Islamic Movement as a Global Phenomenon
By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam
12 August 2021
Islamic Revivalist Movements and Its Variegated Contours
Main Points:
1.
Islamism has
witnessed an evolution, change and has now transformed into Post Islamism in
most Muslim countries.
2.
Islamist movements
have adopted the western institutions of polity including participation of
elections and democratic methods for regime change.
3.
Scholars and
ideologues of Islamism are trying to understand the reasons for the failure of
the project Islamism.
-----
Global Islamic Movement: Why and How?
By Shamim A. Siddiqi
Brooklyn, United States of America: The Forum for Islamic Work, 2014
Pp118. ISBN: Not Mentioned
Shamim is of the opinion that every system whether it be
democratic, socialist, communistic or dictatorial has failed to resolve the
problems facing humanity. He then writes about the need for Muslims to produce
an alternative to capitalist system that according to Shamim is on decline,
“Now capitalism is at the verge of its death too. Muslims must produce a model
Islamic State as an alternate system of life for many capitalistic democratic
societies of this world. It is an open challenge to our Islamic movements
around the world to produce its model lest we miss the bus again” (P-17).
Shamim time and again invites muslims to introspect and set their own house in
order and then call others towards the pristine message of Islam. He is trying
to make the reader understand the reasons about the failure of the Islamist
movements to establish an Islamic state. He is critical of the fact that Arab
spring that offered a ray of hope for Islamist movements turned out to be a
tragic illusion as the Arab kingdoms paid money to the dictator Abdul Fatah al
Sisi to butcher the cadres of Islamist movement of Muslim Brotherhood. Despite
such brutality against the Islamist movements, Shamim does not advocate any
clandestine or violent activity as a measure for overthrowing the dictatorial
regimes but pitches for a democratic solution, as according to him, “Creating
the urge for democratic process in Muslim masses will help in changing the
system in due course of time, say a decade or so” (P-30)
Shamim further writes about Islamic system of polity,
economy and social order. The differences between rich and poor nations, West
and its project of neo colonization of Muslim lands are debated too. Further
the opposition of Islamist movements is evident from the U.S policies,
monarchies and dictatorial regimes who rule Muslim lands in consonance with U.S
and other allied powers, “Nowhere Islam is allowed to emerge as a “Political
Entity” and unfortunately, Uncle Sam, the champion of democratic values, is
playing its leading role. It is openly opposing tooth and nail that nowhere the
Islamic forces and the Islamic movements are allowed to succeed, even through
the democratic process. Everywhere their efforts are torpedoed, somewhere
directly and somewhere by their local “agents” through his tactic approval.
This game plan is quite visible if one studies minutely what is going on with
the Islamic movements in Bangladesh, in Afghanistan, in Egypt, in Pakistan, in
Tunisia, in Libya and the ongoing civil war in Syria, Iraq and the nascent
efforts of ISIS in the Arab world in the heart of Middle East. These secular
forces have intentionally sabotaged the blooming emergence of “Arab Spring” and
devastated the innocent blood of “Mohammad Bu Azizi” of Tunisia, the “unintentional”
founder of the epoch making awakening in North Africa. The secular world and
its “Head” have gone amuck. They are blindly opposing Islam which is now the
only boon and benediction for them when all secular systems have failed and the
capitalistic democracy is counting its days lying on its death bed under
“Oxygen Tent” for long. The entire secular world is playing the role of the
“Dog in the manger” as elaborated earlier” (P-90).
These are the ground realities, though it is also a fact
that Islamist movements have adopted the western institutions of polity
including participation of elections and democratic methods for regime change,
still the mandate of people is not being respected if it is in favor of
Islamist parties. This book is certainly a good read as it points out the fact
that there indeed is a process of introspection among the Islamiat movements
and despite repression they have not treaded the path of violence. Further
Shamim is critical of the fact that Muslims are not responding to the duty of
Dawah, calling people towards Allah. This book is a nice read, but the font and
uneven highlighting of passages make it a cumbersome for the reader to enjoy.
-----
M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar,
Kashmir
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/books-documents/islamic-global-movement/d/125211