06-28-2004, 08:36 PM
Jihad – The Misperceptions
Abrar Akbar
The novelist Tom Clancy, while commenting on the events of September 11, once remarked, “it is simply ridiculous to talk of “Islamic” terrorists, the media’s favourite epithet. These people don’t act because of their religion; it’s because they are fools”.
He was not very far from the truth. No religion, least of all Islam, condones terrorism or endorses indiscriminate violence. Offending this might be to certain factions; I would dare to aver that the suicidal path being followed by some and favoured by many among our brethren, for highlighting Muslim resentment, is utterly counter-productive and doomed to create more problems than it would ever solve.
It would be unfair to mistrust the dedication and valour of the jihadis but the lack of peripheral vision renders them incapable of anticipating the unfavourable consequences or unintended effects of their misperceived jihad. As a result, the self-appointed “defenders of Islam” are wreaking formidably more damage to Islam than serving its cause, with their do-first-think-later attitude and insular approach.
The bottom line is that to live gracefully is far more difficult than to die gallantly. To deliver a fearsome punishment to an aggressor is one thing, but to invite an armed conflict is sheer insanity. Without comprehending the wider implications of their fanciful agenda of hoisting the Islamic flag in New Delhi, Tel Aviv and Washington, these self-styled “soldiers of Allah” have become a major source of embarrassment for Muslims in the international arena.
I have full understanding and profound appreciation for the grievances of Muslims towards the West. No doubt, only through sheer dishonesty, a complete absence of empathy, biased perception of the facts and/or absolute lack of analytical prowess, can one deny the gravity and the genuineness of some, if not all, of these complaints. Reciprocating savagery will nevertheless lead nowhere. Like dogmatic theocracy.
At the same time, it would be self-deception to blame everything on the US and the Zionist lobby. It is equally important to realise that firstly most of our predicaments are of our own makings and secondly solution to them doesn’t squarely come from the barrel of gun. Demonising the West alone – that too without a whit of understanding of their socio-political structure -- is not only tantamount to denial but also hampers serious analysis of the underlying causes of the petrifaction and thereafter initiating astute handling of the intricacies being faced by the Ummah.
It would also be pertinent to note here that with the exception of the Palestinian armed struggle, to some extent the uprising in Kashmir and Chechnya and prior to the bombing of the American embassies in Africa, the prime target of the “holy warriors” had always been fellow MUSLIMS, under the pretext of “jihad”. Even in Afghanistan, jihad or no jihad, the sordid truth is that Afghans have been for the most part fighting fellow Afghans.
As a matter of fact, the intensity of dissension amongst Islamic states runs at least as deep, if not deeper than the hatred against infidels. Apropos, was it jihad, what we did in East Pakistan? Iran – Iraq war – over 1 million deaths -- was it a fight to salvage Islam? The Taliban waging “jihad” against other Afghan factions or the other way round -- all of them Muslims -- what was that? Sunnis maiming Shiites and vice versa, Deobandis slitting throats of Brevlis -- is it what holy war all about?
Without any exaggeration, during the last 40 years, over 80 per cent of the victims of so-called jihad, the world over, have been none but Muslims. Followers of Islam have in any case butchered 10 times more Muslims themselves than the number of faithful fallen to the aggression of unbelievers. It seems, we Muslims don’t need external rivals to slaughter us; we do it ourselves -- with enthusiasm.
[These scaled-down figures are retrieved from an article published by the leading Swedish morning newspaper “Dagens yheter” some three years back.]
Peculiarly, the political manipulation of Islam has resulted in a bizarre paradox where Islam is equally (mis)used by diametrically different groups for widely divergent ends. Sometimes it is justification for the state to curb demands for reforms and fundamental human rights -- cloaking it as a drive to contain Islamists -- as in Turkey, Egypt and Algeria, and at times Muslims are being deprived of every freedom in quest to “enforce” Islam like in Iran and Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Likewise, manifold more Muslims have been persecuted, “disappeared” and/or summarily executed at the behest of our own despotic “Islamic” regimes than all casualties inflicted upon us by our “enemies” put together. The bloody track record of Middle Eastern governments in general and dreadful Iraqi, Syrian & Iranian regimes in particular, would convincingly substantiate this assertion.
To be honest, the religion has become a tool in Muslim societies to fool people, to divert their attention from the real issues. ”Jihad hysteria”, not-so-seldom fomented by the official quarters to acquire cheap legitimacy for their autocratic rule, serves as a ready-made smoke screen to cover the failure of the state in delivering even the basic most necessities of life and to deflect the resulting anger.
