countries. Hitherto, most of Muslim countries were reeling under the despotic tendencies of their illegitimate ruling elite. The self immolation incident of ‘Sid Bouizazi’, where a young educated but unemployed man set himself on fire all because of the corrupt practices of the Tunisian Government and the lack of opportunities for the young and the educated one. This activity burst forth a spring of protests against the government and the revolt swept to other countries, most importantly, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, and Libya. Arab spring has shown a new way forward and injected a new blood into the body of subservient population that has been reeling under the despotic rule for years now. Though some dictators were ousted and others are weakened, yet the true democratic spirit has yet to pervade into the Arab world. Threats from inside and outside along with the looming specter of hijacking the revolution, still remains at large.
Muslim Ummah is haunted by a series of crisis. The gravest challenge that Muslim Ummah has recently faced is that they are pigeonholed as extremists and Islam as a religion is branded as violent. Ironically, the nation which was supposed to be the torch bearer of peace, love and brotherhood is considered as the epicenter of terrorism. Extremism has no space in Islam. Only a few grossly ignorant people, who are involved in the inhuman and barbaric activities, are tarnishing the image of Islam. Islam has nothing to do with the suicide bombings and the distorted concept of Jihad, rather it presents the real essence of Jihad which is fighting with oneself, thereby controlling the whimsical desires of an individual. Our religion teaches us tolerance, and even demands to treat non-Muslims with respect and honor. How can this religion be so violent? There is gross misinterpretation of the religious texts. The Islamic governments must facilitate the contextual interpretation of the religious texts so that the divine injunctions at the heart of the Quranic verses could be understood. Ulema and other religious leaders must categorically denounce the suicide bombings and extremism. Muslim countries need to build the edifice of their respective societies on the pillars of a pluralistic philosophy. Full religious freedom needs to be granted to all communities and religion must not be used for political purpose. Muslim should follow the course of dialogue with west instead of confrontation. Muslims need to clear the misconception of western world. What can be obtained through peace, justice and goodwill and dialogue cannot be achieved through aggression. As Milton once remarked:
“Peace hath its victories not less renowned than war.”

Politically, Muslims have divided themselves into different cantons and the internecine rivalry among themselves has retarded them to act as an en bloc. Approximately 50 countries are Muslim-majority nations, and their farce solidarity is fairly depicted at the OIC, and resultantly OIC has become a toothless tiger. The Iran-Saudi, Hamas- Alfateh rivalries are open secrets. Though they are so-called Islamic countries but their political and diplomatic standings suggest something else. Muslims needs to understand that Islam not only encourages interdependence among Muslim nations but also endorses the cosmopolitan view of the world. In the contemporary world, where there are economic, regional and political blocks, Muslim must consolidate their own block-which is probably the oldest union of nations- based upon the binding force of Islam. They must resolve the conflicts through amicable arbitration and trivial disputes must not be allowed to develop faults and fissures among the Muslim solidarity. Moreover, the Muslim economies are not interrelated. Their interdependence i.e. strengthening of the trade can water down their mutual conflicts and can bring them closer to each other.
Another unfortunate element is the incessant dependence of Muslim World on the western Nations. Rulers of the Islamic world have their vested interests to safe guard and to remain in power, they always deprive the gullible masses of their basic rights. They have kept the sovereignty of their states at stake in order to please their western forces. Such dependence has led the Muslim world to eat the humble pie despite having the 70 percent of world resources.
The differences between the various sects and followers of various schools of thoughts have been accentuated to such a degree that one faction is not ready to tolerate even the existence of the other faction and armed sectarian conflicts are common, especially in Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan and in various African Nations. Maulana Ishaq, a renowned scholar remarked:
“Different Islamic schools of thought are formed due to the difference in the opinion, thinking and the time frame of human thinking, yet the differences are not in any way pernicious if read with an open mind and Ijtihad and common contemplation can work toward understanding the differences and working toward a common goal.”
