Organisation

 

Question:-

It seems to me that the main reason for the comparative backwardness and weakness of Muslim nations is the fact that they have been unable to create a suitable mode of organising themselves. Are there any suggestions as to how this can be rectified?

Answer:-

This is only a part of the problem though it is an important part that also affects all the other aspects of life.  The main problem seems to be that Muslims have understood their religion in too narrow a sense. Man has been created as a Vicegerent (Quran 2:30, 6:166, 10:15), with potentialities that were to be actualised (3:164, 30:30, 91:7-10, 20:76, 56:61, 62:2, 7:17, 87:14, 24:21). But Muslims have reduced worship to rules, dogma and ritual, making the means into the ends, and ignoring mostly everything else. It is this general self-imprisonment that has atrophied their mental horizons, motives and abilities, when they were, in fact, warned that they would be replaced if they did not fulfil what was expected of them (14:19, 11:57, 70:40-41, 76:28-29)

Organisation implies that individual units are connected together in some kind of order which makes the whole more and greater than the sum of the parts. This certainly creates much greater power than can be generated by unorganised individuals.

There appear to be three types of possible organisation:-

(a) Type 1 - The Pyramidal, Hierarchical or Vertical organisation. This has several levels, in each of which a number of individuals is controlled by a one individual. Control passes to fewer and fewer individuals as we go upwards. The power at the top is, therefore, proportional to the quantity, quality and relationship of people below them. There are several varieties of this. There can be dictatorships either by hereditary authorities such as kings, or by persons chosen by an elite group in the community or by a Political Party or by election by the people. There can be mixtures of all these.

(b) Type 2 - The Network or Horizontal organisation. This consists of people connected together in various ways at the same level. These can have several varieties differing in degree of complexity. The simplest network is one where the nodes or knots are individuals that are connected to a number of other individuals, thus forming a Network of the First Degree. A network of the Second Degree would be one where the nodes are connected to several other nodes of the First Degree. A Third Degree Network would consist of nodes that are connected to several Nodes of the Second Degree. And so on.

(c) Type 3 - The Organic, Dynamic or Step Ladder organisation. This consists of several levels, but allows the horizontal movement as well as the vertical ascent and descent of individuals and their influences. This organisation is more like that of a family which consists of individuals of different levels and kinds of development. Those at the top help those at the bottom to climb the ladder, and those at the bottom aid and seek help from those at the top. This leaves each individual an autonomous but socially and environmentally responsible unit. There is flexibility and fluidity such that Groups and associations form and dissolve for various purposes and functions, and members belong simultaneously to several groups or move in and out of them.

Apart from being distinct types, these organisations can also be regarded as stages of development and as three aspects of organisation in general that are combined in different proportions to create the distinction between different organisations. Organisation of Type 2 falls between the other two and can be regarded as a transitional stage between the first and the third.

The Christian Church is a Type 1 organisation, probably modelled in the Roman Empire. This has been adopted throughout the Western World and accounts for its success.

Islam does not have priesthood and organised Church and each individual Muslim is responsible for his own salvation, and must to achieve this seek his own knowledge and understanding and apply it. Islam requires the organisation of Type 3. But apart from its implementation briefly under the guidance of the Prophet (saw), it did not last long. The people were not yet ready for it. They could not shoulder responsibility for themselves and needed various amounts of coercion and authority. Like the Israelites before them who demanded Kings rather than Prophets and Judges, Muslims fell under the influence of Kings and Dictators.

All present political systems, whether they call themselves Democratic or not tend to consist of three parts:- (a) The Rulers – This consists of a group of people who have most of the wealth, power and prestige. They own or control the Industries, the Political institutions, the Media of communication. (b) The Ruled – The vast majority of people who are dependent on the rulers for their livelihood and are controlled by them to various degrees in behaviour as well as their motives and ideas. There is pressure on them for regimentation, conformity and uniformity and mental conditioning replaces consciousness, conscience and will.. (c) The Administrative Institutions – The State Bureaucracy, the Government and its Departments and its equivalent in Industries. This consists of an unintelligent machine, rule bound and rigid. It is the means by which the Rulers rule the Ruled.

This system is not conducive to human development as true Vicegerents, possessed of responsibility, initiative and creativity, autonomous individuals with a high degree of consciousness, conscience and self-control as the Islamic ideal demands. On the contrary, the system becomes progressively more oppressive not only because of better organisation aided by scientific and technological progress, but also relatively because better education and increasing prosperity also increases awareness and strivings and diminishes tolerance. These two opposite tendencies increase the tension until the system is either (a) modified or (b) cracks ad disintegrates or (c) it is strengthened sufficiently to cause stagnation. The various Political systems merely differ in the degree of oppressiveness.

It seems highly probable that the conditions of life are gradually changing so that the Islamic or Type 3 organisation will become established universally in the future. This may take place slowly and unobtrusively by small steps or even evolutionally. This need not, however, mean that it is recognised as Islamic in origin or that the world will become Muslim in name. It is not the name that is important but the influence and the condition that the religion endeavoured to propagate.