Then, what a tragedy, not a single member state of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) can be pointed out where citizens enjoy comprehensive social and political rights? Similarly, across the Muslim world not a fraction of the civil, social and political rights -- explicitly stipulated by Islam -- can be taken as granted. Not even one nation, out of 56 members of the OIC, comes half the way vis-à-vis well-being of their residents compared with most of the non-Muslim Western countries tending their general public, (immigrant) Muslim communities included.
A newly arrived Pakistani refugees seeking asylum in the “kaafir” EU, that’s too usually on fabricated premises, even the scores of countrymen illegally residing and earning a living over there, (justifiably) feel more secure there than back home in “the land of the pure”. Their legal/social rights being taken care of in a far better manner than that of 2nd generation Pakistani Muslims born, brought up and ever since living there in “brotherly” Muslim Gulf emirates/kingdoms, or for that matter anywhere in the Muslim world.
Social equality might be a fundamental tenet of the theoretical Islam but virtually non-existent in all Muslim countries. Nowhere in the entire Muslim world, rule of the law runs supreme and/or judiciary independent enough and free of executive interference to deliver justice in a true sense. Consequently, hardly surprising, burgeoning Muslim male population with no outlet for dissent and debate is turning to radically militant Islam, but plausibly not a fault of others.
We must find time for some soul-searching, self-reflection, honest introspection and the courage to speak out now. Without addressing the internecine problems of the Ummah, upholding the spiritual vision of Islam and safeguarding the grand religious heritage of our great faith, we are damned to fail. It is imperative to be clear about the difference between vice and virtue. Jettisoning Islam’s most salient attributes i.e., mercy, peace, equality, compassion, duty and moral perfection for secondary obligations and superficial rituals will (if not already have) shatter the very foundation of Muslim societies.
The emphasis on armed struggle alone is to interpret jihad in its narrowest sense leaving aside other superior forms of the concept. By the way, why shouldn’t we start with a jihad against tyranny, persecution and repression within our frontiers first? Ignorance, bigotry, social injustices and poverty are the agonies ought to be urgently obliterated (or at least alleviated) among us before we take on external foes.
It is preposterous that head-on collision with the West is a more urgent task for the “guardians of Islam” than the plight of the majority of faithful living under abject poverty and despair. It would be scarcely a hyperbole to assert that quite a few exploit certain (dubious) religious interpretations merely to camouflage various personal as well as collective misdeeds/shortcomings.
One really wonders, why can’t we strive to move forward, instead of craving to put the clock back? Instead of incessantly revelling in our distant glorious past, it is time to come to terms with present day realities. Sagacious grading of the priorities, a bit horizon broadening and re-alignment of the long-term objectives, not more drum-beating or emotional rhetoric, would steer us out of the mess.
In the age of the information revolution, nations are as inter-dependent as they are independent. It would be a fatal miscalculation to assume that crude violence and capricious militancy, sans an effective political strategy, could benefit Islam in any sense.
Therefore, the propensity for violence has to be replaced with the zeal to make progress in social, cultural and academic sectors. Frankly speaking, before ensuring a decent living standard for our peoples and eradicating social disparities, I am not willing to be a part of any jihad exclusively meant to destroy the US or for that reason any other nation state.
Our penchant to consider social, cultural and intellectual diversity as a threat bodes ill for our abilities to meet the space-age challenges. Undeniably, the salvation of the Muslim Ummah rests in producing Noble laureates not suicide bombers. Only by recognizing that the long-term dividends of emulating the MIT, Harvard & Oxford exponentially surpass that of the “Jihad Academies” at Khost, Muridke or Akora Khattak, we can make progress. Metaphorically, construction of the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, not the demolition of the World Trade Centre, should be the line of attack to counter Western hegemonic designs.
Imagine the results, if we could divert our energy and passion towards weeding out umpteen social evils we are suffering of, and pool our immense resources for education, health care for the poor and overall reformation of the Muslim societies. What a pity, “jihad-e-akbar” i.e. to improve oneself has taken the backseat for not-so-negligible number of the Muslims.
While the West too must heed the legitimate recriminations of the Muslim world for accomplishing viable peace, the Ummah has also got to do its part of the job to come out of this morass. Blindly accusing the so-called foreign hand for all of the debacles, all the times, is at best a naïve attempt to wangle (false) alibis and at worst an imbecility akin to doggerel, insulting the reader`s intelligence.
"Where all think alike, no one thinks very much."
- Walter Lippmann