6. PROBLEMS of RELIGION

 

It has been suggested in the previous chapter that the problems mankind is facing are connected with their motives and that these depend on a general all comprehensive unified World View and this in turn depends on Religion. Values, it has been shown must be prior to facts because the Universe arose from an impulse which could not have existed outside the Ultimate Unity which we call God or Allah, and the Universe is driven by forces derived from this impulse and has a direction of development. This fundamental motive, purpose or value system must be taken for granted and is the concern of Religion.

However, there are problems connected with Religion itself. One of the main ones is that the nature of religion, it is suggested here, has been misunderstood owing to human limitations, changes in the conditions of life and the thinking connected with it, and often deliberately to serve selfish interest of power, wealth and prestige.  The problem is not only lack of interest, but also the fact that many critics confuse the original teachings of religion with corrupted presentations and with the behaviour of people who profess those religions but know, understand or apply the teachings only partially or not at all. Religion it must be remembered, comes to reform sinners and that takes sincerity, effort and time.

 

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(4) Problems of Religion in General

 

If by Religion we mean a complete way of life, then we must consider not only the pre-industrial or pre-modern revealed religions on which the civilisations of the past were based, but also modern man-made systems generally known by such terms as Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, and Humanitarianism. We call them Pseudo-religions because they neglect and deny an important dimension of human experience, namely the spiritual or revelatory, the inner and inherent sources of knowledge and motivation. Not that their existence is denied, but that they are left out of conscious thinking, motivation and action. We also have the syncretised so called New Age cuts invented by persons without adequate knowledge, wisdom, virtue or ability.

Religion, in the more developed Western Countries, has declined because it has ceased to be understood and has become irrelevant to the kind of life and thinking which modern conditions demand. It has to a large extent been replaced by systems based on Science which have their own myths, faiths, interests and hopes. Though there are revivals of religion from time to time and a gradual increase in the number of adherents is also evident, this seems to be connected not with an understanding of religion but with the desire for hope and comfort in troubled times. It appears to have an element of fear, superstition, emotionalism, hysteria, prejudice, bigotry and often muddled or inadequate thinking. It forms a separate part of life unconnected with their social, economic or cultural life and causes psychological disintegration.

In Communist countries which were attempting to accelerate the speed of development, Religion was actively discouraged, probably because they thought, having looked at the Western experience, that there was a contradiction and an incompatibility between the old Religion and the modern world. But one religion can only be replaced by another. Communism was itself a religion. Both the Western and the Communist systems based themselves on materialism and neglected the spiritual dimension. Owing to this they were also unable to think adequately in connection with the Social dimension which is affected by the other two. Thus, in the West all kinds of cults flourish which have been haphazardly derived from several of the old religions but have been adapted, reinterpreted, transformed and corrupted owing to misinterpretation, wishful thinking, fantasy and speculation. Communism, on the other hand allowed no such adaptation and owes its collapse partly to this fact, particularly as it was opposed by people who still recognised the spiritual.

Muslim countries, too, are attempting to catch up with the West in their Industrial development. They are likely to meet exactly the same circumstances which caused the decline of Religion in the West. It is, therefore, reasonable to examine the real causes of the decline of religion and to determine, as far as one can, whether it is possible for Muslims to develop a modern civilisation while still retaining their religion.

In this connection it is also necessary to point out that on the one hand the people of the Muslim lands often follow their religion incorrectly, and that, if it is not followed correctly, it is not worth retaining. There are a great number of malpractices, foreign introductions which contradict the teachings of Islam, and sheer ignorance and neglect. If the Spiritual dimension of Religion is not retained then, it might also be argued, that we cannot have any interest in how or whether or not the nations develop. Everything would be accidental, futile and purposeless. If, however, the spiritual dimension is retained then reformation and even adaptation to modern conditions become essential.

On the other hand what is called modern civilisation is itself far from the ideal. The problems which it has brought about are threatening to destroy it, and the awareness of this is becoming quite general, even in the West. Western Civilisation itself requires reformation. Indeed, there is no reason why one should accept the Western assessment of values at all. Why, for instance, should one regard Western Societies as being civilised considering the violence, crime, perversions, barbarism and primitive mentality which are prevalent there? Or conversely, if the word “civilisation” is to be confined to denote Western conditions of life, why should civilisation be regarded as something ideal to be striven for? The structures and cultures built by man cannot possibly have any significance apart from man himself. The Muslims are often criticised in the West, sometimes correctly, but there is a great amount of hypocrisy involved in this because malpractices and perversions are to be found quite widely in the West also. They have to do with the condition of human beings in general not with any religion, nation or race.

The causes of the decline of religion appear to be as follows:-

1. The success of Science has replaced religious knowledge with scientific knowledge, spiritual ideas with material ones. The efforts of a few scientists can be applied by the many. It is much easier to create and use the products of science and technology than to understand and apply a religious discipline. However, it is becoming evident that the problems of life cannot be solved without equivalent psychological, spiritual and moral progress.

2. Since the environment and life has been transformed, experience and language itself has changed and religious language has ceased to be understood. The religions are taught by means of the same outworn phrases and formulae which were used centuries ago when people were relatively uneducated and words had different experiences associated with them. Repetition and habit dulls consciousness. A more modern reinterpretation of religion is possible.

3. Religions, because they are attempting to lead us from the state in which we are to a higher state, are necessarily based on ideas for which there is no evidence in common experience. But people demand evidence of a scientific rather than philosophical or spiritual nature. That is, they do not want argument or insight but sensory proof. It is, however, becoming evident to more and more people that truth is not an object which can be seen by all. There are several reasons for this:-

(a) The truth is not necessarily that which we see. The Earth, for example, is not seen as spherical or as revolving round the sun. The sun is seen as rising and sinking. That which is given to the senses is not necessarily true. There are illusions and even hallucinations. Truth refers to what gives understanding and enables adjustment to reality.

 (b) People differ in their capacities for sensation and sensitivities, in the attention they pay to their experiences, and in their selectivity, in what they see or overlook. Even if truth is regarded as depending on sensory evidence sensation is a subjective matter.

 (c) Ever since Einstein’s work it is understood that truth depends on the relationship of the observer with what he is observing, on where he is standing, his attitude and on point of view. An asymmetrical object seen from the left is not the same as one seen from the right. An elephant, according to a well known story, touched by four blind men in different places was understood in four different ways.

 (d) What we regard as truth does not only depend on sensory facts, but also on how they are selected, interpreted, related, and organised. We have a conceptual system by which we see things. That for which we have words is easily perceived, but it has taken a long history to produce the present system of thought.

 (e) What we see as truth depends also on our intelligence and intellectual capacities. What a scientist accepts as proof is not necessarily understood by the common man who does not have the mathematics.

 (f) The intellect, however, also makes mistakes. What is considered acceptable and true at one stage is not necessarily so at another stage. It is conditioned by the times.

 (g) Truth ultimately refers to a consistency in the totality of ideas and experience. It has an inner as well as an outer dimension. It depends on the depth of consciousness, the degree of integration of the person, and his interaction and empathy with total reality.

 

4. People are seeking inner experiences and are no longer satisfied with mere rituals, dogma and institutions. The problem , however, is how to produce, interpret and assess these experiences. They may be fantasies. Apart from this the motive is sheer self-indulgence.

5. The development of technology has given man considerable power over his environment and increased his feeling of potency. It is, therefore, supposed that all human problems can be solved by man and that he is god himself. Both the limitations of man and his potentialities are coming to be recognised with the advances in Psychology.

6. The State has acquired a considerable amount of power. It is the Law which is an arbiter of guilt and innocence, reward and punishment, not conscience or God. But the adequacy of the Law is increasingly questioned.

7. The Doctor, the Psychiatrist, the Social worker, and the Counsellor replace the priest as healer, adviser, guide and helper. These, however, tend to specialise so that there is no unitary view. The inter-connections between one thing and another are neglected. Since a person goes to one specialist, it might well be that a malady lying in another field is never discovered.

