Hi Folks
It is necessary that we Muslims face up to the reality that the Islam
that we profess, practise and preach today is not working. And has not
worked for a long time. This is true both for our communal life as
societies, and our personal lives as individuals. In Muslim countries
and communities around the world there is no shortage of mosques and
preachers; prayer and fasting are common, millions perform the Hajj
every year. Yet most of these societies are rife with corruption and
injustice; poverty and illiteracy prevail; sickness and malnutrition
are common. It is not just a question of resources; those Muslim
countries that are lucky enough to have oil or other natural resources
may have avoided some of these problems but face other serious ones
(which are also common throughout the Muslim world) : lack of
individual freedom and human rights; deep economic and social class
divisions; materialism and consumerism; the lower status of women; the
alienation of youth, etc.
This failure of Muslim societies to solve internal problems has been
matched by their failures to deal with external challenges. In the
19th and early 20th centuries they were unable to withstand the
European colonial and imperial tide that swept over them. Today, they
are not able to effectively resist the external political, economic
and cultural pressures to which they are subject, nor have they been
able to keep up and cope with the rapid technological changes
occurring in the modern world. No Muslim society today, whatever its
geography or history, can be pointed out as one where humanity has
progressed, or as a model of how human beings should live. There has
not been such a one for centuries.
Islam Then and Now
For its early adherents Islam was a set of simple ideas and beliefs
relating to Allah Almighty, and the relation****p of human beings to
Allah. This overpowering vision transformed them, and led them to
transform their world. The essence of the vision was awareness and
belief in Allah, the creator and sustainer of the universe and the
role that Allah ordered human beings to play in their world. This
original Islam had no dogma no ritual no elaborate code of laws no
special class of persons learned in the religion that guided and
judged other believers; in short none of the elaborate structure that
now passes for Islam. This superstructure did not exist in the early
centuries of Islam. The problem we face is that Islam today is a
complex and rigid structure, frozen in time, which overlays and
obscures the original and essential message that Islam brought to
humanity. Further complicating the issue is the emergence of a class
of self-styled religious authorities and "guardians", so that there is
now a virtual priestly class in Islam where there was no place for one
in its original version. What has happened to Islam is not unique; in
fact this has been the trajectory followed by all the major religions.
Each of them started off as a simple message of such power and
relevance that it attracted significant numbers of adherents, whose
lives were deeply affected and changed by their belief in this new
vision. Over time these numbers grew greatly but also gradually the
simple and original message was overlaid by dogma, ritual and
hierarchical structures, directed and controlled by a priestly class
(which usually allied itself to the secular authority in power in a
mutually beneficial arrangement). Thus the revolutionary vision that
gave birth to this transforming movement became a static &
institutionalized religion. That is what has happened with Islam and
it has become twisted shape of another religion.
Cheers
Nawaz
Religion Islam
http://www.parvez-video.com
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