Ummah never existed in history, says Mubarak Ali
 

[B]Ummah never existed in history, says Mubarak Ali[/B]
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Noted historian Dr Mubarak Ali said on Wednesday that Islamic Ummah had neither been a reality in the past nor did it exist today as Muslims living as majority populations in the world identified themselves with the lands they lived in through the centuries.

`We all living in the Muslim lands should search for our identity in the history of our own countries as you cannot understand history without taking it in a secular manner,` said Dr Ali while speaking as the keynote speaker at the launch of the Sindhi translation of a part of Will Durant`s famous book The Age of Faith at the Arts Council Karachi.

He said Islam had various forms in different countries where it was being practised. `Islam in the Arab peninsula, Iraq, Egypt and Iran is all altogether dif ferent as is the same religion in the Indian subcontinent.

He said in most parts of the world, Islam spread gradually and slowly unlike the notion that it was spread by the sword which was evident from the fact that a majority of the people living in the lands triumphed over by the Muslim conquerors, changed their religion centuries later.

Besides, he said there were tangible social, scientific and economic aspects, which contributed to the spread of Islam.

In India, said Dr Ali, Islam took its roots fast in the lands con-trolled by the tribal system where an entire population would convert to it following their chieftains. However, the same was resisted in the lands where the caste system was hugely influential.

He said the Arabs were on centre stage of the Islamic prowess until the end of the Abbasid caliphate after which the Turks sidelined them.

He said Ibn Taymiyyah, a Kurdish theologian, inspired generations by his rigid Islamic thought, including Ibn Abd alWahhab, whose `Wahhabism` was being followed by Saudi Arabia and several groups and individuals across the globe.

He said writing history of Islam was not a forte of Muslims as they mixed religion with history.

However, first the Christian preachers and then scholars in the west wrote Islamic history.

Several Muslim scholars who were taught history in the western universities followed suit.

Sahar Gul, director of the Benazir Bhutto chair at the University of Karachi, said Islam needed deep understanding and when its history was being written by a credible philosopher like Will Durant, it made it more insightful.

Hamsafar Gadehi, the translator, said histories of all religions were ridden with violence. He said the book was a must read for everyoneinterestedinhistory.

Dr Ayub Shaikh moderated the proceedings. Publisher Noor Ahmed Memon, Yousuf Shaheen and Irshad Memon also spoke.