8. The stresses and strains of life having increased. These are compensated for by increased pleasure seeking.. Entertainment and relaxation is provided by sport, music, carnivals, theatre, the cinema, television, racing, gambling and so on, rather than by the religious festivities and functions. Most religious festivals have been stripped of their spiritual significance. Pleasure has become dissociated from religion which is now only identified with what is sombre, dull, boring, and strenuous. It is probably not possible to reverse this except by removing the division of life into work and leisure activities. For many people their work is their hobby and pleasure. This is a much more satisfactory situation. When industry becomes more automated, the pressure to fit people as cogs into a machine will relax and this separation into irksome labour and pleasure will diminish.

9. The media of communication, magazines, newspapers, television provide a constant and overwhelming stream of propaganda, advertisements, advice and ideas. These dilute the religious message. The diversity of ideas pulling in different directions has caused confusion. The sheer quantity of stimuli allows the mind only to flit from one thing to another in a superficial way. An improvement in the level and comprehensiveness of education should create greater discrimination.

10. Life has disintegrated into numerous departments and specialities. The individual can attend only to one or a few of these and has lost the comprehensive view of the whole. The notion of God and appreciation of religion, on the other hand, requires a consciousness of the whole. The need to co-ordinate and unify life should, and probably will, become more urgent.

 11. Life is much faster and people are constantly busy. There is little time to think about, concentrate on, and understand religion. Indeed, opinions are provided ready made by the media. This problem may be solved by the increase in leisure due to automation.

12. Religious differences used to be the source of wars and persecution, bigotry and intolerance. These abhorrent tendencies continue to be associated with religion. A study of History shows that whereas Islamic regimes tended, in the main, to practice religious tolerance, this was not the case with Christianity. It virtually wiped out not only former religions within its territories but also other Christian sects regarded as heresies. The Crusades against Islam, provoked by the Christian Churches, are a tale of greed, looting, destruction, murder and extreme barbarism. It is only the power of the secular state which curbed Christian excesses. Christianity is still intolerant and though the people are a bit more civilised today, were the Church to gain power, the same conditions, no doubt, would be repeated. Indeed, this is happening in those Christian countries where the Communist State has collapsed. Religion will have to be understood at a much deeper level. And this appears to be a task for Islam.

13. People used to know only one religion. But as a result of the development of transport and communication they have come into contact with several different religions, all of which are similarly justifiable. This has weakened the hold of each and created confusion. There is no way of externally proving the truth of any of them or evaluating and selecting between them since they are themselves the source of values. The apparent contradiction between them causes bewilderment and outright rejection. The difference between the universal and the particular, the underlying essence and the forms and formulations will need to be emphasised. The similarities rather than the differences should become the focus of attention. Even Science looks for what is permanent and stable underlying the differences and changes in phenomena.

14. There is an error of thought among many religious people. It is supposed that God has completed all creation and that man has no responsibilities, should not change anything, and that God himself will take charge of human affairs directly. Thus all advances in science and technology are opposed on grounds such as “If God meant us to fly, He would have given us wings.‘ Political or Social movements are opposed or ignored on the grounds that they are man-made. This produces negativism, complacency, inaction and paralysis. The result is that an increasing number of people oppose religion. This idea is certainly incompatible with the notion of man as Vicegerent. It has not occurred to such people that God must have made man and given him the various faculties for some purpose.

 The correct view is that Allah works through man as He does through all other things, organisms, materials, forces and the laws of Nature. But this could lead both to construction or destruction, benefits or harm, reward or punishment. The difference between the truly religious man who relies on God and others can only be that:-

 (a) He tries to do what is constructive and beneficial by accepting and abiding by the moral teachings of the scriptures rather than through pride, greed, and selfishness, lust etc..

  (b) He invokes the higher objective faculties of conscience, consciousness, self-control rather than prejudices, fantasies, rationalisations, impulses, habits, illusions etc..

  (c) He cultivates faith, love and hope instead of cynicism, hate and despair.

He then becomes an agent of Allah. This is Surrender.

15. The scriptures are interpreted in a diversity of ways according to their letter rather than their spirit, thereby creating sects. The conflict and mutual contradictions between sects has left many disenchanted and confused. Many have become alienated and even hostile. It is necessary to cultivate the truth that things can be looked at from different angles, and that one view does not invalidate another, but that some views are more comprehensive than others, and that some things are more suitable for some people under certain conditions.

16. Religions are seen as being based on or contain superstitions, obvious fallacies, ambiguous symbolism, elaborate and obscure philosophical arguments which defy reason, and unproved statements. They demand faith which can obviously also be placed on utter nonsense and fantasy. If experience and reason are suspended then there is no way of differentiating between truth and fantasy. Religion, therefore, depends on mental conditioning, addiction, rationalisation and obsession.

Studies, however, show that is not how they were presented by the founders who were certainly intelligent, compassionate and well adjusted people. Additions and elaborations were made by other lesser men in accordance with their limitations, prejudices and rationalisation of their own fantasies, interests and hopes.

17. Religions are regarded as having the following objectionable characteristics:-

(a) They consist of self-maintaining dogmas, rituals and institutions which have no practical application and make no difference to life. At best they offer comfort or escape into a world of illusion. Though this may be true for some people, in fact, the religious life is difficult and this is why it is unpopular in a world which tries through technology to create ease and comfort, but usually creates suffering. This criticism could only be maintained when psychological knowledge was poor. The dogmas, rituals and institutions modify people in their actions, motives and thoughts, and this affects the way they inter-relate with each other and with the environment. However, in so far as they are automatisms rather than techniques they should certainly be condemned.

(b) They are based on or create emotionalism and sentimentality and irrational behaviour often of an extreme kind, which borders on hysteria and leads to fanaticism. It offers the security of certainty in an uncertain world, but many people need to confirm this certainty within themselves by destroying all those who challenge it. This need is proportional to the doubts created by the obscurity and unreasonableness of the doctrines which they are required to accept. This is indeed true of many cults and people. But there is no sign of this in the original founders. These features must be attributed to the nature of the followers. It has psychological causes not connected with religion, which would lead people to seek and join any other movement which allowed them to indulge such behaviour. This should not be confused with genuine religion. But neither should mere intellectualism.

(c) They tend to create posturing, hypocrisy, self-righteousness, artificiality in behaviour, dress and speech designed to distinguish a person from others in order, perhaps, to assert some kind of superiority, This is also true. But, again, there is no sign of this in the founders. It is also necessary to point out that a religious person may be genuinely struggling against some inner defect in himself and this attempt at self-control should not be mistaken for hypocrisy. Unfortunately, one result of this could be that the religious person becomes intolerant of the same defects in others because consistency and the need for reinforcement requires that if he condemns certain features in himself he must condemn them in others also. It may also lead him to hide or to project his own defects onto others. Some of the other features may also have similar causes. But religions also condemn these reactions. It is necessary, therefore, for the religious man to remain aware and vigilant of what is going on within him so that he can control them. Without this, effort he become ineffective and worthless. Religions should not, therefore, be identified with this kind of behaviour either.

(d) The tactics and behaviour of many apparently devout people, including a great number of priests, tends to be repulsive. There is the desire to brain wash with rhetoric, to dominate and bully others, to be naively dogmatic, inflexible and intolerant and obsessed with certain ideas, to be narrow minded and have tunnel vision.

 

18. A religious argument depends not on appeal to the facts of nature but on quotations of the scriptures. It is assumed that only the facts of nature can support or disprove an argument, not books or other people’s opinions.

 However, such quotations may be legitimately made for three reasons:-

  (a) That we wish to show what the position of a certain author, movement or religion is.

  (b) That we do not ourselves know all facts directly. Instead we refer to someone who we consider to be an expert and who knows the facts. Or we refer to a record where the facts are to be found.

  (c) That facts are not enough. We also need to interpret and evaluate them. Moreover, people also have different capacities for perception and conceptualisation. It is not true that everyone can see or accept a fact, or that what people see is necessarily a fact. We, therefore, need to point to a source which we consider to be more reliable. Education would have been quite impossible if children did not accept their text books. Adults are more arrogant, sceptical and cynical. Scepticism is justified in most cases. People and books do tell lies, make errors or suffer from prejudices and delusions.

