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What is Real Islam?
The "civilized Western" media particularly Christian right (and "Hindu" right) wants us to believe that Islam is responsible for conflicts and chaos the world over and unless Islam is decapitated (with the help of WMD of course), there can be no peace in the world. The same sources of mystification and lies used to tell us that unless freedom of money (turning of everything into saleable and exchangeable commodities) and (human) rights of (in-human) American capital are not restored in "God denying" former Soviet block, there can be no peace in the world. The Christian right thinks that the only way to bring peace is to establish Kingdom of (White) God all over the world.
We all know that the cold war was styled as war between "God-fearing" private capitalism and "God denying" state capitalism popularly labeled as Communism. Now the battle lines for world war third are being drawn between those who are anti-Islam (and pro-American Imperialism) and those who are pro-Islam (and against American imperialism).
It seems that this disgraced humanity is plunging into abyss of large scale death and destruction once again. After "the success" of Bush doctrine of "pre-emptive barbarism", lunatic elements in American administration are thinking of winnable nuclear war. It is to stop the mother of all battle to take place between 80% of humanity sharing 20% of world resources and 20 % inhumans garbing 80% of world resources. This needs to be exposed.
After the demise of "God denying" so-called communist Russia, proponents of New World order promised us world peace, progress and prosperity. They talked of non-violent multi-lateral conflict resolution and disarmament. Nevertheless, "death of communism" did not bring peace to the world. It resulted in more wars, conflicts and chaos.
They are now holding "God fearing" Islam responsible for capitalist barbarism being unleashed by American imperialism. Forgetting that the containment of God denying Russia was joint venture of "God fearing" Islamists and "civilized" capitalist countries including God fearing Christians right. Who was responsible for death and destruction during two world wars and under fascism and Stalinism, it was not Islam (and Church did not oppose these wars). It was American imperialism that used intra-tribal feuds of Afghans to defeat "infidel" communist Russia.
Soon after Sept 11 criminal act, the American people and the world community were lectured about what Islam is and what Islam is not. As if understanding Islam might lead to understanding the causes of Sept 11. The adversaries of Islam "celebrated" the day Sept 11 by flooding media with lies about Islam (some of then sought this opportunity to launch anti-abortion and anti masturbation campaign!! ). Osama Bin Laden became hero of Christian right who took him as spokesman of 1.3 billion Muslims. The fact remains that terrorism is against Islamic and Arab (and Afghan) tribal traditions. Terrorism is one of the manifestations of capitalist social relations and has nothing to do with Islam.
The adversaries of Islam have engaged writers, intellectuals, and "research" scholars who are churning articles and "research" papers to prove that Islam teaches terrorism and to demonize Muslims by profiling them as terrorists. Osama's lectures and videotapes are their favorite reference material. (An one India born writer who used to indulge in third rate Islam bashing was awarded "noble" prize after a long wait!!). It clearly reveals that neither they want to know what the Islam is nor they are interested in containing terrorism. All this public relation exercise is being launched to conceal the crimes committed by American imperialism against humanity from America people and the world community through billion-dollar consent engineering industry.
For me Islam has no relevance except that 1.3 billion human beings are counted to be Muslims (I may be one of them). I am sworn enemy of all organized religions including political Islam. However, my opposition to political Islam will not stop me from siding with common Muslims particularly when they are under attack of imperialist forces.
I am not an Islamic scholar and I do not want to become one. Particularly when everyone in the media speaks as if he/she knows everything about Islam. Some of them are adamant that they fully know the true face of Islam (one lunatic called Quran Hitler's Mein Kemp"). I do not want to dispute their claims. However, I would suggest them to know themselves first and their racial, ethnic and religious biases before they claim that they know what the true Islam is. I want to tell these simple folks that the way they are exposing "the true face" of Islam, they are exposing themselves, their hidden agenda. I suggest the proponents of "clash of civilizations" to prove that they are "civilized" before talking of "clash of civilizations".
