Towards the Light

The Task before the Muslim Summit

The Muslim world is faced with many challenges of colossal magnitude. One of these is that of secular nationalistic philosophy.

The message of Muhammad, the last Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to all human beings was to serve one God and to live together righteously as brethren. The contemporary man, however, tends to worship many gods beside (often, instead of) the one true God, the Creator of the universe. This has destroyed the bases of the faith that human beings constitute one brotherhood. Strangely enough, the age in which man was able to subdue space, the age in which physical distance have been virtually annihilated, and when East and West, North and South have almost ceased to be meaningful terms, that same age has witnessed man's utter inability to transcend mentally the barriers of race, language and geography. It is in this very age that man's inborn narrow-mindedness was exalted into a respectable philosophical doctrine-the doctrine of nationalism. This doctrine has kept the nations of the world perpetually divided, and has promoted suspicion, hatred, and hostility instead of trust, sympathy and friendship. This doctrine, combined with a materialistic outlook of life, has plunged the. world into two world wars in the short span of three decades. No wonder, having tasted its bitter fruits, the Western world is tending to discard it as out-dated and dangerous for the future of mankind.

Tragic indeed is the fact that in many of the Muslim countries, a group of people has been trying to sell this very secular nationalism as the panacea of our ailments. The propagation of this ideology has been carried out with the blessings of our former colonial masters who save in nationalism the germs that could disrupt the unity of the Muslim ummah, During the First World War, the Arabs and the Turks were instigated to fly at each other's throats, none of them realizing that nationalist feelings had been deliberately worked up as part of a diabolical conspiracy to undermine the political strength of the Muslims. how that the Muslims have regained their right to shape their destiny, the enemies of the Muslims are once more busy preaching nationalism which, they hope, will prevent the Muslims from forging strong bonds of unity. Nothing scares the world powers, Monism and the incipient Hindu imperialism as the specter of Islamic revival and Muslim amity. Once the Muslims-who number around 600 millions -close their ranks, it would mean an end to their aggrandizement and exploitation of the Muslim countries. The Zionists know only too well that the Muslims unit, the end of Israel would be just at hand. "This fear is shared ,by those who are dreaming of preponderant Hindu dominance and influence over Asia and Africa. - The imperialist powers are aware that this unity would make it impossible for them to play with the destiny of Muslim countries, as they leave been doing in the past, by placing one stooge into power here and another there.

The hostile a criticism, therefore, with which the recent move towards Islamic unity has been greeted in a section of the Western and Communist press is quite understandable. What is less understandable is that the head of a Muslim State has chosen to come out in open opposition to the idea of Muslim unity. It is difficult to believe that any Muslim can be so gullible as not to realize as to who stands to benefit and who stands to lose by the perpetuation of the present disunity of the Muslim world: the Muslims or their enemies.

The Muslims have experienced both the blocks. These experiences have made it crystal clear that each of the world dowers has its own aye to grind grad their gestures of friendship are merely designed to further their own interests, Hence while the Muslims should welcome friendship and co-operation from whichever country it might come, they should maintain vigilance towards the world powers who are always on a look-out to exploit our present state of backwardness and disunity. In tact, this makes it all the more necessary for Muslims to come together so that the strength of each will be the strength of all. This alone is the road through which flee Muslims will be able to retain their independence, play a healthy and constructive role in world affairs and bring about their much-cherished renaissance.

In the chaos that engulfs the present-day Muslim world, the call for an Islamic Summit has raised new hopes. I altars, with my other brethren in all parts of the , Muslim world, the expectation that a large number of heads of Muslim states will participate in it and something tangible will come out of it. I am particularly hopeful that my own . country, which has consistently championed the idea of

Muslim unity and has seen tangible manifestations of that unity during its recent -conflict with India, will play a positive role in making this Summit a success.

In order that this Summit may have a substantial impact on the future of the Muslim world, it seems necessary to keep in mind that our attention should be focused not merely on creating a bloc of Muslim countries, but should also try to come into grips with the fundamental problems which face the contemporary Muslim world. In my own humble opinion, the following problems deserve the attention of the leaders of the Muslim world:

1. The very existence of Islamic culture is menaced by the intrusion on a terrific scale, of foreign cultural influences. We have flung our doors wide open not only for the sciences and technology (which we do indeed need), but also to those unhealthy aspect's of Western culture which are gradually depriving our life of Islamic orientation. Unless we take care of our cultural identity, the future of the Muslim world is doomed.