  (d) That the book contains instructions which point to where the appropriate experiences and facts can be found. The Quran, for instance, points to nature as well as to human history. It also provides the exercises by which we can develop appropriate faculties and inter-personal relationships which will produce the required experiences. The mistake lies in dogmatisation, institutionalising and ritualising.

 

It is possible to quote any Scripture, including the Quran, in support of any and even contradictory arguments. This only goes to show that every argument is based on only a selected part of the Scriptures and a particular way of interpreting it. But this is not different from the selectivity exercised with respect to the facts of nature. It is necessary to take into consideration all the different aspects of the scriptures, as we have to with respect to nature, in order to come to as comprehensive a view as possible, and then remain humble enough to admit the likelihood that one has missed something or seen it from a restricted angle.

Scriptures may also be misquoted or misinterpreted. Things can be taken out of one context and placed in another, to produce quite a different meaning. The meaning can also be stretched to include what was not intended or narrowed down to exclude what was. The meaning can be distorted by excluding something and including something else. This may be done deliberately or unconsciously, or it may have happened over the years as conditions of life and the language itself changed. People may differ in their opinion as to whether the meaning is precise, metaphorical, or has been distorted. It is also possible to mistake the particular for the general, the letter for the spirit, the vessel for the contents, the vehicle for the passenger, and vice versa. Errors due to all these factors cannot be excluded. It is, therefore, always necessary to consult a genuine teacher, an expert in the field, if one exists and can be found or recognised. We are then led to another level in that we have to assure ourselves that the person we consider an expert is, indeed, an expert, that he knows the truth, is telling it, does so always, and that we can and have understood him. We need to apply certain tests. The problem is that we cannot reject the words of an expert because we do not recognise them as true. This would be a contradiction since we go to him in the first place because we do not know the truth. The only test is that the results he predicts come about and that he enables us to come to the truth by our own efforts. All this, of course, applies not only to scriptures, but to any book, statement or opinion whatever.

19. Religion and the stability of the family are connected, each reinforcing the other. This is because each deals in life and the development of the individual. The disintegration of the family causes the decline of religion and vice versa, particularly as religious influences and affection, security, sense of significance and values fail to be transmitted to the next generation. The State and Economic conditions both affected by government policies tend to undermine families.

20. The intellectual basis of Religion was destroyed by advances in Science. The first blow against religion came from Newton’s Law which indicated that the Universe was mechanical in nature which worked like a perpetual machine requiring no external agent, no God. The second blow came from Darwin’s Theory of Evolution which indicated that man was not a special creation of God, but evolved gradually from sea creatures through apes. Yet neither Newton nor Darwin were atheists. The third blow came from Psychological researches of Freud and others which indicated that human beings had a sub-conscious mind from which ideas came as rationalisations of desires which were projected outwards. However, further researches are changing all these ideas quite radically. A little knowledge has always been dangerous when accompanied by arrogance.

21. The controversy between Philosophers and Logicians has led to the conclusion that the ultimate Truth cannot be known by man. We may call this the Principle of Philosophical Uncertainty. Therefore, each opinion is as good as any other. This attitude is also incorporated in the political system as Democracy and in the Economic system for commercial reasons. The advantages of this are that people have greater freedom to satisfy their needs and oppression is reduced. New systems, ideas, products and organisations can then arise freely, be tested by the real world, and advantageous ones can multiply and develop. This is compatible with the process of evolution. In religious terms we may say that Allah tests and selects. In fact, however, human progress depends on selecting what they have found to be useful and the progressive accumulation of these. This applies to ideas, social systems, techniques as well as values. But it is also true that though new forms had to be adopted, old forms had to be discarded. It is the conflict between these which is a source of suffering owing to the human tendency to form habits. We may, therefore, conclude that there are at least three truths which all can agree upon, namely that (a) an ultimate Reality exists (b) That evolution is inevitable, and there is, therefore, a goal or direction. (c) That everything which facilitates human growth and development is good. Thus though we may not have the capacity for seeing the truth now, we ought to strive to develop it. All this is included in the notion of Surrender.

 

The corruption of religion is due to factors coming from certain aspects of human nature:-

1. The misdirection of inherent urges; self-preservative desires for security, comfort and happiness, socio-sexual desires for love and affection, self-extensive and ego desires for significance. These lead to suppression, rationalisation and fantasies. Some of the consequences are as follows:-

To form attachments to a leader who is made into a god so that attachment to him provides a sense of power and significance.

To attain salvation without effort e.g. by mere belief without works.

To make religion into a crutch because of personal inadequacies.

To make religion into an opium in order to forget the troubles and suffering both around one and within oneself which arises from self-contradiction. This has the added advantage that one can ignore it and continue without doing anything about it. Any actions undertaken tend to be superficial and inadequate.

To rationalise away the obstructions to one’s personal interests, profit, prejudices, and power, to continue exploitation, aggression, swindling, hate etc..

Self-righteousness.

Greed for imagined heavenly rewards or worldly prestige and admiration.

Self-indulgence in sentimentality and emotionalism.

Cowardice in not facing inner and outer truths and fighting for it.

To suspend the responsibilities to exercise reason and effort.

 

2. Religion has become organised hierarchically. (a) It has become authoritarian. Thus all thinking, motivation and practice is left to religious authorities. (b) It is concerned mainly with administrative matters, doctrines, rules and with self-maintenance. (c) The alliance of organised Churches or Priests with Political and Commercial interests.

 

3. The inertia inherent in physical systems creates in man habits of thought, feeling and action, automatisms, conditioning by tradition, literalism, attachments to forms.

It is evident, therefore, that a correct religion or way of life requires both passivity and activity with respect to Reality. It requires Surrender.

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(5) The Islamic Answer

 

The question is:- Can Islam, designed for another age and people, be applied in this day and age? This age is full of problems, many of them new. Mankind does not appear to have solutions; or if they have there is insufficient interest or understanding or motivation. We need help and guidance to solve them, where ever we can find them. What solutions, if any, does Islam have to offer? There do not appear to be any direct or short term solutions, for the Quran tells us:-

“Allah changes not the condition of a folk until they first change that which is their hearts.” 13:11

The solution is education at a more sophisticated level than commonly understood by the term. This has three aspects:-

 1. It does not mean indoctrination, training and conditioning, but the actualisation and development of inherent potentialities. It requires better knowledge and understanding  of nature, of our environment, of ourselves and the progressive incorporation of this in our lives.

 2. It requires enhanced consciousness, conscience and will

 3. It involves the ability to perceive, feel and act at a higher level;  to have a higher kind of motivation, an enhanced value system, a new Morality.

 

Having achieved human development, all other things become possible. This was also the position of Jesus.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these other things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

In order to achieve this we have to be guided by those who have already achieved higher development. The attitude of Islam may be described by the following:-

1. Islam is based on the supremacy and oneness of Allah. This implies (a) the Unity of the Universe. (b) the Unity of life. (c) the Unity of mankind (d) the Unity of the inner self. It requires the cultivation of a unified world view, so that everything else can be seen in its over all context, and in relation to everything else.

2. Islam sees man as existing in, depending on, and having a function with respect to, the whole of Reality. He should function as a Vicegerent. And this applies both to the individual and the community. As such he will also be reverenced by nature. He, therefore, has three inter-dependant responsibilities:-

    (a) Towards his surroundings. An environmental duty.

    (b) Towards his fellows, the community. A Social duty.

    (c) Towards himself. A psychological duty.

 

3. Behaviour depends on (a) Inherent factors (b) learning from the environment and (c) correct personal efforts designed to cultivate his potentialities. But man has to become aware even of inherent tendencies. He has to learn about himself, as well as about his environment and how to do and act. He needs a key or framework of reference with the aid of which he can perceive and act correctly.

There are seven ways of learning:-.

(i) Either you learn from bitter experience.

(ii) Or you learn from observation of other people.

(iii) Or you learn by obeying authority, the parent or parent substitute such as the teacher or an expert. Allah and the the Prophet brings such guidance and instructions.

(iv) Or you learn by the use of your faculties, from research, experiment and reasoning.   

(v) Or you can organise and integrate the data of experiences into a system of all inner and outer experiences. You chew, digest and assimilate the experiences.