The reason for thinking that this transformation (Essential Islamisation, but not in name) is likely to take place is the development of the Internet which is increasingly freeing the individual from the control of political, economic and cultural authorities. It is not only making available all knowledge to all people, but is also giving freedom of expression, creativity and enterprise. People can communicate with each other more directly without central control and the possibility of manipulation of information. It has become possible for people to conduct their profession from their own homes without the need for centralised offices and travelling to them. This is not to ignore that, having been released from censorship and control, the Internet is at present also a source of much depravity, perversion, evil and destructive influences.

The advance in the Sciences, and particularly in the social and psychological ones, are providing people with more information about themselves and what is best for their welfare and development. Unfortunately, sociological and psychological information has fallen into political, commercial and military hands where it is used to manipulate people in the interest of those who control these systems. But people are becoming aware of this and the revolt against them is gaining ground. If it does not, mankind will soon become a race of robots, including those who do the controlling.

The aim of all endeavours should be human welfare, happiness and self-fulfilment rather than the creation of wealth, power and prestige of the few as is the case now and will undoubtedly be seen as illusory pursuits by the majority in the near future.

The other development of importance is the invention of small scale versatile domestic machinery that enables people to manufacture many things for themselves.

It will still be necessary to have some large scale central services such as those that provide the basic material resources, energy, and the national infra structure of roads, transport and communications, but these will probably have to be taken over by Governments.

The Political conditions will have to change because the present systems are becoming less supportable as people are becoming increasingly cynical about them, more informed about realities and less gullible to political and media propaganda.

It is known that the Multi-national companies have become so powerful that they can dictate to national government on threat of taking their business to countries more amenable to their demands, thereby getting round the democratic process. In the pursuit of their own profits the companies go abroad throwing the native workers on the scrapheap. It is being realised that present day capitalist economic systems constitute a trap that enslave people. They are tempted with massive conditioning techniques and encouragement to borrow money for the profit of lenders, to buy goods, much of which they do not need. These force them to work for the profit of the owners of industry. These beneficiaries, however, are forced to invest their money in manufacture or lend it to purchase its products lest the economy collapse.  The result is increasing wastage of resources, pollution and ecological disasters. Not only this, but the absorption of attention and energy on material wealth is done at the expense of social and psychological welfare, causing a multiplication of problems which then absorb an increasing amount of both material and human resources.  It is only possible to cure this social disease by freeing human beings so that they can control their own lives. This requires that all workers in an industry have a share and a say in the running of their industry and that wages be abolished to be replaced with shares in the profit.

The increase in information gathering about people by Governments as well as Commercial firms and the proliferation of spying technologies including the increasing use of CCTV cameras in cities, roads, shops and factories implies that the citizens can be increasingly controlled, directly and indirectly, with or without their knowledge, at the deepest level by those who control the large Companies and the State. The Nation is becoming a Machine and Humanity is being reduced to the status of a robot, a cog in it. It may already be too late to reverse this trend in many countries where the application of sophisticated psychological conditioning techniques and regimentation has reached an advanced stage.

It is not difficult to see that the present political system based on struggle for power, competition for votes and manipulation of information can hardly be regarded as Democratic as claimed. People do not have all information and do not create policies but are merely given a choice once in four years to vote for candidates chosen for them by the Political Parties. Quite often it is less than 50% of the adult population that votes and the Government represents less than 30% of the voters and the majority of the policies it carries out were never declared and is often done in secret. Even the local councils ignore public opinion and interest so that people are forced to demonstrate on the streets. The cure for this is that a new organisation of all citizens should be formed that can replace the present Political , so called Democratically elected Assemblies, as in Britain the House of Commons replaced the House of Lords in power.

However, none of this is possible or can give good results unless there is also a better and different system of education and more generally a cultural system that not only concerns itself with knowledge but also with skills and above all motives. That is, psychological changes are necessary. On the other hand it is the economic and social changes that will also stimulate the changes in education and culture.

It is necessary to understand that we have dealt here with a social problem, but it cannot really be dealt with in isolation. There are in general three inter-dependent aspects to life, namely, (i) the psychological, (ii) the social and (iii) the environmental. Even “organisation” can refer to (a) how we organise our ideas, thoughts and our lives, (b) social organisation and (c) organising the physical environment around us in our homes, cities, farms and country. These three are interdependent in thought as well as in motivation and action and with all the other aspects of life.

It used to be thought that there was a conflict only between the demands of the individual and the demands of the community and, therefore, between political, social and economic systems that placed emphasis on individualism and those that placed emphasis on socialism. It is, however, now known that a third factor must also be introduced into the equation, namely the demands of the environment with which we interact and on which we depend. There is, therefore, a higher Transcendental Unity of which these three are interdependent factors.