Muslims must work for the inter-communal harmony and must not let the few intolerant, myopic and grossly ill-educated people to hijack the whole institution of Muslim World. Muslims not only need to work of cordial relationship within their own ranks but also need to affable to the international community and strive for the betterment of humanity.
In the domestic purview, the so-called Muslim governments always used Islam as a crutch to satiate their own agenda. Of the 50-plus countries where Muslims are in the majority, only two, Indonesia and Mali, enjoy political liberty as defined by Freedom House, a New York-based monitor of human rights and democracy. The Democracy Index, run by the Economist Intelligence Unit, adds Malaysia to that shortlist, rating the three countries as “flawed democracies”; other Muslim lands are put in a lower category.
There was a time when Islamic Civilization was considered to be the most advanced, tolerant and progressive Civilization in the world. This was mainly because of their accomplishments in practically all the disciplines of knowledge. After 16th century AD, the situation changed drastically. Learning and inquiry was no more the hallmark of the Muslims and resultantly they occupy the lowest position in the ladder of the world. Dr Kenneth David, an eminent scholar, presented the educational and economic status of religious societies of the world in his book titled as “The Cultural Environment of International Business” and compared the various living conditions of all the religious societies. He concludes that Christian society is the most advanced society of the world with regard to education, health and economic wealth whereas Muslim society is the most backward on these counts. The Human Development Index of the UNDP, also show such disparities in the status of Muslim and Christian societies.
According to UNDP reports, Islamic countries have an average of 60 percent literacy rate and in the Western nations of Christians it is between 95 to 100% Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, once said : “You have spent several nights of indifference and complacency. For God’s sake, get up now and see how much the sun has risen and how far your co-travelers (non-Muslims) have gone ahead of you………….after 16th Century, the situation of knowledge (Scientific) in Muslim and Christian societies changed completely. Now Christians started following Muslims way of progressive thinking and enquiry whereas Muslims copied Christian’s way of life of Middle Ages that was full of superstition, bigotry and retrograde thoughts”.
Muslim nations must lay emphasis on education, and they should consider education as an investment, but the priorities of Muslim world are different. Even the economically rich countries of the Arabian Peninsula do not spent much on education, the amount allocated for education and research is amusingly 0.1 per cent of their total income. The world highest and would be highest building is in the Muslim world. Muslim needs education not the sky scrapers. During 1949 the world Jewry planned to build a gigantic place of worship in Jerusalem and to accomplish this lofty task they collected $1billion from all over the world. When this huge amount was finally handed over to the chief rabbi to start doing the needful, he contended that the spread of education was more exalted a cause than building a synagogue. The result of their investment is before us. The world’s tallest buildings would not bring any change in the lives of people. It is the investment in education and research which can provide a better opportunity to the young generation.
The total GDP of all the members of the OIC is only $7.74 trillion; while United States alone has GDP of $15.04 trillion. Only a few oil producing countries have reasonable per capita incomes but they constitute hardly ten per cent of the entire Muslim population. One must bear in mind that total GDP of all the Arab oil producing counties (12 in numbers) is less than the GDP of Japan alone. Ironically Muslim Spain during Middle Ages had higher revenue (because of the industrial products like Textile, Paper, mineral etc) than the whole of the Christian Europe (eleventh Century AD). Muslim countries do not follow the Islamic economic system.
The global financial crisis is rearing its ugly head. Around the world stock markets have fallen, large financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations are unable to pay their debts and the very existence of European Union is in danger! Individuals are striving even harder but are unable to make the both ends meet. Capitalism, the economic order in vogue, has failed to safeguard the economic interests of the people. Marxists advocated a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism that led to socialism, before eventually transforming into communism. But communism lacks the required steam to fuel the economies, and tend to bring inefficiency.