(vi) It is also possible to develop greater empathy, sensitivity and interaction between oneself and the environment. You learn from insight, intuition, inspiration.

(vii) Finally, an individual may identify himself with reality and we have the state of Surrender.

 

The first three may be regarded as the lower or ordinary forms of learning. The last three are the higher or transcendental forms of learning. the fourth or middle one is a bridge between the other two sets and is usually the field in which theologians, philosophers and scientists operate. There are, of course, different degrees of learning at each level.

Consider the knowledge that fire burns. You can stick your finger into the fire and damage yourself. You can see what happens to others or hear or read what others have experienced or what happened to them. Or you can obey your parents who tell you not to do it and why. Or you can reason that since fire burns other things it may also burn you. Obviously, the most vivid lesson is by the first method but this carries a risk. You may injure yourself permanently or even die. However, you may teach others by this. The second is dependant on the chance that an observable event happens. You may not interpret it correctly, or pay little attention to it. You may not spend thought on it, analyse, absorb and digest the experience. It is less certain and less vivid. The third is safest for those who have very little experience to guide them. Most of our knowledge comes in this way. But the knowledge is not your own. It becomes more your own by the fourth method. When we eat food we have to mix it with saliva and other digestive juices coming from ourselves before the material is incorporated into us. In the same way a certain amount of effort is required to make knowledge into our own. This is also the scientific attitude, but obviously it applies only to the scientist who does the work, not to other people who merely accept what he says.

Religion, however, requires that the knowledge gained should modify the person himself. Thought, feelings and actions should be co-ordinated. And all experiences should form a single coherent system rather than exist in many separate systems. An experience does not only have a cognitive aspect, there is feeling and action attached to it. It has some kind of significance for the person.

The food, as it were, should be mixed and combined with oxygen and the energy and impressions which come through the senses to produce an overall state. But this is only the first of the higher forms of learning.

Humanity has gone through similar stages, but three main ones can be distinguished:-

In stage 1, when people were primitive, uneducated, then like the child they had to rely on authority. This may have been a tradition, a scripture, a person such as a leader or teacher.

In stage 2, that of the adolescent, the individual rebels against his parents. he wants to establish his own independent individuality, his creativity and self-expression and opinions. He experiments and tries to learn from experience. But he may have damaged himself irreversibly by so doing. He may have misinterpreted his experiences. However, others could learn from his experiences. The Western World finds itself at this stage.

In stage 3, when the fully mature adult has been formed, and he has learnt the nature and depth of his limitations and his powers, probably from his own or other people’s experiences and from thinking and meditation on the subject. He is less conceited and much more humble. He takes advice and instruction from teachers and experts. Moreover, having recognised his failings he wants to do something about them. He seeks suitable methods and makes the necessary efforts. Islam is, when properly understood, at this level.

 

4. It is possible for a person, society or a nation to operate on three levels, namely the physical, the social or the psychological. We have seen that the West operates mainly on the physical (the economic, industrial and technical). This has given them great power at the expense of social and psychological welfare. Systems such as Socialism, having seen the defects of the Western System, try to emphasise the Social aspect. But they have discovered that by so doing they continue to loose out economically in comparison with the West. In order to compete with the West they have to introduce measures which become quite oppressive and produce other social problems. The fact is that the expansionism, built into the Western System, is a threat to the very existence of these Socialist Systems, and vice versa.

From the Islamic point of view the ultimate goal of mankind is Spiritual (Psychological) development. Success is measured not by the amount of wealth, power or prestige which a person can accumulate, but by the amount of inner growth he has achieved. The greater his inner growth the more will he be able to see what his problems are, and the more ability will he have to solve them. Therefore, the primary aim for man should be inner psychological development. All other problems can then be solved. If on the other hand, man does not undergo such development then he will be caught in a vicious circle, a prison. He will be dealing with illusory problems, with superficial symptoms, while the causes continue to operate.

The economic system must serve the social system, which must itself serve the spiritual purpose. This is the very reverse of what obtains in the West, and also contrary to the aims of Socialism.

But Islam from its earliest times had to protect itself militarily against the onslaught of those who would destroy it. Therefore, in these days it certainly means economic, technical and industrial strength. If in order to achieve this the Social system, which makes possible the pursuit of the Spiritual goal, is destroyed, then we have a contradiction. It is not worthwhile doing. It is purposeless. Though specialisation is not excluded, the goal being human development rather than political or industrial efficiency, then education must produce a well rounded person, who can see the exact position and connections which his speciality has with the whole. It has to produce comprehensive development and increase adaptability and control.

There is today sufficient science and technology to promise a golden future for mankind, and yet the Socio-political state of mankind is ever worsening. It promises disaster, and more and more people are coming to the conclusion that salvation for mankind lies in rapid progress being made in the fields of psychology. This has brought a revival to all the religions, but religion at a higher stage. It is not at all possible to maintain religions at the state where they satisfied the uneducated, ignorant and unsophisticated masses of a bygone age. There is more knowledge available today, more education. Mere dogma, ritual and ceremony or mere institutionalism is unlikely to satisfy more than a small minority of people.

 

However, psychology is not enough. We need to know how we fit into the rest of the cosmos. It is at this level that Islam comes into its own. The onus is on Muslims to elucidate the higher aspects of Islam.

The Islamic solutions are contained in the ideas of the unity of mankind, the unity of religion, the notion of the vicegerency of man and his environmental, social and psychological responsibilities, the need for development, self-examination and the search for knowledge, not necessarily science, and its application.

 

The solution of world problems requires the following inter-dependent features:-

1. The removal or sub-ordination of all narrow loyalties by replacing them with the exclusive loyalty to Allah where this concept is properly understood as referring to what is supreme.

2. Providing man with a value, self-respect, purpose, dignity and a self-image from which more sublime motives can flow. and self-reliance rather dependence is produced. The notion of man as a Vicegerent does this.

3. The inculcation of the willingness to seek and apply objectivity in thought, motives and actions.

4. An educational system which places as much emphasis on moral education as on physical and intellectual.

5. The strengthening of the family in which all these values can develop.

6. Restoration of community feeling, responsibility and action rather than individualism or central authority.

7. A cultural system which inculcates goals, ideals and strivings for human development.

 

All these are clearly integral to Islam. It may be supposed that they are also integral to all religion, and the Quran affirms this. Observation, however, shows that even today those who call themselves Christians tend to be intolerant of other religions. To some extent this applies also to all other religions. It is also observable, and this author can vouch for this, that even the well educated Muslim, and even if he is outwardly pious, suffers from the most tremendous ignorance except in the narrow field in which he specialises. Some of them suppose that they merely have to study the Quran to become enlightened. But as the Prophet himself indicated, they study it without understanding a word of it. This ignorance can no longer be tolerated and will destroy them.

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(6) Problems for Islam

 

Islam faces three main problems:- an external one with respect to the rest of the world, a socio-economic-political one within Islamic nations, and a cultural one.

It would seem from the discussions in these pages that the spread of Islam would be an advantage to the whole world not only directly but also indirectly by facilitating reforms in other religions and political systems. But there are several reasons why this is very difficult:-

1. The backwardness of Muslim countries. People will not accept that something valuable can come from backward people and do not wish to take steps to return to primitive forms. Muslim countries will have to develop their political, economic and educational systems and to persuade people that mere wealth and power are not the ideals to be pursued.

2. There has been extensive anti-Islamic propaganda in most countries, particularly in the West ever since the Crusades. There is a fear of, and a covert conspiracy against Islam in the political policies of most Western nations. This emerges occasionally as in the campaigns against Iran and Iraq, the inactivity in Bosnia where the Muslims were clearly persecuted, and even in the support of Russia, their former enemy, which is regarded as a buffer against the Islamic nations in the East and South. They even managed to manipulate Muslim countries to support them in the destruction of the strongest military power in the Muslim world. They are likely to regret all this.  