2. Another problem which is closely related to the above is concerned with the reorientation of educational policy. We have at present two different and conflicting systems of education, both, of which suffer from serious drawbacks One of these fails to prepare people to shoulder the practical responsibilities of worldly life, while the other fails to provide any religious guidance, and moral orientation. These conflicting systems of education have produced people with fundamentally different, outlooks which has resulted in a dangerous internal conflict in the Muslim society. What we need is an integration of the healthy elements of both, leading to the emergence of a unified system of education.

3. An ancillary problem is that of organizing and fostering research by pooling the resources of all the Muslim countries. Scientific and technological research should be organized with a view to meet the needs of the Muslim society and to make them a servant of the Muslim culture and tradition. Another plane of work is the organization of research on the living issues of the Muslim society, particularly the problems produced by the challenge of modernity. We must evolve our own unique approach to all the pressing problems -that beset us an approach based on the, tenets of the Qur'an and Sunnah and not one in blind imitation to the ideologies of the day.

4. The Islamic Summit must also consider setting up of heavy industry and armament factories in the Muslim countries for the defense of the Muslim world. Unless heavy armament factories are set up in the Muslim countries, they will have to rely on outside sources. While some of .the Muslim countries can provide labor and technical know-how, there are other Muslim countries which are rich in foreign exchange and other necessary resources (Saudi Arabia, for instance, seems to be possessed of iron deposits of good quality in abundance).

5. In order to strengthen the bases of Islamic unity and promote greater understanding among the Muslim countries, ways and means should be devised to popularize our common Islamic language-Arabic. This wilt develop greater communication between Muslim countries and a better appreciation of each other's problems and difficulties.

6. In order to create a cordial atmosphere, the mutual propaganda war between Muslim countries should put to an end.

7. The Muslims should jointly set up a body which could arbitrate, adjudicate and help the Muslim countries solve their mutual problems and disputes. When an International Court of justice can be set up at the Hague, why should the Muslim countries not establish such an organization to solve their disputes and smooth out their internal strains and stresses ?

8. It also seems advisable to promote the establishment of a Muslim World Views Agency. The present state of affairs is deplorable. Muslims of one country are to a great extent in dark about what is going on in other Muslim countries. The media for whatever news we get are the news agencies which have been set up by interested foreign countries. Similarly them should be a net-work of radio communication so that there may be a positive media of direct contact between the Muslim world..

9. The problem of developing closer economic ties between the Muslim countries also merits serious attention. Muslim countries should give first priority in importing goods to their sister Muslim countries.

10. The passport and visa restrictions between Muslim countries should in the first instance be eased as a, result of a common policy formulated by the rulers of all the Muslim countries of the world and efforts should be treads to finally eliminate them altogether.

11. The problem of Muslims of Africa should also receive due attention. In several countries in Western arx3 Central Africa the Muslims arc in numerical majority, and are yet deprived of politic-! influence. Kept backward in education by the imperialist powers, these Muslim majorities have been rendered ineffective. If these Muslims are not taken care of, the Muslim influence in the African continent will continually decline. Similarly the problems of stepping up systematic efforts towards the propagation of Islam in Africa should be taken up in right earnest.

12. Muslim minorities in several countries of the world are being subjected to intolerable persecution and injustice. In some of the countries, life, property and honor of the Muslims are not at all secure. In other countries concerted efforts are being made to destroy their distinct cultural identity. In short, their right to live, and to live as Muslims, is being denied. If the Muslim countries were to take up the matter jointly, there is no reason why this problem cannot be solved.

13. Last, but not the least, is the extremely important problem of Muslim students who are studying abroad in non-Muslim countries and are, therefore, exposed to all kinds of unhealthy influences. The result is that before they return to their respective countries, a majority of them has already undergone a metamorphosis with the result that their moorings in their own culture are ruptured and their usefulness tea their own people is reduced. Muslim states should plan to establish their own hostels at important educational centers. These hostels should not only provide accommodation and halal food to the Muslim students studying abroad, but should also make arrangements for their moral and spiritual training, their ideological orientation and for healthy recreations. We can also plan to establish, on the principle of division of work and specialization, certain: Institutes of Advanced Learning in different Muslim countries so that our students may go to them far advanced education in all important fields of study and thus our dependence on foreign countries in these fields may also be minimized, if not eliminated.

These are some of the problems which beset the Muslim world. The heads of Muslim states should come to grip with them. Ours is a multi-faced problem and it must be faced in all its aspects. If the European countries which lack a unifying ideology, can gradually move towards the goal of United Europe and some of then can even develop their common market, common planning and some kind of common parliament and common control why the Muslims cannot become united to solve their common problems and meet the external challenge that threaten them all, although they believe in One God, One Prophet, and One Book.