BORN IN THE RUBBLE............................................................................................................................... With the unfortunate bang in the WTC ,the world came to know about the force which can make the america to rethink about its being superpower .As the "force" was fast spreading its wings in the template of globalisation, several new and previuosly unknown concepts came into being and one of such was the word "fundamentalism".As the world witnessed the dynamic change from 9/11 to 7/7 , the said word or its concept as a whole took the shape of a worn out cliche, and now in the present scenario almost all muslims are being regarded as fundamentalists.
Our guardian,the prophet (pbuh) once instructed his commanders :"don't kill a minor child or an old man of advanced age or a woman, dono't cut down a fruit tree or hew down a date palm or burn it, don't slaughter a goat or cow or camel except for food,don't cheat , don't disobey,don't destroy churches ,don't show cowardice..." And when , we muslims believe in these basic fundamentals of life we are being christened as fundamentalists.
One of the great truth that showed its presence in the changing world from 9/11 to 7/7 is that "the fundamentalists are not the terrorists though the terrorists can be fundamentalists." When a devout and a righteous churchgoer believes in the basic commands of the bible, isn't then he the christian fundamentalist ; and know if he is , it is not necessary for his being a terrorist.Similarly there can be and there are the jewish fundamentals , the hindu fundamentalists and the list goes on.
In the contemporary world it is not difficult to analyse the perception of non-muslims especially the occidentals towards islam.We as muslims should be confident enough to say that in the present global scenario islam is viewed as a political device rather than a moral force. Fanaticism ,in whichever form and in whichever place it exists, has to take the back seat.Any fanatical elemets that occur in islam have to view the islam as the islam which upholds the principles of muhammad's(pbuh) times in this digital age. Islam should, and has to, progress in this globalised world but it should conquer the hearts and souls of men and not the lands mountains and oceans.It is pathetic to see that because of the unfortunate acts displayed by few muslims, the real essence of this great religion is overshadowed, and this is the reason why we the muslims are now being recognised as the people who lack the capacity of idalogical debate to explain what is true and what is not, as the people who resort to muscles rather than mind.Prof. oliver roy, one of the eminent scholars on political islam writes "A puzzling problem remains to be answered , however , namely, the apparent dearth of reformist thinkers in the muslim world.If westernisation is such a tremendous challange, and no matter what the practical adaptations to it of the average muslims, what accounts for the seeming lack of theological debate ?Infact there are many modern muslim thinkers (such as mohammad arkon, khaled abu al fadl, mohsen kadivar, muhamad shahrur...).The issue isnot about writers but about readers. Why are reformists so little read."
We can't , or for that matter they, can't question muslims alone for their being so stagnant on the "theological debates, with the people of other religious faiths, but average jews and the average christians too have gone into their shells, as we have not yet heard of an american response on a common and a large scale for the pademonium and the chaos that exists in todays world because of the president bush's "muscularisation of american foriegn policy", the doctrine "born in the rubble of world trade center."
If this being the idealogy of president bush's so-called 'democracy' which has led to obliteration of middle-east and desecreation of thousands of its defenceless citizens, why this idealogy is not being challanged and debated by the average americans itself ? Why most of the bible believers , the followers of the christ nod their heads in agreement to the false rhetoric of pres. bush preaching massacre and mayhem in his latest "faith based initiative." When cursing muslim scholars of their so called misinterpretation of 'koran', i can't understand what than has happened to western scholars especially the christian scholars when they turn the blindeye as they see with their own eyes that the leaders they put their faith in are murdering innocent people in the name of very jesus - they worship devoutly.
It is not the average muslims only but the average americans too that have to go for the introspection and ask their own selves about the real fault, which to me, doesn't lie in the minds of the supreme leaders or suicide bombers but in the hearts and minds of the average americans who are turned cowards in asking questions to their leaders.
SUHAIL AKRAM
(Media education research center, University of kashmir)
The author can be mailed at suhailakram_2005@yahoo.com