MUSLIMS…PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Dr. Khalid Sohail

Some people believe that there are as many Islams as there are Muslims in the world. There are hardly any two Muslims who have the same understanding of Mohammad’s life and teachings and the same interpretation of Quran and Islam. It is fascinating to observe that all followers of different sects, religious leaders and imams believe that they are following the teachings of true Islam. Interpretations of Islam and Quran by different groups of Muslims are not only different they are sometimes contradictory. That is why it is not surprising for non-Muslims in the Western world to find Muslims quite confusing individually and collectively. Since September 11, 2001 tragedy, the confusion all over the world is increasing because the religious interpretations of Islam are getting intimately connected with political conflicts between the Muslim and the non-Muslim, the Arab and the non-Arab and Eastern and the Western worlds.

While I was studying the history of Islam, I realized that teachings of Mohammad, Quran and Islam, not unlike teachings of other philosophers and reformers of the world, attracted different groups of people from different orientations and points of view and each group made a different interpretation of the message. That is why people from different religious and cultural backgrounds developed different traditions of Islam. When I studied those different traditions from a secular point of view, I thought they could be classified in the following groups.

1.SPIRITUAL TRADITION

There have been Muslims throughout the centuries, which followed the spiritual tradition and were known as mystics and sufis. Those people wanted to get in touch with the essence of Mohammad’s teachings. There was a group of people in Mohammad’s life who were known as ashaab-e-soof as they had withdrawn from the materialistic world and dedicated their lives to the spiritual teachings of Islam. After the death of Mohammad one of the first sufis that became very well respected was Rabia Basri. She lead a celibate life and followed the path of spiritual enlightenment. She used to be a slave but when her master saw her dedication by praying all night long after serving him during the day, he set her free. She believed that one should pray and worship out of love rather than the greed of heaven or the fear of hell. Rabia Basri has been held in high esteem in the world of sufis. Those sufis were not tempted by the economic and political gains of the materialistic world. They wanted to purify their souls.

Muslim sufis have been influenced by two other spiritual traditions. The first tradition was of Christian saints and Jewish Kabbalists while the second tradition was of Hindu sadhus and Buddhist monks. The followers of the first tradition believed in the philosophy of hama-as-oast , believing that the whole universe was created by God, while followers of the later tradition believed in the philosophy of hama oast, believing that All That Exists Is God. Sufis that followed the later tradition were not accepted by the mainstream Muslims and were punished and persecuted for their beliefs. One such example was the famous sufi poet Mansoor Hallaj who was killed because of uttering anal-Haq[I am Truth, I am God] that was considered blasphemous by other Muslims.

The sufi tradition of Islam might have been criticized by the traditional maulanas but they received great popularity amongst the masses as sufis had a very non-judgmental and accepting attitude towards people of different traditions. Students of Indian History are well aware that Muslim sufis attracted thousands of Hindus of lower castes who joined Islam as they found peace, respect and equality in Islam that they did not enjoy in the Hindu caste system.

Sufis had been humanistic and peace loving people. Many Muslims believe that the sufi tradition reflects the true spirit of Islam.

2. PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITION

Alongside the spiritual tradition there was also a well developed philosophical tradition of Islam. That tradition reached its climax when Greek philosophy and mythology was translated in Arabic. There were a number of Arab and Persian Muslim philosophers like Al-Kindi, Al-Razi, Al-Farabi, Avicenna and Al-Rushd and Ibn-e-eKhuldun, who made wonderful contributions to Muslim and world literature. Books of Medicine created by Avicenna remained as textbooks in the Western universities for centuries. As the dialogue continued Muslim philosophers got divided into two groups. The first group believed that philosophy, science and mathematics were more important for human evolution than the revealed truth in scriptures. That school of thought remained an integral part of the mainstream of Muslim philosophy for a long time but then the writings of Al-Ghazali, the representative of the second group turned the tide. He believed that if there was a conflict between science and scriptures, philosophy and revealed truth of prophets, Muslims should follow the scriptures. Since that time a large number of Muslims started seeing the contributions of science, mathematics and philosophy with suspicion. They became reluctant to accept the secular teachings of the Western world as they saw them as undermining their faith in Mohammad, Quran and Islamic teachings. There were a number of reformers who challenged Ghazali’s teachings but never became part of the mainstream Muslim tradition. In the recent past leaders like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who created Aligarh University in India for Muslims, Mohammad Iqbal who dreamt of a separate state of Pakistan for Muslims, Abdus Salam who was given Nobel Prize for his contributions to Science and Eqbal Ahmed, who dreamt of establishing a progressive university in Pakistan were some of the progressive Muslim scholars who encouraged Muslims to study modern literature created in the contemporary world. The philosophical tradition of Islam has remained at the periphery in the last few hundred years. Scholars and intellectuals who played a major role in the first five hundred years of Muslim history, have been pushed in the background by the Traditionalists, who have a more fundamentalist view of life. The free thinkers in the Muslim world have become more nervous as they are afraid of the social and political repercussions from their communities.

