June 20, 2005
Are Elections Haram? Says Who? And Based on What? Part 6
Section: WRITINGS | 45 reads
21. America Created to Protect Religion,
Not to Destroy It
Besides, America itself was created as a protector and not as a destroyer of religion. That means America was brought into being, in part, to protect the right and freedom of the people to worship God Almighty as they pleased.
America was supposed to be a shining Biblical city on the hill to which pilgrims from all directions make a beeline. It was supposed to be the beacon and the beckoner to the world’s meek, wretched, rejected, downtrodden, despised and persecuted.
To what extent ideas from the Qur’an and Islamic history and culture went into the making of the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence is a matter that bears looking into by researchers – both Muslim and non-Muslim.
If Tudor England broke from the Papacy to allow Henry the VIII to marry yet another wife, Enlightenment America pulled away from England to escape royal and religious tyranny over the bodies and minds of men, as Thomas Jefferson in part put it.
And many of the Founding Fathers – sorry, there weren’t too many mothers among them – whose handiwork America was to a significant extent, were themselves men of abiding belief in God, albeit not necessarily in formal religion.
The list includes the two Thomases, Jefferson and Paine, and Benjamin Franklin.
Therefore, even though America wanted to protect herself from the Papists, and dabbled in discriminating against the Roman Catholics, America’s general ethos, at least in theory, took shape as one that was overall pro- and not anti-religion.
In this sense, newly independent America was an echo in the West of Qur’an’s timeless and universal declaration of Laa Ikraa-ha Fid-Deen -meaning “There shall be no coercion or compulsion with regard to religion.”
America’s Potential for Good:
As a result, America’s promise and potential for good remain undiminished and ongoing.
It is, therefore, naive and solipsistic of Muslims to view all their problems through the monocle of the Israel-Palestine dynamic and treat America, in her capacity of patron-in-chief of Israel, as the lone source of all their woes in this world, even though the Muslim position is both true and untrue.
It is true that America views her Middle East policy – and Muslim policy in general – through the triple-prism of Israel, fossil fuel and global domination. Yet, at the same time, it is also true that Muslims have other sources of trouble besides America.
Second, this rigid mindset does not allow Muslims to move forward and address some of their other problems – besides America – in a creative, bold and realistic manner.
Therefore, Muslims miss the point when they regard America as the sole and sufficient reason of their ills and failures in this world. Because it is not.
Nor can it ever be. Nor has it ever been. Nor can anyone or anything else be in that position.
For, God Almighty did not confer that kind of sweeping power over Islam and Muslims to America – or to anyone else. Nor will he do so in future.
So, who then is Islam and Muslims’ real enemy?
22. Kaun Dushman Hai?
Islam’s and Muslims’ Worst Enemy
Generally speaking, enemies in this world come in two broad categories: Internal and External.
While the Muslims have never lacked external enemies, it is the internal enemy – the enemy within – that the Muslims have not paid sufficient attention to.
Before there was America – as the global goliath that it is today – Muslims blamed the British for all their woes. And they blamed other “colonial powers.”
Before that they blamed the Mongols – and all sorts of others.
And with ample justification.
But seldom did the Muslims – the good ones in particular – take a good look at such endemic causes of human backwardness as lack of education, poverty, hunger and social, cultural and political tyranny.
Seldom did they blame themselves, even though the Muslims have been, over the ages, their own worst enemy, and in the process, they have been the worst enemy of Islam itself.
Issue Salience in the Muslim Mind:
Issues become salient in the Muslim mind and culture when someone else makes an issue out of those issues – especially the media. In general terms, Muslim obsession with the media is near-pathological.
When Afghanistan languished in abject poverty, tribalism, drugs and educational, political and economic backwardness, to the Muslims of the world – the good Muslims that is – it was simply business as usual.
But when the Soviets marched into Afghanistan, and the CIA and others became concerned and involved, and poured money and arms and motivation, Muslims – the good ones – suddenly discovered Jihad: a Kosher, real, honest-to-goodness Sunni, Halal Jihad, against the infidel Soviets.
Muslims showed – once again – that proactivity, imagination, creativity, honesty, integrity and true leadership were no longer their forte.
And then things took their own course.
Ignoring the Realities in the Muslim World:
Even now any number of Muslim societies from Somalia to somewhere else that languish in poverty, war and social, educational, cultural and economic backwardness and bondage, draw a blank on the Muslim radar. Muslims habitually and compulsively continue to turn their back on their own grim realities.
Nor does it appear to be of any concern to most Muslims – especially the good ones – that it is they whose political systems represent a kaleidoscope of political and social tyranny, backwardness and abuse from personal and military dictatorship to hereditary monarchy to medieval, feudal overlordship.
So, who and where is the enemy?
In other words, “Kaun Dushman Hai?” if I may borrow that line from someone, spoken in a different language, in a different context.
What I am trying to say is this: Yes, Muslims have an enemy. But it may not necessarily be the British or the Americans alone.
But it is, rather, more than all the others, the Muslims themselves, even though the British or the Americans will not hesitate, nor have they hesitated in the past, to advance their own interests at the expense of the Muslims – or at the expense of anyone else whom they would perceive to be weak and therefore a low-risk and tempting target.
Our enemy in other words is not “They” but “Us.” As they say we have seen the face of the enemy and the enemy is us.
This is part of the guarantee given by Allah to his beloved prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, that no one will be able to overpower the Muslims completely and destroy them wholesale but the Muslims themselves.
It is part of Allah’s mercy on them that came to them in the form of the commitment he gave to his Messenger of Mercy, Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
Enemy Is Us:
That means Muslims have – and they have always had – but one real enemy: they themselves!
That means the real enemy of Islam and Muslims is Muslims themselves.
Muslims are thus their own worst Internal Enemy. But through their many weaknesses, failures, ills and problems, the Muslims create an environment that makes it possible and easy for their External Enemy to take advantage of them – whoever that external-enemy-of-the-day may happen to be.
Because of their own internal weaknesses and problems, it is as if the Muslims set out a public feast and send out an open invitation to all and sundry to come and attack them. Others from outside then fall upon them from all sides like wild beasts pouncing on their prey.
How beautifully the Hadith captures this scenario, because that is the exact imagery given in the Hadith.
The model that this particular Hadith outlines of the interrelationship among nations and peoples is one that Muslims should study carefully – and with an open mind.
Wallahu A’alam!
Allah knows best.
Allahummarham Ummata Muhammadin, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam!
Ya, Allah! Have mercy on the Ummat of Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam!
This brings us to the end of Part VI of Are Elections Haram? Says Who? And Based on What?
Next: Inshallah, we will bring you Part VII as soon as Allah enables us to finish working on it.
Du’a: Please do not forget me, my parents, teachers and ancestors in your Du’a.
Drafts: And do please bear in mind that our manuscripts are mostly drafts in need of further research and revision, which we are often unable to undertake or complete due to time and resource constraints.
Visiting: Don’t forget you are visiting www.IslamicSolutions.com.
E-mail: Write to us at DrSyedPasha [at] AOL [dot] com.
Allah: Allah be with you – where and how you want.
End of Part 6 of 8
Written, January 2001
Modified, 2004, 2005
(To be Revised)
© 2005 Syed Husain Pasha
Dr. Pasha is an educator and scholar of exceptional
talent, training and experience. He can be reached at DrSyedPasha [at]
AOL [dot] com or www.IslamicSolutions.com.
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