|
Dear Br. Rashid Shaz,
Assalamu Alykum wa Rahmatullah.
I hope this finds you in the best of health
and Eman. I am in receipt of your e-mail of
April 14 and thank you for it.
While I very much appreciate the intellectual
work being done by you and your colleagues
I am afraid I am not very comfortable about
some of the very innovative and strong opinions
that have been expressed. My problem however
is that because of health reasons I cannot
respond to every request even where I would
like to participate in an intellectual debate.
Whatever energy is left I am trying to use
it to meet my very limited responsibilities.
However, we must realize the real nature of
the challenge that besets the Muslim World
and should develop effective strategies to
face it in a manner that is in keeping with
our faith, independence, dignity and ideological
identity. But our response must also be realistic,
cognizant of ground realities, and not a product
of emotional rhetoric or revolutionary zeal.
There are two major paradigms, which are competing
and would influence the course of events in
the future. One is the secular-liberal paradigm
of the West, which tries to build the entire
fabric of society in total disregard of the
Divine Revelation and universal moral values
presented by all the Prophets of Allah (swt).
This is the so called rational, materialistic,
allegedly liberal but in fact hedonistic and
hegemonistic model of a world order.
The other is the Islamic paradigm based on
Tawheed, commitment to Divine Revelation;
and the vision of a New Social Order based
on Justice. It represents a blend of the moral
and material approaches. The role-models for
this movement are God’s Prophets, articulated
in its final and complete expression in the
life-example of Prophet Muhammad (saw).
This vision of the world order is spiritual
as much as it is oriented to the freedom and
welfare of mankind. The ultimate worldly objective
is establishment of justice and benevolence
(Adl wa Ehsan) for all human beings and a
global order that is pluralistic, admitting
of diversity as authentic and natural in all
major fields: religion, culture, civilization,
social systems and economic ideologies. Naturally
this spells out a cultural and political landscape
congenial to healthy competition between ideas,
values and alternatives.
This is possible only if the global system
ensures peace and rule of law and creates
an environment which is free from intimidation,
oppression, totalitarian despotisms and foul
play of the dictum of ‘might is right’. The
real competition is in the realm of values
and visions of man and society. The Muslim
Ummah has to face this global challenge by
commitment to its own faith and values and
by hard work to re-establish the intellectual
and political superiority of Islam and its
civilization.
In the final analysis it is the power of ideas,
values and principles, of truth and reality,
that is destined to prevail. Whatever be the
odds. Truth is to be the ultimate victor.
Time is on our side provided we are prepared
to do our duty as beackoned by our faith,
culture and destiny.
As regards the political and economic dimensions
of the current global situation Islam was
a world power for over a thousand years. During
the last two hundred years we have gradually
lost the ground and the Western countries
have emerged as dominating powers of our time.
In the 19th century five European nations
called the shots. The 20th century has seen
the gradual demise of these major European
powers, i.e. Spain, Portugal, Italy, France
and finally Great Britain. It also witnessed
the emergence of Russia and America as two
Super Powers. But by the close of the century
Russia also disintegrated as a super power
and now it is America alone that constitutes
the Sole Super Power. This Super Power is
now behaving as a menace and as such constitutes
the greatest threat to humanity. Naturally
Islam and Muslim Ummah are its major targets.
During the last half of the 20th century,
the Muslim countries have also attained political
independence and some economic leverage. Yet
there is gross asymmetry of power between
the West and the Islamic world in almost all
fields, military strength, political power,
economic development, cultural reach and also
in the fields of science, technology, education,
media and communications. It is this disparity
in power, which has emboldened America and
its allies to invade, control and manipulate
other nations and people. Invasion of Afghanistan
and Iraq and the US support to Israeli aggression
in Palestine are only the latest examples
of this outrageous behavior.
The only way to face this is to prepare ourselves
through hard work, prudent use of our resources,
good governance, unity and self-reliance to
attain that degree of deterrence and balance
of power which would enable us to defend our
frontiers and our values and civilsations.
That alone would enable us to face this situation
successfully. There is no short cut and there
is no valor in courting confrontation without
preparation. The Quran makes it very clear
that the correct strategy for the Muslims
is to prepare themselves to meet all challenges
from a position of moral, spiritual, material
and military strength. I can best express
my hope and pray to Allh (swt) for usefulness
of your efforts.
Wassalam
Yours sincerely,
Pof.
Khurshid Ahmad
Pakistan
|