In particular, human problems are fundamentally connected with how we see ourselves in relation to Total Reality; what we think we are; how we identify ourselves. There are three ways of looking at this corresponding to the above three aspects.

Identity 1 - We are, of course, a physical being embedded in the physical world, part of the Universe, formed by its materials, forces and law and arising by a process of interaction and adjustment to it. This is the scientific, and in particular, the Biological view. This constitutes their Physical Identity.

Identity 2 - But we have a mind that is formed by the culture of the society in which we have been brought up and we see and judge through this. Human beings see themselves in terms of their body and name, the things that is common in all their experiences. They form an image of themselves that is not independent of their interactions with the society and the physical environment. That is, the values current in the society, what others think of them and their position with respect to others and their possessions and clothes, all these affect their image and the behaviour associated with it. This constitutes the Ego, a mental construct that is the centre of the Personality.

Identity 3 - From the Islamic, and the general Religious, point of view, a human being also has a spiritual aspect, a soul, which is the seat of consciousness, conscience and will. It can hardly be denied that these faculties do exist though they are usually in a dormant state and people normally spend their lives in sub-conscious or soporific state. This derives from the Spirit of God ( Quran 32:7-9) and enables a more objective perception, motivation and action. It is what makes them into an Agent of God, someone with responsibility for his own individuality, the community and the environment.

These three kinds of Identities or Selves lead to three different kinds of Life -perception, motivation and behaviour. They can be regarded as different aspects of a person which in different people are combined in various proportions. This creates a range of people that can be distinguished loosely as three classes, though the borders between them are indistinct.

These three Selves relate and correspond to (i) the three types of World Views, (ii) three types of Lives, and also (iii) the three types of organisation considered above.

However, Reality is Unitary and includes all three.

To put things in context:-

Whereas, it is certainly true that human beings are physical entities that have ascended as a growth from the earth (Quran 71:17, 32:7), it is also true that he has descended spiritually from heaven (Quran 32:9, 95:4-6). No ascent can take place unless something higher is introduced into it from above e.g. the energy and negentropy from of the sun and the rest of the cosmos. Symbolically speaking (because we have no experience of things in heaven), man was created spiritually in heaven, but owing to sin he was banished to earth (Quran 2:35-38). Man, therefore, has a dual nature and the mind can be regarded as a third factor, the product of the other two, arising at the intersection of the two and moving between the physical and the spiritual poles, ascending or descending, its horizons expanding or contracting.

Organisation can be regarded as a mode of channelling Motives (desires, aims etc). But perception, motive and action, the three basic human faculties, are interdependent. This means that Knowledge, Organisation and Industry are also interdependent. These are the means by which human beings relate to the rest of reality. In other words each of these has three ingredients:- (i) the Knower (ii) the Known objects and (iii) the process of knowing, which is the relationship between the other two. Therefore, if a statement is made about a known object then we also have two other hidden ingredients, namely the nature of the knower and the nature of the relationship of the knower with the known.

The Known (object) is understood in its relationship with the Universe as a whole, the object of which it is a part. The Knower is understood in its relationship with Allah. (“Verily, Allah is Knower and Aware” 4:35. “He is Subtle, the Aware.” 6:104. Also see 11:1, 4:147, 6:129 and many more). The process of knowing is related to the universal process of manifestation, creation or evolution. That is, at the most basic level we have a Unity where Knower, knowing and known are one and the same thing. The whole of Reality can then be understood as a manifestation of the fact that Absolute Knower looks at Himself as the Absolute Object.

The fundamental concept in Islam is Unity, Tawhid (Quran 112:1-4, 54:50, 2:163, 22:64, 31:12, 39:4 etc.). This leads us to three secondary interdependent implications or corollaries about the nature of existence:-

(1) The Ecological Principle that all things are connected in Space through the flow of materials, energy and information.

(2) The Evolutional Principle that all things change and are connected in Time through processes of genesis and that there is modification, accumulation and synthesis of experience.

(3) The Organisational Principle that all things are parts or subsystems of some greater system which is more than the sum of the parts owing to its organisation, with respect to which they have a function which also affects their arising and development.

These considerations provide us with frameworks for all three Basic Necessities, namely (a) knowledge, (b) moral values and (c) techniques.

These considerations leads us to the following Fundamental Guiding Formulae:-

 “Allah said: I was a hidden treasure and I wished to be known, therefore, I created the Universe.”

“He who knows his Self knows his Lord”

“The aim of Life is Self-realisation.”

This should also explain verses in the Quran such as the following:-

“Surely pure religion is for Allah only.” (39:3)

“Religion with Allah is the Surrender.”( 3:9).

“And whoso seeks a religion other than The Surrender (unto Allah) it will not be accepted from him, and he will be a loser in the hereafter.” 3:85

“So set thy purpose for Religion as a man upright by nature - the nature framed by Allah in which He hath created man. There is no changing the laws of Allah’s creation. That is the right religion, but most men know not.” 30:30

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