It would have been more in their interest to strengthen the Islamic nations both against Russia, which is still a strong nation which may establish a fascist regime, and against China which is daily growing stronger. However, it must be admitted that the tyrannical regime in Iraq could not be regarded as Muslim, and constituted a threat to other Muslim nations and Islam itself. The point is that the West made sure that Iraq retained sufficient military power to remain a threat to these nations, and remains indifferent or even rejoices in the fact that Iraq continues to persecute and destroy Muslims.

The Muslims are being persecuted everywhere, by Christians, Jews, Hindus, Capitalist as well as Communist nations and even by their own governments and holders of power. This persecution, however, is causing a reawakening and an awareness of their separate identity and unity. This revival of Islam, in turn, is frightening both Western and Eastern powers which leads them to policies designed to disarm them and make them even more vulnerable.

The lesson to be learnt from these events is that unless Islam is revived the Muslim nations will be divided; while Muslim nations are divided they will be manipulated; while they are technologically backwards they cannot act independently and will remain servants to western interests; they will remain backwards unless there is more education and they are motivated by a revival of the spirit and enthusiasm towards development; that the way to power is not through arms but through ideas.

Muslims will have to take counter-measures by mounting a world wide information program to explain themselves better both to others and themselves. However, being poorer they cannot match Western institutions which propagate Christianity by literature, missionaries, radio, television and the internet. They have to rely on proportionally larger contributions and the greater reasonableness of their message. They will have to explain Islam in the light of modern developments in order to be understood. But all this will be pointless if they do not show excellence in character and the ability to control their affairs in a superior way. In particular they must unite and perhaps also enlist the support of other genuine religious groups. There is, after all, no real difference in ultimate purpose between them, and the real struggle is between the intelligent and conscious way of life against the unintelligent blind and corrupting way of life. Unfortunately, Muslims have been plagued throughout their history by conflicts between groups which has cost them their empires, and civilisation, and this continues to this day. Witness Afghanistan. This would not have happened had their loyalty been exclusively to Allah and had they taken seriously the idea that the worst sin is killing other Muslims - in short had they been true Muslims.

3. There are a number of prejudices regarding the position of women in Islam and people are conditioned by Western ideas about women. More research and better information will reverse this. Muslims, however, often do mistreat their women in contradiction to the teachings in the Quran. But these malpractices are erroneously seen as part of Islam. Nevertheless, it is remarkable that a great proportion of the new converts to Islam are Western women.

4. Islam forbids Alcohol consumption while it is an integral part of Western culture. Indeed, when the Czar of Russia was looking for a faith to support his Political structure, as Constantine had done for the Roman Empire, he considered both Islam and Christianity. But eventually rejected Islam because he could not see how he could impose a ban on alcohol without creating great political problems.

Alcohol, however, has caused many more social, political as well as economic and psychological problems and a great amount of suffering. It is the cause of a great number of fatal accidents, murders and other crimes, fornication and illegitimate births, disruption of marriages and families and the consequent social problems, many diseases as well as commercial and political indiscretions with wide ranging consequences. Most of these facts are widely known, but have not penetrated the understanding of people in general. The U.S.A did try to prohibit alcohol for a period, but had to abandon this policy because of the increase in crime through smuggling, illicit production, trading and control by powerful crime syndicates. What was impossible for politics and politicians was only possible for religion and a prophet. It is unlikely that any other problems of the world can be solved through political means.

5, Muslims have become frustrated with the conditions they find themselves in, and have taken aggressive counter-measures both in their own lands and in the West where many live. Self-defence is, of course, a legitimate activity, but aggression produces even further opposition since it confirms the view of antagonists that Muslims are trouble makers and disrupting influences. In so far as Muslims are weaker in technology and numbers they are liable to make things worse for themselves. This aggression is usually the characteristic of young men who have not yet learnt self-restraint. Islam, however, requires them to honour their elders and wiser men. Unfortunately, some of the elders are not wiser men, and lead them often into ineffective and counter-productive actions. Muslims ought, in fact, to be law abiding citizens. Though Surrender means the acceptance of the values commanded by Allah and acting according to them, it also means acceptance, toleration and endurance of the circumstances provided by Allah. It certainly does not mean actions which flout these teachings. Extremism often leads just to this. Muslims ought, therefore, to keep to themselves as far as possible, work quietly, reasonably but persistently and effectively without attracting much attention to themselves.

6. Although there are numerous movements to revive Islam and there are many new converts which gives the impression that Islam is spreading, an increasing number are also abandoning Islam. It is not sufficient to revive the old formulation, it is also necessary to:-

(a) Reformulate, reinterpret it for modern understanding, make it more relevant to the modern world. Few are doing this.

(b) Apart from providing a teaching, it is also necessary to have a leadership with ability and particularly one which can set a good example, and

(c) People are willing to follow the teaching and example.

 

It is unlikely that Islam could have spread in the first place by its teaching without the leadership and example of the Prophet and without people who were made suitably receptive by the times and conditions.

 

The nations of the World have become much more inter-dependent than formerly and migration has caused them to become much more mixed. A great number of Muslims live in Western countries. The influence of Western culture on Muslims, even those living in their own countries is increasing. It is not possible to isolate Muslims from its corrupting effect. This is not to say that their own culture has no corrupting effects or that there are no good influences in Western culture. It is, however, not difficult to see that apart from the emphasis on explicit violence, destruction, crime, greed, sexual perversions and so on, there are also implied values which are incompatible with the Islamic vision and these have a more insidious effect.

Apart from this the introduction of Western technology, business and political practices bring with them the culture in which they are embedded and which produce it. Muslim communities in the West are breaking down not only because of the revolt of the young brought up under western culture but also because discrimination against Muslims in law, industry, education and housing. If these tendencies continue then neither will Islam survive nor will it be possible to transform the world by solving its problems. There is no solution to this problem except intensive counteractive education to establish a strong moral foundation and Muslims taking over responsibility for the welfare and development of their own separate communities in all its aspects, social, economic and political.

The Muslim countries can develop their own economic, social, political, ethical, cultural systems. They do not need those of the West. There is little doubt that in theory the Islamic system is superior to any other existing in the world. It provides an ideal which, though it may not be achieved, provides a direction for development.

But Muslims have lost contact with their foundations. They are backwards educationally as well as economically and politically. At first they were directly dominated and exploited by Western powers. But then they were made independent because these powers realised that much trouble could be avoided if they set up local governments who would ensure their interests and quell opposition and unrest. However, the decline of Islamic power cannot be attributed to the West. On the contrary it is the decline of the Muslim people which enabled the West to dominate them. To this day, despite the evidence that it weakens them and leaves them open to exploitation, they are still divided and fight each other. Indeed, they even help Western powers against other Muslim nations. Even among peoples such as the Palestinians who are fighting against oppression, there are many so called Muslims who are helping their oppressors.

 

No true Islamic system exists anywhere. The Muslim world is dominated by the West, economically, politically as well as culturally. Of these the Cultural enslavement is the worst because it is insidious. We can admire those Muslim nations which have managed to overthrow cultural slavery. But they have done so at great economic and political cost, and their motives are likely to have been emotional rather than spiritual ones. Nor is it certain that they have been able to re-interpret Islam sufficiently to suit the needs of the modern age. Or to remove the extraneous, corrupt habits of thinking, feeling and doing which were the causes of their degeneration. If they have not, then it will only hold them back instead of facilitating their advance. The pressures under which Islamic nations labour may prove to be overwhelming. The problems are as follows:-

1. In order to overcome their backwardness and poverty the Islamic nations must modernise. This in effect means that they must Westernise.

2. To do this they need Western help. But the West is unlikely to help them unless it is in their own interest and without extracting a great price. This is because of the fear of Islam based on past history of conflicts with Islam. The West is much more powerful and their opposition to Islam takes three forms - political action from States, from Business and Commercial interests, subversion from the Secret Agencies.

3. In order to modernise, the Islamic countries must rely on people educated in the West. Those who hold the power and abilities are dominated mentally and culturally by the West. Their attitudes and values are Western. They have usually abandoned their religion. They have become imitators. They have also lost touch with their own roots and the peoples over whom they rule. They become self-centred and pursue their own interests. There is, therefore, a conflict of culture and interest between the ruling class and the rest of the Muslim people. This often leads to oppression. They are likely to create even worse problems than those which have already been created in the West by adding political conflicts to environmental, economic, social and psychological problems. The conditions they introduce are those which were created by the West to suit its own physical and social environment and mentality. They are alien to the Muslim peoples. The pressure on resources is much greater than it used to be in past and it is, therefore, much more difficult for Muslim nations to industrialise than it was for the Western nations.

