By
Nikhat Sattar
24 Jul,
2020
ON May 13,
2020, a group of men entered a maternity hospital in Kabul, killing several
mothers and babies. In India, Muslims face daily murders, rapes, humiliation
and conversions. In April 2017, Mashal Khan, a young student, was lynched by
a group of men within the premises of a university in Pakistan.
In 2019, 62
worshippers performing Friday prayers were killed by a bomb blast in
Nangarhar. Back in 2002, a fire broke out at a girl’s school in Makkah. Fifteen
young girls died and 50 injured, allegedly because they were beaten back to go
inside: they had not covered their heads. In 1987, more than 400 unarmed
pilgrims, mostly Iranians, were killed in Makkah during a protest. The list
goes on.
One fact
stands out: most of the outpouring of anger, sympathy and concern came from
non-Muslim organisations, people and countries. Muslims were, by and large,
silent.
Even as the
world seems to have come closer, with a more formalised structure of human
rights, it has regressed into increasing hatred and acts of violence against
the ‘other’, whoever it might be. It took the Christians six centuries of
religiously supported wars and torture against Muslims and Jews to decide that
they could safely replace religion with science. They colonised, ridiculed
Muslims, spread false rumours, destroyed traditions of Muslim scholarship and
weakened Muslim societies through carefully orchestrated propaganda.
Islamophobia has increased since 9/11 with Muslims being held in Guantanamo Bay
prison and tortured. Very few Muslim governments stood up to help them.
Muslims did
more than their share of bringing themselves down, spiritually, intellectually,
economically and scientifically. From being pioneers of science, logic and
rational thought, their contribution to world science literature is now meagre.
Forty-six Muslim countries contribute 1.17pc to science literature as compared
to 1.66pc by India and 1.48pc by Spain. Where their schools were centres of
learning for all, regardless of religious or ethnic background, they are now
sectarian, often teaching tunnel-vision versions of their faith. By and large,
Muslims have turned away from progress; destroyed their own institutions, and
refused to self-analyse.
The Sharia
was a path towards divine guidance, lighting up minds, providing opportunities
for knowledge seekers from all over the world, opening hearts to mercy,
compassion, kindness, graciousness and all that is beautiful in God’s world.
The Sharia, along with human thought, was the core of ethics. Instead, it is
now often trivialised, used mostly for matters regarding women and sex
segregation and enforcing marital subservience of wives.
Islamic
classical tradition assumed a condition of Isma or inviolability of
human life, based on the Quran and the Prophet’s (PBUH) sayings.
Many Muslim
theorists forbade the practice of takfir (accusing someone who calls himself a
Muslim of not being one and producing inferred evidence). The Quran called
idolaters ‘kafir’ (those who denied the Truth in presence of and after
conclusive arguments by the Prophet); the faithful now find it legitimate to
declare anyone kafir, hound them, turn them out of their homes and destroy
their property. The easiest way to do this is to level false allegations of
blasphemy and raise such a hue and cry that even courts issue guilty verdicts.
States have
begun to profess a religion, so all who believe differently are second-class
citizens, with few rights. The tyranny of rulers can no longer be questioned.
One of the
worst consequences of this political and moral weakening of Muslim societies is
the breaking of Muslims of their covenant with God. This covenant was to
establish qist (reasonable justice) which cannot be achieved unless the
grievance and remedy is assessed from the perspective of the victim, and to
call for Maruf (good) and advocate against Munkar(evil).
Classical jurists of Islam equate the Maruf with how a person would like
to be treated. The understanding of what is Maruf and Munkar is
resident within a person’s nature. God places the responsibility of the morals
of a society squarely upon its people and declares:
“...Verily never will Allah change the
condition of a people until they change it themselves. ... (13:11)”.
The Quran
calls upon humans to give evidence of the truth, even if it means going against
one’s family or interests. In other words, Muslims should raise their voices
against crimes perpetrated by Muslims, even more than they would for those
committed by non-Muslims.
Today, this
has been turned on its head. Non-Muslim societies provide justice far more in
line with the Sharia, mete out humane treatment, provide refuge to those who
have suffered under oppressive regimes at home and speak up against rights
violations. As Dr Khaled Abu El Fadel says, it is as if “someone uses the
superficially technical Sharia to violate Sharia”.
Nikhat
Sattar is a freelance contributor, with an interest in religion.
Original
headline: Covenant with God
Source: The Dawn, Pakistan
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/moral-weakening-muslim-societies-their/d/122455
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