Change: Where to Begin?

One tyrant is gone, but there are many more who are in control of the Muslim world. Through coercion, deceit, corruption, nepotism, and murder they have been able to silence their masses and disfigure them. The unknown graves of the victims of human rights abuses all around the Muslim world speak of the desecration of death that the rulers have imposed even in the graveyards.

The postcolonial Muslim world had an opportunity and obligation to rebuild its societies reflecting the principles of justice, liberty, peace and prosperity. The offspring of people who had offered their lives fighting colonial rulers were keen to play a role in the so-called independent states. But, those who acquired power after independence became the enemies of their own people. They became a willing pawn in the war game that then superpowers and the former colonial masters had laid on the world chess board. During the sixty years of independence, dictators have ignored and suppressed the masses. They refused to uplift the socio-economic conditions of their people. They became subservient to the interests of their masters who often lived in London, Washington, Paris or Moscow.

The intellectuals who spoke for people paid a heavy price. The religious leadership acted in an ineffective manner to tackle the 20th century issues with a sectarian and obscurantist mind that had no answer to the problem of impoverishment, under-development, political powerlessness, and economic deprivation.

With over a sixty percent illiteracy rate, the people whose aspiration in the post independent world was to live a decent life were pushed on the periphery of poverty. Today, nearly forty percent of the Muslim world lives below the poverty line. While the masses continued to suffer, the rulers looted the public money. Many Muslim rulers left the throne of power with massive amounts of stolen wealth stashed in bank accounts in foreign countries.

Despite the fact, that oil and natural gas in several Muslim countries brought unprecedented financial boom, the masses have been reduced to disadvantaged people.

The political hierarchy and oligarchies bought religious leadership and scholarship and the intellect at their will. Those who refused to sell their soul soon found them to be part of the graveyard of the unknown. There were still voices that sought for change. Some turned to Marxist-socialists ideologies, but the majority remained committed to Islam, not even knowing how that commitment would bring about a positive change in their socio-economic conditions. The powerlessness gave rise to the politics of rhetoric where past became the refuge and the future an oasis of hope with an unlivable present.

In this scenario, leaders rose and fell: Some called for a violent overthrow of regimes, others suggested a sustained campaign against those who were the foreign backers of their regimes and still other sought solution to people's movement at the grass root levels, a luxury that was impossible to acquire in a despotic world.

Consequently, everyone else developed an agenda to reform, change and re-shape the Muslim world except Muslims themselves. It is this chaotic state of affairs that the Muslim world finds it self in. It is a reality that we must accept. But mere acceptance of this cruel reality will not solve our problems. We have to prepare ourselves for a new challenge to create a world that reflects our values.

We the Muslim people, need to focus on a some essential areas to achieve our rightful status among the nations of the world.

The first and foremost is the development of a Muslim character that is strong enough to weather the turmoil and crisis. A Muslim character in a socio-political context is reflective of values such as justice, compassion, freedom, peace and equality. It means that Muslim institutions and parties, religious or secular work tirelessly to uplift those who have been left behind in the last sixty years of independence in the field of education and development. It would mean working for the empowerment of landless farmers, bonded labors, and underpaid workers. It would mean mobilizing people's resources to uplift even the last of the least known person.

The second is the development of public institutions that would ensure that the gains achieved at grassroots levels are sustained through state or private run institutions. Development schemes for clean water, safer roads, efficient hospitals, secure banking, and decentralized power structures are essential to invigorate the confidence of people in themselves and their institutions.

The third is to develop processes that may enable people and their leaders to learn from those who have succeeded in overcoming some of the problems faced by Muslims. It means an open exchange of ideas conducted in a free social and political milieu for the betterment of people. It means developing the habit of living with dissent and acknowledging its relevance for a healthy society. All three are the essential tools for change as one finds them clearly marked in the Quran and substantiated throughout history. Nations rise and fall on the strength and weakness of their character, institutions and process. Those who are weak are always swept away by others who are strong.

Let us not live under any illusion that things would change on their own. If we feel that Islamic values have any meaning for our world, then let us internalize them and make sure that these values echo with reverberation in all our communities. From here they would flourish and blossom into a beautiful mosaic of giant sequoias and other trees that give fruits, oxygen and shade to all those who want to remain healthy.

Dr. Aslam Abdullah, is the Editor the Minaret and the Muslim Observer