4. In order to overcome this state of affairs Islamic movements have been set up. A section of the population has woken up to the degenerate condition and inferior position of the Muslim world and has decided to do something about it. Their solution is to return to Islam. Unfortunately, most of them are dominated by fanatics or an uneducated, reactionary and ignorant priesthood which knows little about the modern developments in science, industry, commerce and politics. They wish to go back to an Islam as it was in the past, rather than take up the responsibilities of the vicegerent and go forward. They are known as religious fundamentalists. Some, however, have seen the need for a Reformation. These movements are feared, opposed and repressed by those who hold the power, often with the aid of foreign intervention. Sometimes they succeed and then tend to set up obsolete systems unadapted to modern conditions. However, it is likely that in time they will gradually adapt and produce something new. But in the meantime they will have to cope with very strong foreign opposition which may destroy them.

5. The mass of the population, however, forms a third class which is indifferent to either of the others.. It is uneducated and is so poor that apart from devoting itself to the business of making a living it has little interest, time, energy or understanding for anything else. This section is manipulated by the other two.

6. Since there is a great difference of both means and goals between the other two, conflict is inevitable. The governing class tries to suppress the religious class with all the instruments at its disposal, using the law, courts, police, army and even commercial and political pressures and foreign help. This provokes the religious class to retaliate in kind. They become frustrated and militant. The phrase ‘ Religious Fundamentalism’ has wrongly been applied to this phenomena and the arising of it is partly the fault of the governments. Conversely, the militancy of the religious class provokes the governing class into violence. An escalating spiral of viciousness and bitterness becomes inevitable from which the economic, social and psychological fabric of the nation deteriorates still further. The real cause of this situation is the stupidity of both, and the inadequacy of their education. Both sections are in the minority. A governing class which has little in common with the people is tyrannical and cannot last. It cannot hope to maintain power or make any economic or political progress unless it caters for the hopes and values of the people, or educates them and uplifts them spiritually. But being thoroughly corrupt themselves they are unable to do this.

 The religious class cannot hope to form a stable government through violence. It can only create another tyranny. Islam cannot be established except through education. Political movements and revolutions based on Islamic ideals are usually ineffective. They usually have ulterior motives. Civilisation and Political power were, in the past, the side effects of spiritual development not the other way round. The establishment of a high civilisation or political power is not a genuine religious aim and must fail. If the people are not genuinely Muslim, even if they sincerely believe that they are, then the conditions they create will not be Muslim either. They will neither work nor is it worth establishing them. All such movements create overwhelming opposition from more powerful already established forces because they feel threatened. The ruling class will have to learn more deeply about Islam and the religious class will have to learn more about the modern world. Work has to be done to reconcile the two and reform Islam in the light of modern knowledge and conditions.

7. Apart from domination by Western powers and an often reactionary priest class, the Muslim countries are also dominated by greedy and power hungry self-seekers. Thus many Islamic countries are ruled by dictators, tyrants, groups, classes or families who ply their own interests. And this often means support from and of Western interests. The West is able, through them, to continue its strangle hold on Islam.

8. Being in an inferior position the Muslims have certainly to learn from the West. But mere imitation is not enough. Things have to be adapted and incorporated and made into their own. Imitation merely means taking the bad with the good, and even that in a superficial way. It means adding what is bad to already existing evils. It is not, in fact, possible to be selective. Everything is connected with everything else. Accepting the technology means that the industrial, social and political system which gave rise to it, has to be accepted also. But the Muslim countries are far behind the West in these, and they are not equipped to deal with the side effects which these countries had to deal with over a long period. If modernization is done rapidly then the tensions, too, must become concentrated. These could be overwhelming. It also cuts them off from their own virtues without replacing them with what is good in the West. Fortunately, there is a fourth class of Muslims, still small in number but steadily increasing, who are both educated and Muslim. They are attempting an enlightened reform. They constitute the only hope for Islamic nations.

9. The main problem in Islamic countries is the kind of attitudes, thinking and motivation prevalent among the people. It is neither properly Islamic nor adapted to the requirements of the modern world. It is entrenched in obsolete habits and traditions which accumulated over the centuries while the Islamic spirit gradually eroded. The Muslims, moreover, suffer now from a deep seated inferiority feeling. They have lost anchorage, orientation and stability and feel bewildered, uncertain and inadequate. They have a low self-image and lost direction and respect for themselves. This leads to three types of distorting behaviour - shame-faced submissiveness, compensatory aggressiveness, and escapist abandonment. A great number of them imitate Western manners and life style in order to obtain Western approval, Thus the West is able to manipulate them merely by the use of approval and disapproval.

10. The main problem in Islam is the fact that owing to the ban on religious compulsion and the belief in individual responsibility the Muslim world, except for a period in which the Prophet himself united the warring tribes, has a tendency to disintegration into factions. It is this which made it necessary for less able rulers to use compulsion in order to maintain unity. Hence the arising of tyrants and dictatorships. But this is the result of the failure of the Muslims to achieve the psychological development which the Prophet envisaged.

 

 It can hardly be denied that the main strength of Islam, the cause of its success, was the awakening of a new consciousness. But the Muslims are asleep. It makes little difference that they bemoan their plight, protest, revolt and make ineffective retaliations against real and imagined oppressors. Until thinking changes dramatically nothing can be achieved.

“...your thoughts which you did think about your Lord have ruined you; and you find yourselves this day among the lost...” 41:23

“And when it is said to them: Follow that which has revealed, they say: We follow that wherein we found our fathers. What! Even though their fathers were wholly unintelligent and had no guidance?” 2:170

“He (Allah) can remove you, O people, and produce others in your stead...” 4:133

“He (Allah) tries some people by means of others.”47:4

“ And if Allah wills misfortune for a folk there is none that can repel it, nor have they a defender besides Him.” 13:11

 

To solve the problems it is necessary that:-

(1) There should arise a class of educated Muslims who concentrate their attention on the Reformation of Islam. This requires three things:-

    (a) Some provide a good theoretical basis.

    (b) Some have the organisation and managerial skills

    (c) Some are men of action who can actually implement and apply the teachings.

 

Much has been done at the first level, but the little or nothing at the other two.

The Theoretical level also requires three things:-

   (i) That the foundations of Islam are not merely accepted but justified and explained.

   (ii) That the teachings of Islam, not only those contained in the Quran, but also the Hadith and of other authorities is considered and adapted to modern conditions.

   (iii) That new policy and structures are suggested which can be implemented. Here, too, work has been done at the second level, but very little at the first and third.

 

The emphasis must be placed on morality and goals. But knowledge and new ideas are also required. It should not matter that there is a difference of opinion as long as all agree that these are tentative and conditional. Indeed, the resulting intermixture and discussion acts as a stimulus for further development. Variety ensures the likelihood that something valuable will emerge and survive. And that it caters for differences in people.

 

(2) The results of these efforts should be taught to all students in the schools, colleges and universities.

 

(3) It should be the duty of all students to spread a revitalised Islam to the rest of the community. Islam has no Church or priesthood, but it is still possible to have an organisation of people who devote themselves to the religious life, understood in a broader sense, and to the service of the society and the development of their fellow man. Organisations need to be set up. which will recruits people with appropriate temperaments and educate them in the skills required for such a service. Graduates should be sent out into the community, into villages, towns and districts to discuss with, and guide the population. This could be regarded as part of their course. Full use should be made of the media of communication, particularly television. Lectures, meetings and gatherings should be arranged for this purpose.

