The stuff, dreams are made of, in the world of Islam
dawn.com
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incorrigible optimists in Pakistan who continue to see dreams in broad daylight of Muslim dominance over the
entire world
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Most of us love to exist in a dream world where, some day, somehow, somewhere, at the hands of some Salahuddin Ayubi,Muslims will gain control over the world and prove unerringly that all isms - communism and capitalism and socialism and rationalism - are decreed by fate to give way before an ascendant Islam.
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this delusive way of looking at the world as a possible free gift to Islam, is quite widespread.
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It quoted a minister of the Afghanistan cabinet as predicting that, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the US too was destined to collapse at the hands of the sons of Islam.
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24 November 1999 Wednesday
Conquerors of the world By Hafizur Rahman
SCENES of prayer in the Kaaba, and of course of the Hajj in Makkah,
witnessed over television, are an inspiring sight. Like all Muslims, I too am
overcome by emotion on seeing them. Although a hardened rationalist and a
democrat in the modern sense of the two words, I then revel in nostalgic
remembrance of the various Muslim empires of bygone ages in various parts of
the globe.
My favourite is the resplendent Muslim rule in Spain when knowledge,
learning, chivalry, science, religious scholarship and the fine art of being
civilized flourished for many hundreds of years in the Iberian peninsula. I cried
in sheer anguish when I read Washington Irving's "The Fall of Grenada,"
although I was not an impressionable youth at that time.
Another favourite is the conquests and triumphs of some of the Turkish sultans,
as also the success of the secular Mustafa Kemal, which have left an indelible
impress on my mind and made me a great admirer of the Turks as a nation.
So much for the past. The inveterate Muslim in me also dreams of the possible
future by way of Muslim cultural (rather than religious) ascendancy in the
modern world. Possible, yes, for anything is possible, but, at the same time,
highly improbable, looking at the manner in which Muslim countries and their
leaders comport themselves.
The shining picture of a possible magnificent future for the faithful is, however,
soon blurred over by the harsh reality of truth. While I am blessed with a
rational outlook on life, this rationalism somehow spoils the fun of
day-dreaming. The equine nature of wishes makes even beggars like me ride to
glory, but as realism dawns,the horse turns out to be wooden and refuses to
march like a conqueror's steed.
In the circumstances I can only marvel at the incorrigible optimists in Pakistan
who continue to see dreams in broad daylight of Muslim dominance over the
entire world - that at some point of time in the near future the universe will fall
into the lap of Muslims without our having to lift a little finger for the purpose. I
pray for them that they may not be too deeply hurt when their eyes are opened
and the dream evaporates into thin air.
In a recent issue of a journal devoted to politics and Islam, I came across two
articles which, in a way, confirmed my fear that this delusive way of looking at
the world as a possible free gift to Islam, is quite widespread.It quoted a
minister of the Afghanistan cabinet as predicting that, after the disintegration of
the Soviet Union, the US too was destined to collapse at the hands of the sons
of Islam. The good man would have us believe that it is Islam and its followers
who have brought about the end of the communist empire.
Reading such views (and hearing them over mosque loudspeakers every
Friday) an impression is created that, in the eyes of most of us, Islam is not the
community of Muslims as such but a disembodied force of supernatural
character that strikes heathens and atheists like a bolt of lightning whenever
they tend to get out of hand, and the fruits of these heavenly visitations are then
enjoyed by the faithful.
The other article in the journal was by a well-known Urdu columnist who too
was carried away by sentiment; only he tried to keep his steed of wild
chauvinistic ambition reined in to some extent. While he firmly believed that,
like the communist system, capitalism too is bound to come crashing down
over the heads of its proponents, he refrained from crediting Islam with
bringing about its downfall.
In support of his theory he quoted Mr Akram Zaki, retired foreign secretary
and later senator, who was reported to have asserted in a public speech a
couple of years ago that the two systems were two faces of the same coin and
thus doomed to destruction. The presumption was that, after that, Islam was
bound to prevail. His own thesis was that just because communism came into
being to counter capitalism, the latter too must somehow fail after having done
away with its enemy.
This "somehow" indicated the wishful thinking part of the columnist's whole
concept. Further, this gentleman enlarged the scope of his dream to a
confederation of Muslim countries comprising Pakistan. Iran, Turkey,
Afghanistan and the Central Asian states. But then, in a burst of realism, he
himself said, "Apparently this is a madman's dream, but then madmen's dreams
do come true sometimes." Thankfully, he predicated the fruition of the dream
with the prerequisite of Muslim unity.
Therein lies the rub. Positive action of this kind only comes after unity. I think
with the exception of the Turks, as also of the CAS who are suffering from a
morbid fear of resurgent Islam in the form of fundamentalism, all other Muslims
the world over are given to long actionless reveries, somewhat on the lines of
the legendary Sheikh Chilli, or like the hero of that delightful Danny Kaye
movie. "The Secret Lives of Walter Mitty." This character, with an imagination
working overtime, transposes himself successively into a number of heroic
roles and then comes back from each world of make-believe with a rather
rueful countenance, chastened till the next dream.
Most of us love to exist in a dream world where, some day, somehow,
somewhere, at the hands of some Salahuddin Ayubi, Muslims will gain control
over the world and prove unerringly that all isms - communism and capitalism
and socialism and rationalism - are decreed by fate to give way before an
ascendant Islam.
So far we have only convinced ourselves that ours is the best system. Let me
submit humbly that we have to make the rest of the world also realize the truth
of this conviction before we can expect it to give up its antagonism towards
Islam and lay down arms at the feet of our verbal crusading zeal. |
