The Muslim Delusion

hira iftikhar rana · #1 Saturday, August 12, 2006

In the 21st century, when the world is moving fast and some nations have already reached the stars, Muslims remain far from the horizons. Decadence, illiteracy and orthodoxy are the pronounced facets of the current Muslim culture. Deluded by their fantasies they are entrenched in illusions, vanities and misconceptions. Illiteracy, sectarian strife, and misconceived perceptions have further added to their despair.
The delusion that besets the Muslim mind represents a deep psychological betrayal that leaves severe scars on the body politic of the Muslim Ummah. It is a period of anguish, despair and delusion, which many Muslims fail to recognize. They brush aside the realities by declaring that they are the darlings of God and everything will be resolved in their favour.
The issues are varied and the situations are challenging. Muslims are entrapped in the cobweb of their fantasies and imaginations. It is from this premise that we have to take a start and pursue our quest for truth and insight. We have to see where we are wrong and how we are being undermined by a growing wave of fanaticism and distorted perceptions.
The Muslim delusion based on past achievements is not likely to play any significant role in the transformation of our destiny but consciousness of present experiences and the quantum of concrete contributions will be the driving forces to impact our destiny, politics, economy and civilization.
The current realities will not allow us to outstrip our religious imagination and fantasies. We will be needing more knowledge, more insight and more vitality to capture the segments we have lost. Unnecessary links between religion and violence will have to be smashed to reinstate balance and affinity in our attitudes. Humanity and creativity will have to be the focal points of our ingenuity.
Muslims might raise loud slogans, but the world will not believe them unless they come forward with more realistic and pragmatic ideas to change their environments. A vacuum of purpose and meaning would not he helpful in fostering the plans we may need for our well-being. Without change, we cannot reach our destination.
We have to make a serious attempt to give a coherent explanation which, of course, is backed by convictions and implications. These have to be involved in the formulation of appropriate policies which motivate the interplay between traditions and practical realities.
Our extreme orthodox sections need to be coaxed into a more knowledgeable and intelligent conversation on religion and modernism, science and dogmatism. They have to be brought into a debate which should establish how humility and balance are restored to the corridors that refuse to be familiar with other’s point of view. Jihad and ljtihad have to be examined in context of new situations and realities.
Religion and violence ought not to be mixed in modern age, which merits new strategies and new technologies. Riding camels, living in caves and deploying Stone Age weapons cannot help us defeat the enemies. Muslims may be good warriors of Allah, but employing wrong policies in varying situations may not merit divine blessings, they could lead to fatal consequences.
Links between religion and violence too are not desirable facets of any progressive ideology and may not be an endearing aspect of our culture and civilization. As civilized human beings we have to resolve our differences with intellectual and diplomatic means even though the results may be frustrating in the short term.
In responding to the changing political and technological realities Muslims will be well advised to upgrade their infrastructure and accelerate the development of their modern outlook. This does not mean the breaking with traditional modes emanating from the Quranic injunctions and the Prophet’s traditions, but a growing realization of intellectual and secular notions.
The call for rationality and intellectual ingenuity may not be agreeable with the modes of thought of some sections of society. However, an attempt has been made in this book to show that the door is open and efforts have to be made to discern it.
In the words of Wittgenstein, we may be caught in a philosophical despair, or find ourselves like a man in a room who does not know how to get out. He tries the window, but it is too big. He tries the chimney, but it is too narrow. And if he would only turn around, he would see that the door has been open all the time. This is the door of knowledge, wisdom and insight.
Writing a hook on this subject dealing with so many varying situations in so many dark recesses is an exceedingly challenging task. The task becomes all the more menacing when conversing and colliding with other disciplines and world views. At the same time we have to be concerned with the unity of faith and reality of experiences.
The situation demands that the mindset is refreshed and activated to assign it the role of the decision-maker, the leader and the propagator.
Caught in the contradictions of orthodoxy and modernity we need to evolve a strategy for the explanation and exploitation of our resources. The destination has not to be painful stage of stagnation, but a perpetual process of thoughtful exertion for exalted goals in life, both from secular and sacred perspectives.
The ensemble of doctrines, traditions, values and norms that built the past civilization may contain the seeds for the realization of ideals that we aspire. The great civilization that Islam cultivated could be revived to reveal the real facets of a humane life. Humanizing the civilizations will be the next stage, which will need in larger measure the growing components of insight and innovations. To reach this, we will have to be far from fantasies and vanities.
This will also help us serve the great Islamic traditions and survive the dazzling brilliance of modern culture and civilization. We don’t have to be afraid of western cultural hegemony that is oriented to perpetuate the modern imperialist impact on Muslim culture. Muslims to thwart such onslaughts must be equipped with sustained vitality and inbuilt values so that no foreign culture should be able to tarnish the essential contours.
The Islamic faith in this respect has been explained in broader perspective transcending the orthodox and obscure views and dogmas. The essential views have been preserved without allowing them to be subjected to sectarian and distorted ideological interpretations
Human progress, whether sacred or secular, is the main measure of human accomplishments. Our writings will prove that there is a constant need of ever-growing vitality in religious doctrines and socio-cultural and scientific innovations. Religious traditions have been a source of guidance and they have often inspired me. But Muslims will have to come out of their preconceived perceptions to shatter the darkness that obscures their power of discernment. This is where we falter and this is the cross-road where we have to choose the correct course.
The root of all troubles, in our view, lies in illiteracy, orthodoxy and obscurantism. The -self-serving fantasy is a serious obstruction on the way to mutual understanding and viable resolution of our difficulties. This is an age of cynics who, through fanaticism and intolerance, refuse to comprehend and compromise. This impedes the process of resolution between the two extremes. The loss of consciousness makes man incapable of penetrating into the recesses of darkness and bringing the resources of faith and reason to task.
This is the major challenge that confronts any daunting undertaking and especially the writing of a purpose-oriented book. The importance of the task has encouraged me to traverse this journey and reach the destination that remains a collective aspiration of the Muslims as a whole. This is the task, if realized graciously, might lead to improving and recycling the ideas that are replete with hopes and aspirations. This is the first step that paves way for a thousand-mile journey.

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