3. FUNDAMENTALIST TRADITION

Muslims who follow this tradition have been gaining power of the religious and political institutions over the centuries. These Muslims and their madrasas and imams have been trying to adopt and practice Islam that was practiced 1500 years ago. They believe that teachings of Islam are complete, final and eternal and do not to change with the passage of time. They are not willing to include the knowledge and wisdom of the last fifteen hundred years in their beliefs and practices. The followers of this tradition have gained religious power because of the establishment of religious institutions like mosques and  madrasas all over the Muslim world. Because of those religious institutions they are able to influence the common Muslims who are not well educated and are naïve. The followers of the Fundamentalist tradition gain more power if their representatives get hold of the political power and can change the constitutions and laws of their communities.

4.POLITICAL TRADITION

The political tradition in Islam tried to gain legal and constitutional power in different parts of the world. For a long time Islamic rulers tried to colonolize parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. They fought holy wars and gained power in different countries. The Muslim Mughal empire in India was one such example that reigned for generations. After gaining political power some Muslim rulers adopted liberal policies and respected other religious minorities while there were others who had a fundamentalist philosophy, and became dictators making lives of people especially women and minorities quite difficult. Some Muslim rulers became Monarchs in the Middle East  and ruled in an autocratic way. In the lat few decades a number of Muslim leaders tried to create theocratic states by introducing Islamic laws to the constitution. Ayatullah Khomeini in Iran, Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan and Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar in Afghanistan introduced Islamic sharia laws to the constitutions. Those laws have been of great concern to all international communities who respect Human Rights.

FUTURE DIRECTION FOR MUSLIMS

It appears that after Sep11, 2001 tragedy all the Muslims of the world have been forced to do some soul-searching. Many Muslims who did not consider religion as a major factor in their day to day life have been asked to define themselves from ideological, religious and political points of view. After George Bush’s speech stating that if you are not with us you are against us, has created very difficult position for those Muslims who do not want to take sides. They do not want to be in favour of either Bush or Osama.

I feel Muslims all over the world individually and collectively are at a cross-roads. They have to choose which tradition they want to follow. When I look at the Muslims all over the world, I see them following the following traditions.

A, Some Muslims are following the Traditionalist and the Fundamentalist tradition. They are choosing to follow the path of Osama bin Laden. We saw its expression in recent elections in Pakistan where thousands of people held Osama’s picture on their posters and won the elections in different parts of Pakistan. Such election results created a crisis for the Western Democrats who always preached democracy as the solution for the Arab and Muslim Worlds. They were not sure how to react to a situation when majority of the people in a community vote for those political and religious leaders who do not respect the rights of women and minorities.

B, There are other Muslims who are liberal. They are believers in the teachings of Mohammad and Islam but they believe in the separation of mosque and the state, politics and religion. They want to practice their religion in their private lives but would like to have secular laws for the state in which followers of all religions are respected.

C, Humanists. These are the Muslims who have left the tradition of Islam behind and are now following Humanistic values. They believe not only in freedom of religion but also freedom from religion. They believe that all citizens of a nation should be equal in the eyes of the law and all members of the community should enjoy equal opportunities, rights and previliges. They want the Muslim communities all over the world to follow the Human Rights traditions of the world.

Amongst different and contradictory interpretations of Islamic teachings the question of real Islam remains unanswered. It would be interesting to see that which group of Muslims, fundamentalists, liberals or Humanists gain power intellectually, ideologically and politically and shape the future of the Muslim world in the next few decades. Since Sep 11, 2001 all Muslims individually and collectively are under close observation by the international community. The whole world is anxiously waiting to see whether Muslim countries will take a regressive step and create theocratic states or take a progressive step and join the twenty first century by educating their children and making sure that their constitutions respect Human Rights of their citizens especially women and minorities.

Dr. K. Sohail

Psychiatrist

Creative Psychotherapy Clinic

Whitby, Ontario, Canada

Dated Feb 19, 2003