 

(4), The power of the ignorant priest class and corrupt ideologists (writers, novelists, journalists, all those who influence thoughts in morally detrimental direction), the self-seeking politicians and tyrants and business classes, and foreign powers should be opposed and broken, mainly through education which creates awareness of their evil influence. A group of people devoted to just this function is necessary. They should be made socially responsible through the law. Unfortunately, it is just these people who hold the power over affairs. They also hold the expertise so that removing them without adequate substitutes is only likely to make matters worse. There can be no revolution, but only evolution. It should be understood that though the priests in Islamic countries do hold power and often have a harmful or obstructive effect, this is not because they are evil but because they are ignorant, and this does not apply to all of them. Some are very knowledgeable, wise and upright and shed a wholly good influence. It is the existence of an exclusive self-propagating class which is to be fought against.

 

(5) Muslims have to create their own institutions, adapt what is good and useful, not only in the west but elsewhere, including technologies, and incorporate them harmoniously. Mere imitation should be discouraged.

 

(6) The Muslim nations, each by themselves are too week and do not possess sufficient resources. Muslim nations should form a combined Pan-Islamic Organisation by proportional representation. But this should not interfere with the internal affairs of any member country. Variety is desirable in order that the natural differences between people can be satisfied. They should have a single central Military force, Research Centres, and Institute for Industrial Development, and perhaps also a Police Force, Law and Legal system.

 

(7) There is little doubt that Muslim nations have to be able to defend themselves better. Weakness allows others to bully them to serve foreign interests. Rather than spend enormous sums on large armies they will have to combine resources and invest in means which will make war too costly for an aggressor. Commonly held Nuclear Bombs, chemical and biological weapons, missiles to deliver them and Intelligence Satellite is probably necessary.

 

(8) It is necessary to achieve economic and technological development independently as far as possible. In order to do this rather than borrowing money from foreign countries, the people will have to be subjected to a Development Tax which could well be an extension of the Zakah since it is a form of social service and self-defence. This Tax is a method of generating capital. This should be used to finance education, research and planning, and the creation of heavy industry. The profits of these should be reinvested. The purpose of the education is to produce teachers who will educate others. The main point of research is to create appropriate technologies and learning how to apply them economically. The industries should be designed to produce versatile materials and small scale, versatile machinery which could be used by individuals and small groups.

It is, however, also necessary to mention a prediction by the Prophet himself, that the Dajjal, the anti-Christ who is to dominate the world with evil before the end of the present era, is to be born in a Muslim country. Considering, therefore, the ignorance and gullibility of the majority of Muslims, and their strong desire for liberation from their inferior position, then we have the perfect setting for the prophecy to come true in exactly the same way as a similar situation produced a Hitler.. It may not, therefore, be possible to rescue the whole Muslim Nation but only groups of Muslims.

 

Islam is a world religion, and came for the benefit of the whole world, and the Muslim world is not independent of it. Apart from the problems applying to the Muslim world, the world itself is suffering from major problems. These too, therefore, constitute a problem for Islamic countries.

The problem in the modern world can be given by the following argument:-

1. The West controls the world Economically, Politically and Ideologically. Many nations are suffering under this domination. When attempting their own economic and political development they are invariably obstructed by Western powers. They are, therefore, left steadily further behind.

2. The Western Way of life has created great ecological, economic, social and psychological problems and does not satisfy the human spirit and aspirations, even in the West. It also threatens to produce a major disaster on an unprecedented scale in all these areas.

3. Solving these problems would require a complete change in the way of life. But the Western Political systems are probably unable to adapt.

4. Alternative systems based on social and economic considerations which have been tried have collapsed.

5. Islam provides the only other alternative which is also much more comprehensive, but it has not yet been tried. The Muslim peoples are backwards and have largely misunderstood and abandoned their religion. In particular they lack leadership of quality.

6. The revival of Islam is essential. But it was originally adapted to quite different conditions of life. Revival cannot mean return to obsolete conditions. It can only mean a new adaptation so that it can deal with modern problems.

7. Revival of Islam by emphasising its economic, political and cultural aspects have been tried by numerous people in several Muslim countries. These have all failed. Islam originally grew because it was based on faith. Faith, however, has collapsed owing to modern developments in science, technology and organisation. These developments cannot be reversed. A higher understanding of Islam is necessary.

8. Western domination cannot be rivalled or fought through technological, economic or political means, but only through knowledge, ideas, example and spiritual force. But in order to do this the champions of Islam must not only be spiritually and morally excellent, but must be well educated in both Western and Islamic ideologies in all fields. There are only very few such people.

9. Such people, who are also very highly motivated and willing to undertake the work for little recompense, will have to devote themselves to educating and training others in order to increase their numbers. Academic achievements, however, are not sufficient. Faith produces, and is based on, a complete transformation of life style. This requires the establishment of communities of New Muslims.

10. These Communities should be able to experiment and solve all the problems in a practical way and become self-sufficient. In order to set up such communities it may at first be necessary to obtain financial contributions from other Muslims.

11. The only test of objective value is multiplication. Success of a Community should allow members of it to set up other communities. A successful community should be able to run training schools where others may learn to set up such communities. As the number of such communities increases, and each gives rise to a number of daughter communities then the rate of expansion will accelerate. All communities so set up should be federated into a single body.

12. These communities are not ideological, political or economic organisation in the narrow sense, and should avoid all such conflicts. These merely distort its purpose. There are Muslim communities in many countries. Members of these can participate in the politics, economics and education within these countries and in all their institutions with a view to influencing and gradually modifying their affairs, ideologies and character. This should not create opposition and conflict if these communities are not identified with foreign countries or political systems.

If Muslims are found unworthy of the task and fail, then it must be presumed that Allah has abandoned them and their religion is obsolete, though it may continue to have beneficial spiritual effects among the few.

 

Though much of the Muslim world is ruled, oppressed and held back by Kings, Dictators and Oligarchies, it is necessary to guard oneself against the biased criticisms of Western journalists who appear to select only malpractices and abuses in Islamic countries while ignoring similar or equivalent conditions in their own. However, though some of these regimes claim that their systems are based on Islam, it is not difficult to establish that this is not so. This is mainly because most the people are uneducated and those who are, belong to wealthy classes who ply their own interest. This state of affairs cannot go on for long. They are likely to run out of the oil and other resources on which the system depends. They will have to replace this with other technologies. But the technology they import will bring the same conditions which exist in the West. They will not be able to compete with the rest of the world if they continue to disable half their populations. There will be increasing employment of women who will become independent and acquire economic and political power, bringing about social changes. All this will cause further deterioration of Islam, but also spell disaster for the whole population because static dictatorships and entrenched traditions cannot be overthrown without bloody revolutions. This will cause not only the destruction of property but also of the social and cultural systems.

All this could be avoided if wise changes can be gradually brought about. But this can only be done by those who have the wealth, power and prestige. It is in the interest of these Kings and Dictators and all those who have become rich and powerful under their patronage and protection to do this themselves. But it is difficult to persuade them that this is needed because of their conditioning, ignorance and narrow self-interest. It is not merely a question of their survival, but it would also earn them gratitude and prestige and a place in History, even if they do not believe in a reward in the Hereafter. If, indeed, these Kings, Dictators, Businessmen, Landowners and Judges are God-fearing men, as some claim, then it is a question of showing them how they are flouting Allah’s Laws as recorded in the Quran. It is, of course, futile to criticise them in terms of Western ideas of Human Rights whether they are believers in Allah or not. For, if they are true believers and sincerely practice the religious discipline, then consciousness, conscience and the will would develop and they would adhere to the Law of God not of man. But if they are unbelievers then it is only their own self-interest and values which will matters to them and there is no justification for accepting someone else’s value system.

 

There are three great interconnected problems in Islam:-

The first problem facing the Muslims is sectarianism. It prevents cooperation and united action. Having agreed that Allah is supreme to whom loyalty should be given exclusively, that Muhammad is His Prophet, and having accepted the Quran, one would think that everything else is comparatively a triviality. It is perfectly possible to regard these other differences as mere opinions which can in no way equal the Truth. But the sects have killed each other for this despite the fact that this is considered the worst of sins. It can hardly be said that people who do this are really “Believing Muslims”. What is even worse is that some of the differences lie in past history which is unalterable. Whether or not one thinks that Ali and his descendants should have succeeded the Prophet as the leader of the Muslims is irrelevant now, particularly as this opinion is formed by accident of birth and not by rational thought. The Prophet himself appointed no successor and Ali himself accepted the leadership of Abu Bakr, Omar and Usman. Since Ali became the fourth Imam then one would have presumed that the desire of the one sect was satisfied and the other had accepted it.