I see any attack against common Muslims as crime against humanity. It is not that I do not talk of deplorable conditions and discrimination of non-Muslims minorities in some Muslims countries. American imperialism is not concerned with human rights and minorities. It is American imperialism under whose "command and control" most of heads of the Muslim countries are "operating". Had America been interested in human rights and rights of minorities it would have influenced its allies like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
Islam is not all black or all white. Is Jihadi Islam real Islam or not, let Muslims decide it for us. Let us not make it an academic issue. Religion is a social fact not an objective reality out there to be perceived. Quran can be studied, if at all it is relevant to present day world problems, as a book of literature, book of mythologies, book of polemics, a subject matter of history. The defining Islam in neither "internal affair" of Muslims nor it is an academic issue to be settled by academicians and intellectuals of all persuasions.
The problems of interpretation of scriptures
It is impossible to tell what Islam is objectively and what Islam is not. There are several problems of interpretation of religious scriptures which are insurmountable such that there cannot be "real Islam" or real Christianity". The interpretation of religious scripture whether by a nonbeliever or of any believer is a subjective process. The religious scriptures belong to history and history is nothing but a point of view. The "objective history" or "objective historical process" is not accessible whatever methodology you adopt, you can never gives an objective account of history nor can you predict future historical trends objectively or scientifically. In short, there cannot be single authoritative interpretations of any religious scripture including Quran. Moreover, the interpreters have to take into account the nature and the content of social relations and social formations at the time of birth of Islam, which makes interpretation more difficult.
Every one of us belongs to history more than history belongs to us. Hence, all interpretation of Quran are ethnocentric (describing the condition of viewing and judging other cultures and societies according to the assumptions of one's own society.), temporocentric (that is the thinking that one's period in history, culture and heritage is necessarily of a higher value than everything else), parochial and subjective. There are time-bound and culture-bound meanings which we can never know. In other words, the historical distance between the Quran and us cannot be bridged. Hence the WORD OF GOD is neither available to neither believers nor nonbelievers scientifically. We cannot help ourselves in interpreting Quran in terms of present experiences and stock of knowledge. Neither Quranic historical period, nor its original audience, nor its author (God or Mohammed) nor the cultural traditions (lingual and non-lingual) of its time are available to the serious interpreter of Quran. The interpreters are influenced by pre-understanding of all these.
First, there are two views on Quran: one of believers, Muslims and the other of non- believers. Secondly, within believers one of elite Islam (Islam of literate people and power elite) and folk Islam (Islam of non-literate people and the governed). Among both these categories, there are Jihadi Muslim's view of Islam and the other of liberal Muslims view of Islam. All these divisions of believers have sectarian differences in interpretation and within a sect, there are different schools of thought among interpreters of Quran. Among nonbelievers, there are as many interpretations as there are interpreters. Who can tell us what is real Islam? The Muslims whether literate or non-literate have right to do so.
For a believer Quran is uncreated and eternal having mystical powers and for him the "perfection and inimitably" of the Quran are the proof of its divine origin. For a non-beaver, no scripture is self-validating and self-authentic and Quran fails to convince its readers of its scared nature or divine origin. Who is right and who is wrong is not the question; the question is to accept the diversity of views on Quran.
Like all scriptures, Quranic text is a piece of literature and having a literary form and genre. That one needs to be a student of Arabic language. As every text is, a structural whole and meanings reveal itself through and in form and structure of Quranic text. (As a piece of literature, it can be subjected to literary analysis which is a secular method looking at Quranic text as a human cultural product.) In order to understand Arab Culture and society. One needs to be student of Arab culture. For a "scientific" interpretation of Quran, the analyst has to separate himself from analysand to observe disinterested neutrality and detachment, which is not possible here? Neither a believer nor a nonbeliever can do so. There is nothing like real Islam or Christianity even in the realms of academic field if any thing is real that is "real Muslims"
In short there are numberless "Quran's" and numberless "Islam's"", such that no one can claim having knowledge of real Islam" and "real Quran". No one can claim what Allah said to Mohammed and what Allah meant. The loss of meanings is bound to happen when information travels from one "gate keeper" to the other i.e., from Allah to the messenger of Allah and from messengers of Allah to the creatures of Allah.
