A Question Islamists Must Ask Themselves: Why All Islamic Political Experiments Fail, Shia As Much As Sunni?
By
Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef, New Age Islam
28 December
2022
Modern Man
Can’t Compromise With His Individual Freedoms, And Stagnant Islamic Thought
Isn’t Ready To Give Him Or Her This Right
Main
Points:
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1. Islam as a
political ideology is less effective than Islam as amoral, spiritual force.
2. Without bold
and effective Ijtihad and rethinking, tall claims such as “Islam is the
solution,” don’t work in modern times.
3. Iran’s
semi-republican theocracy has produced the least religious society in the
Muslim world.
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Iran is
making global headlines for the wrong reasons once more. Since the beginning of
her so-called Islamic revolution in April 1979, when anti-Shah protesters
overcame the country's tyrannical police and army and deposed the shah, she has
consistently been in the media spotlight.
The revolution
brought back Ayatollah Khomeini and his doctrine of Vilayat e Faqih to power in
the country. What happened after that is history now. However, after more than
30 years, half of the population (women) are out on the streets, taking off
their hijabs, tearing up or burning them in the fire, and chanting slogans:
"We want freedom, "We want basic human rights." One has to now
look back and ask what went wrong? Why ordinary people, boys, girls, students,
and especially girls and women, are so angry?
After the
unfortunate murder of Mahsa Amini, a bold and active 22-year-old Kurdish
Iranian woman, in moral police custody, there was a sudden upsurge of female
protests in Tehran and other cities around the nation, where they clashed with
revolutionary guards and moral police, yelling "Death to the
dictator" and "For women, life, freedom." These widespread
protests over the past three months and the techniques used to suppress them
reminds me of several similar occurrences that Azar Nafisi wrote about in his
well-known work "Reading Lolita in Tehran," which I read some time
ago. It should be noted that while reading Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin
Ebadi's book, "Until We Are Free” one gets the same feeling that there is
a fire brewing among the country's people against this biased and despotic
religious regime which can explode at any time.
Ebadi, who
has gone through this ordeal herself at the hands of the regime's secret
agencies, has documented the people's suffering in a beautiful way.
Furthermore,
apart from this rampant anguish, grudge, and anger from the Islamic republic
regime, in particular in the younger generation, recently there, came out an
astonishing and revealing survey telling us that only 32% of the Iranian
population is satisfied with Islam as a religion and a revolutionary force
relevant to this day. “Half of all Iranians say that they have left Islam as a
religion, while two-thirds believe Islamic law should be excluded from their
legal system.”
It is very
surprising and surely would be shocking to some that Iran's semi-republican
theocracy has produced the least religious society in the Muslim world, as
evidenced by a survey carried out by Gamaan.org in June 2020. (see: https://en.qantara.de/content/protests-in-iran-rethinking-sharia-and-democracy.
It clearly
means that before the Islamic revolution of Iran, Iranians were more religious
than they are now. It is more surprising that before the revolution three
decades earlier, most young Iranians were followers of Ayatollah Khomeini, the
main instrument behind the revolution, and were male and female soldiers of the
Islamic revolution, in contrast to the post-revolution situations now. They
were the foot soldiers who voluntarily resisted Iraq's onslaught and fought the
eight years long Iran-Iraq war for the idea of the Islamic revolution to be
successful. So now, what has gone wrong with their children under this
continuous revolutionary regime of their own making? Why are they now the most
unsatisfied element of Iran's society with their regime and clergy? And not
only with the Islamic
Republic
But With Islam Itself In Many Cases?