The order in which the leadership took place is a fact of history and to accept it is part of Surrender. But if people do not know their priorities and insist in their perversities there is nothing that can be done about it. They did and do continue to suffer from these foolish conflicts, and that is their Divine punishment. The great achievement of the Prophet was that he united the tribes of Arabia, thereby releasing the energy which was formerly squandered. To day, Muslims once again see themselves as Persians, Iraqis, Saudi Arabian, Algerians, and Egyptians and so on rather than as Muslims. It is probably necessary now to form a new movement into which the enlightened from all sects can be invited. This movement should:-

    (a) Re-emphasise the supremacy of Allah and loyalty to Him exclusively.

    (b) Base itself on renewal by discarding the past.

    (c) Emphasise and adhere to the essentials rather than forms.

    (d) Agree that truth is distinct from opinion.

    (e) Allow a complete diversity of opinions.

    (f) Refuse to recognise sects of any kind.

    (g) Undertake a unifying education.

    (h) Agree to seek truth and admit that learning is a progressive thing and has many stages. This means that ideas and values at one stage may have to be discarded and replaced at a higher stage.

 

Unfortunately, however, given human perversity, such a movement is likely to itself become a sect, leading to further conflicts.

The second great problem in Islamic countries is the egotism and arrogance of the leaders and those who hold the power. They tend to treat those over whom they have control with contempt and indifference to their feelings, interests, ideas and welfare. To some extent this is the legacy left by domination by foreign powers. The modern rulers merely continue the attitudes of the previous rulers. It is this which divides the leaders from the people and leads to tyranny and dictatorships. They cannot be said to be true Muslims according to the definitions given by the Prophet:-

“The Muslim is he from whose tongue and hand the Muslims are safe; and the believer is he whom men trust with their lives and property.”

“The mujahid is he who strives with himself regarding obedience to Allah, and the muhajir is he who abandons transgression and sin.”

“He who is not trustworthy has no faith, and he who does not keep his covenant has no religion.”

“Islam is edifying speech and provision of nutrition. Faith is endurance and benevolence.”

Jesus tried to solve the problem of arrogance by his teaching that the leader was the servant of the people, that the greatest man on earth was the least in the kingdom of heaven, and that it was more difficult for a man rich in wealth and power to enter heaven than for a humble person to do so. He also instituted the ceremony of washing the feet of the humble. The Prophet Muhammad also taught the virtues of inner poverty, humility and non-attachment to wealth, power and prestige, and tried to bring about equality by requiring that people should stand shoulder to shoulder in single files before Allah in the Mosques during prayer. The modern cure for this is Democracy. But this may not be possible to establish without a bloody struggle to remove the tyrants and governing class. Democracy, more over, has its own problems. Since it equalises the opinions of all, it creates a struggle and conflict of its own and does not produce a high respect for truth or virtue which alone can ensure the welfare and development of people.  

The third problem and this arises from and creates the others, is the general ignorance among Muslims of their own faith. As most are illiterate and even when they are not, they do not understand Arabic, they have to rely on what others tell them which is very little, or it consists of the conventions already established. Even those who are literate and can understand Arabic, understand it rather naively and in an obsolete manner. The changes that have come about in the conditions of life over the last few centuries have not only changed the way words are understood, but brought new problems which have to dealt with. Little in the way of translating, reinterpretation or updating has been done. And this could not be done because those interested in Islam have not kept up with modern knowledge and conditions, while those who have done so, did so because they were interested in these new developments and not in Islam. Thus, we have a division of the population into those who are educated and have the power and are only loosely Muslims on the one hand and on the other hand the majority of the population which is poor, has no power, is uneducated and also loosely Muslim. This has happened despite the Prophets warning and his emphasis on education.

The Prophet predicted:-

 “A time is soon coming to mankind when nothing of Islam but its name will remain and only the written form of the Quran will remain. Their mosques will be in fine condition but will be devoid of guidance; their learned men will be the worst of people under heaven, corruption coming forth from them and returning among them.”

Ziyad bin Labid asked: “How can this be when we recite the Quran and teach it to our children and they will teach it to their children until the Day of Resurrection?”

The Prophet replied: “I am astonished at you, Ziyad. I thought you were the most learned man in Medina. Do not these Jews and Christians read the Torah and the Gospels without understanding a thing about their content?”

(Ahmad and Ibn Majah transmitted it, as did Tirmidh and Darami from Abu Umama. Recorded in Mishkat al Masabih)

 

The solution to this problem can only be the continuous reinterpretation of Islam in the light of modern developments and an emphasis on universal education based on this.

There is little doubt that the people in most Muslim countries are thoroughly degenerate from almost all points of view. The reason for this is partly the fact that they have been dominated by foreign powers for the latter’s benefit. The British being few in number could only dominate these great populations by setting up into positions of power and privilege those selfish people among the native populations who were willing to exploit and tyrannise their own compatriots in return for these privileges. Though the foreigner has departed, it is still these traitors who hold the power. Nothing has, therefore, changed for the rest of the population. They remain backward while other nations progressed. However, when a criticism of their state is undertaken, it must be remembered that they are in the same Feudal conditions which are probably no different from those which existed 200 or so years ago in Europe and Britain.

It will be impossible to make any progress in these countries without forming an organisation of committed people, strong enough to withstand persecution, which will vigorously oppose and fight the corruption, tyranny and strangling power of government officials, politicians, police, business men, feudal landlords and priests. This should be the main aim of a modern Jihad.

One may have thought that the Military could undertake this task. Unfortunately, however, having acquired power, they create even worse corruption and oppression of their own. The organisation will have to arise from the citizenry. Unfortunately, there are probably too few people of sufficient courage, selflessness, honour and ability to undertake the task.

There are, in fact, no Muslim nations, except in name Indeed, the Quran tells us:-

“Every nation has its term. When its term comes, they cannot put it off an hour nor advance it.” 7:34

“It is not the purpose of Allah to leave you in your present state till He shall separate the wicked from the good....” 3:179

It is, therefore, probably impossible to revive the whole of previously Muslim nations. It is only possible to separate out small groups and communities of Muslims in these and other countries world-wide, thereby creating a completely new, though globally distributed nation. It is the new converts who are likely to understand Islam better and possess the appropriate commitment and enthusiasm since they come to it with conviction rather than with a conditioned mind.

All civilisations have a period of growth, a period of stability and a period of decline. In the past all new civilisations were created when some people dissatisfied with the old civilisations came out from them into new territories where they were free to establish new systems. This happened in the case Greece, Rome, the U.S.A and also Islam. Today, however, there are no new territories and mass migration is difficult. It will, therefore, be necessary to find new ways of regeneration. One method made possible by advances in communication and transport, Particularly the Internet, is the establishment of small communities in many different places which nevertheless establish contact and unity. They form a network within the existing body of humanity yet remaining partially separate from it just as the ruling class tends to be. Instead of territorial migration we have a spiritual, cultural and social migration.

 

A modern development having great implications for the future is Satellite Television. It is run by commercial companies and allows them direct access to the populations of the world. It has removed the isolation and self-determination of nations, thereby creating a uniformity of opinions, moral, consumer and political attitudes, and culture throughout the world. It is rapidly spreading the same news, information and desires. Events in one part of the world now produce political, social and economic reactions in other parts of the world. Though this has diminished the dictatorial powers of governments and politicians, it has increased those of commerce and businessmen. Materialism, and its detrimental environmental, social and psychological effects is, therefore, likely to get even worse. There is no defence against this as long as the spiritual forces remain weak, divided and in mutual conflict. The alliance of all religions, when they are properly understood, is essential. This requires an agreement that the goals are the same, but that differences in formulation and techniques are legitimate. The efforts of Muslims ought, therefore, be directed to:-

(i) Work towards this mutual understanding and alliance,

(ii) Strengthen their own psychological defences against these destructive forces,

(iii) Modify the kind of information and influences radiating from the media of communication.

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