Sectarian View of Islam
As there are numberless Islam's, there are numberless Muslim sects claiming themselves to be "Real Muslims". Each sect of Muslims claims to be believers of real Islam and label all others as infidels. The recent example being Osama calling Saddam an infidel. Such is the animosity between the sects that one sect of Muslims is officially declared as non-Islam in Pakistan. Which sect represent "real" Islam no one can tell us.
Multi-cultural view of Islam
Muslims are not a monolithic entity and they belong to diverse races, cultures and linguistic groups, social classes. They pursue varied life style, cultural patterns, world views and have their own versions of Islam which they believe to be the real Islam and which is more in tune with their native cultural traditions than Quranic traditions. There is American Islam, European Islam, Chinese Islam, Arab Islam, Russian Islam etc., The list is endless. In spite of trends of cultural absolutism and Pan-Islamism prevalent among socially underdeveloped and culturally backward segment of Muslim populations the world over, normally Muslims shares more with their own natives than with their co-religionists belonging to other races, collectivities and cultures.
Elitist View of Islam
Muslims world is vertically divided between folk Muslims and professional Muslims (those who are "executives" of Islam and earn their bread by administering Islam in various capacities). It is divided between Muslims who are ruled and governed (most of them are non-literate and are treated like herd of sheep) and professional Muslims who police and govern (play the role of shepherds or power elite) Muslim society in the name of Islam.
This has caused a split in Muslim culture into two cultures, one of power elite and the other of folk Muslims. Their epistemology and cognitive styles are diametrically opposed to each other. Muslim power elite sees everything as eternal, immutable, readymade, unchanging and in black and white. Whileas the common Muslims are willing to change with the change in their mode of social existence. Muslim power elite looks backward for the solution of the present problems whileas the common Muslims tend to look forward for new solutions to new problems. The common Muslims are rational while professional Muslims see reason as fallible, imperfect and limited. Muslim folks are in majority. They are multi-cultural, existentialist, apolitical, sentimental and espouse counter-Islam.
Professional Muslims or political Muslims are cultural absolutists, power elite, authoritarian and Arabized. Political and professional Muslims although wield tremendous influence but they remain a tiny minority in Muslim world.
There is perpetual tussle between the two. Sometimes open and sometimes hidden, in which from A.K 47 to verbal threats are used against each other. Who is representing "real Islam" and who does not, nobody can tell us?
Non-literate view of Islam
Islam as a religion was non-elitist as its prophet was non literate. Mohammed nourished folk Islam. He established a "primitive direct democracy". He treated Arab Muslims with respect. For Arabs he was one among equals. Mohamad did not treat his followers like a shephered treats his herd of sheep as Muslims clergy is treating common Muslims. As a trans-tribal leader of Arabs (appointed by Allah) he used mosque as a trans-tribal parliament and made himself accountable to the common people who usually questioned him and sought explanations and clarifications. His governance was transparent one and backed by general will not by any full time professional standing army or moral police.
Unlike Brahmins in India who treat their religious scripture as their intellectual property and have monopoly over scared knowledge. Quranic revelation was open to all and part of oral cultural traditions of Arabs guiding and governing social relations. The Quran as a book was compiled much later after Mohamed.
In fact an adherent of Islam is an interpreter and administers of Islam in his own right and capable of self-guidance and self-direction. Liberal Muslims can rightly claim to be mujtahids (interpreters) of Islam capable for creative application of Islamic values and principles in contemporary world.
Islam does not recognize any expert in the realm of religion. Under Islam, there is no scope for professional Muslims. Muslim clergy emerged as a new leisure class that enjoyed patronage of propertied class and Islamic state after death of Mohammed. With increasing separation of civil society from Islamic state gulf between folk Islam and "official" Islam of professional Muslims widened. Islamic theology became a vehicle for power struggle rather than for understanding of the Quran and Hadith. Thus Islamic state of Mulahas deprived the common Muslims of the "primitive direct democracy " and civil rights which they enjoyed under Mohammed's rule.
When clergy coming from Madrsahas held monopoly over Islam and claimed to be experts, one more cultural divide emerged in Muslims world between "learned ones" and non-literate which divided Muslims vertically.
In addition to sectarian division in Islam, there emerged two Islam's: one written, formal, official (ruler's Islam) and other folk non-literate oral Islam of those who were ruled in the name of Islam.
The two are at perpetual war against each other: one imposes laws and social codes of conduct in the name of Islam and the other seeks new ways to subvert and defy these laws.
Arab-centric view of Islam
Islam took birth in tribal cultural milieu of Arab world. The social relations were communal and face-to-face and society was small scale and collectivism. Under such societies, there is no separation between society and individual (the individuality is defined by social group or tribe). The society regulates all aspects of an individual, autonomous individual does not exist in such society. Primitive collectivism or tribalism does not differentiate between society and state (if there exists one), state and government, culture and politics, religion and political ideology. It stands for subordination of individual to the society and the state, subordination of economics and culture (including Art, literature, music, painting, and drama) to political ideology or religion. As a whole (i.e. society or class) determines its parts (i.e. individual), it holds the salvation of individual is predestines and determined absolutely by God (or by what Communists call the "historical necessity" or " the structural necessity") uninfluenced by one deeds and social practices.
After conquest of non-Arab land and "submitting" of non-Arabs Muslims to Arab hegomony. Arabs build an empire on the edifice of Islam and they became a "world power". Arabs thought themselves to be rulers and treated non-Arab land as their colonies. Arabs thought that they are superior to non--Arabs Muslims. Islam meant to become Arabized. Whichever society and culture came under their domination, got culturally improvished. Not only Arabic language became cross-cultural language for political communication across Muslim world but Arab preachers made Arabic the only language of communication between Allah and believer of Islam. As if Allah could only understand Arabic language. This resulted in cultural subjugation and improvishing of many native Muslim cultures coming under Arab rule and they lost whatever cultural capital they had accumulated. There were non-Arabic versions of Islam propounded by non-Arab Mullahas like Bhaiism and Ahmadiyat but they were brutally suppressed.
While Arabs themselves selectively assimilated Arab cultural traditions and social practices, they viewed non-Arabs traditions and social practices as un-Islamic. Arabs insisted on Arabization of all Muslims. They were helped by Non-Arab Muslim clergy who developed vested interest in Arabization of Islamic faith. As this alone could keep their monopoly over interpretation of scared scriptures and set them apart from non-Arabic knowing natives.
There are small minorities of cultural absolutists among Muslims who are against multi-cultural, non-elitist, non-literate folk Islam. They label multi-cultural folk Islam as un-Islamic. For them, Islam means one language, one culture, one God, one prophet, one Quran, one interpretation, one Shariat. Such Islam can be safely considered as a variant of fascism. Wahabis and Osama belong to this category.
The Christian right wants us to believe that Osama bin laden and professional Muslim clerics who couches their political ideology in Quranic jargon are real Muslims. They never listen to common Muslim what he/she thinks Islam is and they call liberal Islam "intellectual dishonesty". The speeches of Jihad Muslims are music to their ears. How one third of Muslims live alongwith non-Muslims as minorities they do not want to ponder over. How Arab Jews "co-exist" in their native Arab countries while Jews have been prosecuted even burnt alive by "Christians" the world over. They are deliberately disregarding immense cultural, racial, ethnic, linguistic and sectarian diversity among Muslims.
We may sum up that there is nothing as true Islam. As what is, Islam is matter of opinion and subject to interpretation. The Jehadi view of Islam suits to adversaries of Islam and they ignore that most Muslims take quiet different viewpoints. This is being done to rationalize attacks on Muslim minorities ands Asian and African immigrants in their countries. This needs to be exposed. There is nothing like Real Muslim or real Islam no one can speak on behalf of all Muslims or any of its sects.
Writer is convener of Save Kashmir Movement
http://www.savekashmirmovement.org
Article Source: Article Hub
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