Response all over the world to present financial crisis has been imbecile, for instance the bailed-out plans are tantamount to just patching the road where signs of crumbles emerge. A long term solution is required, a neo-capitalism- a restrained form of capitalism, which provide avenues to individual progress as well as ensure the well being of the marginalized masses-, can address much of the woes of modern civilization. Islam has provided an ideal economic system, which encourages individuals progression and at the same time underscore the welfare of the people. Islamic economic system is neither socialist nor capitalist, but is a "third way" with none of the drawbacks of the other two systems. This is the ripe time for convincing the advanced economies that only Islamic economic system can be a panacea. But for this happen, Muslim economies need to portray themselves as the paragon of true Islamic economies and depict the viability of their economic system.
Human Development Index (HDI) prepared by UNDP gives a very dismal picture of Muslim nations. In the first 25 best countries listed under HDI, no Muslim country figured in the list. Barring few small oil producing Muslim nations, majority of the Islamic world lies in the middle and low categories of human development, a clear indication that the Islamic nations needs to increase their focus on human development. High population growth is another major factor for Muslim backwardness because this rapid population rise neutralizes whatever economic development takes place in Muslim Societies. Asghar Ali Engineer, a well known Islamic scholar in the article ‘Islam and Family Planning’ have argued that Islam allows family planning and it is injustice to allow family grow large enough in the name of religion to such an extent that the family head is unable to provide quality education, health and other necessities of life. Through family planning and social nets like Zakat, Muslim societies need to work for the betterment of the respective communities.
After the Second World War, almost all the countries of the world have been busy in increasing their military capabilities. Muslim nations, in spite of the poverty are also involved in this insane marathon for military might. They have large trained armies, which are estimated to be 100million, about one third of the total world armed forces. Muslim nations spend mind boggling sums on procuring sophisticated and deadly arms and ammunitions from the West. On the other hand, western nations spend about 10% of their wealth on their arms procurement, which is carried out within the Christian world. Instead of devouring resources in the name of national security, the leaders of the Muslim world need to drive their strength from Muslim solidarity and invest the funds in the provision of basic necessities to their respective communities. Rich and affluent Muslim countries which are technically advanced should arrange for the transfer of their technological advancement to the other Muslim countries. Similarly, the interchange of human capital and resources is also needed.
Collective security mechanism is another major issue to be addressed timely. Muslim countries are suffering from an unending spate of terrorists’ activities which can only be stopped by following collective and comprehensive security measures. Yet it is also to be guaranteed that these measures do not become a tool in the hands of dictators of Muslim world to curb indigenous uprising. As John Lindsay remarks:
“Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order”
According to Kenneth, practically every society of the world put hindrances in the name of religion, in the way of scientific development during 19th and 20th Century. Buddhists Priests opposed fast changing social order. Conflicts between Catholics and Protestants were the causes for slowing development in Europe. Caste differences among Hindus were reflected in the slow growth of their society. Sectarian hatred and too much interference of religious leaders put difficulties in proper development of Muslims nations. In this regards David Kenneth says ‘the way of life in Muslim countries cannot be altered unless the Ulema are favorable to proposed changes.” Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, remarked, “Ulema ignorant of modern knowledge cannot serve the Ummah”. Mahathir Mohammad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia also declared during the Islamic Conference in Kuala Lumpur that, “ it is necessary for Muslims to give up their illogical beliefs and regressing thoughts and be prepared to face the challenges of the fast changing social order.” There is a dire need that ulema should be well conversant with western education in order to face the challenges of the contemporary world. Also, there is also a need of comparative study of different scriptures of all the major religions as the underlying doctrine of major religion is same.
Moreover, we should not make posterity suffer from our bequest of myopia and illogical narrow mindedness. A symbiotic relationship with the whole humanity will not only undo the colossal tarnishing rather it will also usher in an era where people will experience the essence of golden age. Turkey and Indonesia have done their part, now it is the job of rest of the Muslim Nations to emulate their cherished traditions.