Iran is the
Shia Islamist laboratory to experiment with their religious and political
views. At the same time, in Sunni Islamist's case, they too sometimes succeeded
in reaching the higher echelons of power. In Egypt and Tunisia, the Brotherhood
got political momentum in the wake of the Arab spring. Islamist ideologue in
Tunisia, Shaikh Rashid Ghannochi, was wise enough to prefer adopting a national
secular constitution with national consensus keeping in view the contemporary
constraints and realities of modern life. Furthermore, in doing so, he has
prevented his nation from devolving into chaos and terrible conditions that confrontations
between Islamists and leftist groups there could have brought in. However,
Brotherhood in Egypt came to power, and their man, President Mohammad Mursi,
was not so wise enough and lucky to escape the ordinary people's rage and anger
when he tried to amend the constitution and insisted on having all political
power concentrated in the president. Egyptian people who braved the Hosni
Mubarak regime in the aftermath of the Tunisian revolution and finally
dethroned him once again took to the streets of Cairo in millions against the
Brotherhood government. The result was tragic, the army intervened, and Mursi's
regime was toppled. Brotherhood was banned, Mursi, along with other leaders,
was imprisoned, wherein he died, and thousands of innocents were killed in cold
blood by the army.
The Taliban
took control of Kabul a year ago. They initially purportedly appeared to be
different, but as they deny women and girls their fundamental rights to
education and employment, they are starting to reveal their true face to the
outside world. Because the world hasn't yet acknowledged them, there is an
alarming shortage of food and medical facilities as well as widespread want and
deprivation. The UN has repeatedly warned the international community that
millions could perish from starvation in Afghanistan if nothing is done soon.
مطلب کیا؟ لاالہ الااللہ In
Pakistan, which came into existence with the slogan of پاکستان کا (What is the meaning of Pakistan? There is no
God but Allah). Yet during more than seventy years of its existence, Islamists
could not secure more than 4-5 seats in the national assembly! Clearly most
people do not subscribe to Islamist's political agenda.
Political
Islam emerged at the start of the 20th century with the claim that capitalism,
socialism, communism, and other isms could not contribute anything to the
world. The sole solution to all of humankind's economic, social, and political
issues and problems is only Islam. As a result, efforts should be made to put
it into effect everywhere. The problem, however, is much more complicated than
what the theorists and ideologues of political Islam presented to the world,
especially to Muslims, as seen by the Islamists' recent political failures.
With citing
the examples of Iran, Afghanistan, Tunisia, Egypt, etc., I wish to convey to
the Islamic movements that the issues of today are different. The beneficial
use of knowledge must not be for the global domination of Muslims but for the
welfare of common humanity. The issue is whether Muslims have a duty to usher
in a new era under their leadership. Isn't simply introducing Islam to the
world sufficient?
Why is the
Ummah being misled into believing that Muslims would rule the world one day if
the concept of coming Muslim domination is not sufficiently supported by the
facts? If there is any change, will it be a return to ancient times? I ask why
we are more focused on methods than results. Isn't it a pity that there is a
trend in the whole Ummah.
Muslims are
told not to think for themselves, for their predecessors have thought
everything? So now we have to see from their eyes and think from their mind?
This past-oriented approach is very harmful.
We observe that there is a greater emphasis on
knowledge of the past and very little emphasis on producing new knowledge in
all of our Islamic colleges, institutions, and centres. Why I wonder? Is it not
preferable that we focus on all people rather than just the Muslim Ummah? We
won't have any significance in this world till then.
There are
passages whose interpretations and deduced directives date back to the seventh
century. It is believed that they are still relevant now, even after fourteen
centuries. For instance, it is a widespread belief in Muslim societies that men
dominate, and women serve as their subjects. The argument for this is texts
like الرجال قوامون على النساء ((husbands) are the
protectors and maintainers of their wives. An-Nisaa: 43). Although they have a
specific background.
In today's
world, rapid scientific technology and civilizational developments have made it
impossible for a woman to be completely under the control of a man. Today, a
woman wants to advance in every field, and her spirit cannot be suppressed.
There is a
dire need for a political, social, and economic rethink at all levels to
understand the psychology and conditions of the people of the present day.
Toddy’s man is a human who will not compromise his freedoms, and the inflexible
and stagnant Muslim thought is not ready to give him those freedoms. So, a new
humanist approach is needed.
Until this
is done and we are prepared to review our past ideological, legal, and
jurisprudential legacy, we will be destined for a failed political experience
repeating itself again and again, as the history of the last two thousand years
shows.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam,
Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef is a Research Associate with the Centre for Promotion of
Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims of India, AMU Aligarh.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic
Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism