Islam, Militarism & Democracy
English Essay on "Islam, Militarism & Democracy"
Regrettably, even the leading thinkers of our country seem to be falling prey to superficial thinking and fallacies of logic. Because they are unable to identify clearly the underlying causal relationships, they remain ignorant of the true nature of the problems facing our nation. Ideological compulsions, party affiliations and worldly relations cloud their perceptions of the current human situation.
For example, our thinkers have adopted the comfortable trait of escaping any serious thinking on our national problems by readily placing the blame for al our ills on the feudal (Jagirdars), when the issue i not mre1y of feudalism but of the global exploitative capitalism; feudalism is just one of its many manifestations. The issue is not of one social class or the other but of the global socio-economic system; which is based on oppression arid tyranny, economic exploitation and social stratification.4essays.blogspot.com The underlying issue is of the oppressor and the oppressed; of the suppressor and the suppressed; of the lord and the slave and of the powerful and the weak. However, one may desire to know who has played the central role in this matrix of tyranny and exploitation. There is no doubt that in the story of human misery, this role is that of the Jagirdar. As a Punjabi verse puts it, the damned Raja of Jammu not only wants his share of crops but also of the peasant’s wedlock.
Anyhow, the influence of feudalism is now waning, while the influence of other segments of capitalism is increasing by leaps and bounds. Therefore, even if feudalism is eliminated, the tyranny and oppression would continue and one layer of zul’m would be replaced by another layer of zul’m. Our own experience tells us that in those districts of Punjab where the feudals had disappeared, their tyrannical role has been duly usurped by the bureaucracy and police and under their patronage, the local goondas are ruling the roost. Thus, democracy will not prevail with the elimination of feudalism. Democracy will be established only when the foundations of the exploitative capitalism are put to ruin. The issue is not merely of selective targeting of some pillars of this system but of destruction of the entire oppressive system. In fact the basic problem is that of the feudal culture which extends from the highest echelons of bureaucracy to its lowest functionaries. In this system the poor oppress the poor even more than the rich.
As imperial powers change their political pawns by other pawns even before the defeat, similarly they change their economic agents. Now when the feudal system is losing its hold, its place has been taken up by the exploitative capitalism, multinationals, international trade and speculation. Therefore, we should remain wary of changing patterns and designs of imperialism lest we remain trapped in slogans of a bygone age. I have seen poverty and economic exploitation both in Africa and America. There. is yet no corner on this God’s blessed earth, which is free from the tyranny of exploitative capitalism. God Almighty had sent His prophets upon prophets for the economic, social and spiritual salvation of the pride of his creation, man, but the dominant privileged classes either murdered the prophets or distorted their message beyond recognition; The Qur’an has identified these privileged classes as the rich, the ruling classes and the fuedals and its axis of evil (Al-taghut) comprises Pharaohonic (kings and dictators); Hamanic (bureaucrats and feudals); Qarunic (capitalists and money lenders) and Azaric (idol makers and spiritual feudals). Although these classes, in spite of trying, were unable to harm the last Prophet (S4W), They did inflict many distortions on Allah’s Last Message. The beautiful dream of Islam’s universal brotherhood of man, human dignity and economic equality which had fallen prey to the martyrdom of Syedna Umar (RA) and the reign of kings, is still wandering in the Muslim lands in search of its fulfillment. As lqbal had said Islam is not a fulfillment but a vision and hope. He was of the view that Islam had not yet dawned upon the Muslims.
Anyhow through the ages men of true understanding and knowledge have time and again tried for the introduction of a truer vision of Islam, but the privileged classes were so powerful and triumphant that they were either able to divert these movements towards their own vested interests or to terminate them completely. In the revolutionary history of the world, the episode of Karbala stands at its pinnacle but the dominant exploitative capitalism was successful in changing the direction of the two hundred year old revolutionary movement of the pious Imains (RA) towards lamentation and mourning.
In the prevailing circumstances; one is at a loss to understand from where a revolutionary movement could arise, when both the pulpits of Mullas and the circles of Sufis are in the control of dominant moneyed classes. Our religious elite and scholars instead if worshipping Allah adore themselves. Peddlers of religion, merchants of Islam and traders of the Qur’an are misguiding the people from the straight path of truth by aligning truth with capital and power:
Some righteous economists of the West are now lifting curtains from the black deeds of the exploitative capitalism. Economic histories compil1 by them reveal to us how the Spanish and Portuguese invaders had killed about ten million inhabitants of South America, destroyed their glorious civilizations and diverted their unbounded .wealth to Europe. Similarly the capitalistic system of North America was based on ethnic cleansing of the Red Indian race and ruthless exploitation of its natural resources. These scholars have also pointed out how the English industrial revolution was based on the looted wealth of Bengal and Oudh. Everyone knows how the soldiers of the East India Company had severed the thumbs of weavers of Dhaka Muslim. Infact, the capitalist system can only survive on rampant accumulation of wealth and for it the domestic markets are not considered enough; it must exploit foreign markets as well. Now when the age of colonialism has gone, the exploitative capitalistic system is invading the Third World markets under the attractive but tyrannical concept .of Globalisation. Under this aggressive capitalism everywhere in the world, the rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer. We should remember that Allah is the enemy of the forces of Al-taghut and friend of the weak and the meek and, unprotected people crushed by a system of oppression and exploitation (Al-Qasas: 4,5).
Economic history shows that man had never seen such injustice and misfortune as under capitalism. Western democracy protects capitalism and imperialism and instead of justice spreads tyranny throughout the world. Marxism was an attempt to cure the problems of capitalism and the modern society based on it. While Marxism failed due to its bad economics, capitalism will fail for lack of ‘spirituality’ and its allied virtue, ‘consciousness’. Because Marxism had failed to provide an adequate alternative to tyrannical democracy and rampant capitalism, a slogan is now being raised on the streets of Europe and America that capitalism cannot be reformed. Socialism had given a message of economic equality through bringing about changes in the external relationships of man but we have seen that no lasting progress in this regard can be achieved without bringing about changes in the hearts of men. Perhaps, Islam as a living force can save capitalism by humanising it. Should the capitalistic system fail to accept Islam’s reformation, their would be no escape for it from its impending demise.
Western democracy is the rule of capital in the name of people. It is exploitation in the cloak of democracy. What is the difference between the democracy, which was rejected by Iqbal and that which was accepted by him? What is the difference between Islam, without which, politics become tyranny and the Islam ‘which is made a tumult in the name of Allah by our mullas. We are observing that today’s democracy has been unable to win the hearts of people, which was its real task. Indeed, what kind of democracy is this in which our leaders are not elected by people but are selected by foreign powers? Muslims consider the pious caliphate as the ideal democracy but they forget that this was dependent on the clear vision and high character of the noble caliphs.
Islam does not emphasise man’s relationship with earth so much that his relationship with Allah (SWT) fades and he becomes a tool of this world. Islam negates colour, race, language and nationality and founds a spiritual nation on the concept of unity’ of Allah (Tawhid). Islam aims to establish a society on this earth free from all kinds of tyranny, fear, oppression and conflict, in which man’s relationship with earth is moderated and his relationship with Allah is intensified, which inculcates in him the feelings of sympathy, empathy and goodwill. In short, the aim of Islam is to create a sympathetic and friendly society based on the concepts of Tawhid, and the belief that all men belong to the family of Allah. If we want to flourish in this age then we must lay the foundation of democratic rule on the Iqbal’s concept of spiritual democracy. Actually, spiritual democracy is another name for a society based on the concept of Tawhid, in which social classes do not exist. The values of spirit ual democracy are freedom, brotherhood, equality, pluralism, tolerance, human dignity and love of the poor. The foundations of spiritual democracy are fear of Allah and the power of brotherhood of man.
No doubt in the 21st century, the establishment of a true democracy should be our aim. But when democratic tradition has no historical perspective and neither does it prevail in any of our political, social and religious institutions, then how would it be established now? As opposed to this the Islamic history has been dominated by the military tradition so much so that the very temperament and inner impulse of our people is inclined towards authoritarian, hierarchical and powerful political structures and is inimical to egalitarianism and democracy. It is due to this attitude that, democracy does not take root in Islamic countries and military dictatorships remain popular.
We should know that feudalism was not introduced into India by the British but, in fact, manarchy and military feudalism (iqta’) has been the prevailing political and economic system since the early days of Islam and it remain operative in the Islamic Empire right up to the dismemberment of the Ottoman caliphate. Under this system three great empires of the Muslims: Omnayyad, Abbassid and Ottoman held sway over a period of 1300 years concurrent with powerful Muslim states in Egypt, Maghreb, Spain and India.
Under the banner of Islam, a merchant state was founded and lasted for several centuries during a time when it was thought that a merchant state was theoretically impossible because merchants did not own the means of production. The demise of the feudal system in Europe gave way to the growth of merchant capital and eventually industrial capital. In the Islamic world,, and most notably in the Middle East, the opposite took place: merchant capital and its accumulation gave way to the growth of feudalism aid military rule, suppressing the development of an industrial base.
This dynamics of the Muslim world provides a clue for its easy domination by Europe and its easy penetration by European industrial capital in the nineteenth century and continues to provide the explanation for the persistence of so many of the “men on horseback” in ‘the Muslim world. After the culmination of direct colonial rule after national independence, the newly formed landed aristocracy under colonial rule came back with the military td dominate the state. Thus; whereas historically in the West the industrial capitalism is the ‘progressive stage’ in the Islamic world ‘progressive stage’ is militarism.
If our thinkers and intellectuals have reservations about Islam’s route of development; that it does not fit in with the spirit of the current times then they would have to seriously work very hard because the issue is not that of the watershed of 1857 A.D. In fact, we have to carry forward our progressive thought (the thought of Iqbal) from the matyrdom of Syedna Umar (RA) (644 AD) onwards. I believe that this effort would not be a matter of few years but of a, whole century, particularly when in the current times throughout the Islamic world, our research institutes and think tanks are all in the control of the privileged classes. The aim of these institutes and think tanks is that while we may fervently keep on discussing the eternal verities of Islam and the soaring thought of Iqbal, no effort should be made to act upon them in the real world. In fact, this is the central point of the clash of civilisations. Global exploitative capitalism is on a collusion course with the economic ideals of the universal Islamic revolution. Iqbal had named the global exploitative capitalism as the Luciferan system. That is why Iqbal had made Lucifer say that: “One who is conscious of the spirit of ages knows well that it is not socialism but Islam which is the fitna of the future.”
For example, our thinkers have adopted the comfortable trait of escaping any serious thinking on our national problems by readily placing the blame for al our ills on the feudal (Jagirdars), when the issue i not mre1y of feudalism but of the global exploitative capitalism; feudalism is just one of its many manifestations. The issue is not of one social class or the other but of the global socio-economic system; which is based on oppression arid tyranny, economic exploitation and social stratification.4essays.blogspot.com The underlying issue is of the oppressor and the oppressed; of the suppressor and the suppressed; of the lord and the slave and of the powerful and the weak. However, one may desire to know who has played the central role in this matrix of tyranny and exploitation. There is no doubt that in the story of human misery, this role is that of the Jagirdar. As a Punjabi verse puts it, the damned Raja of Jammu not only wants his share of crops but also of the peasant’s wedlock.
Anyhow, the influence of feudalism is now waning, while the influence of other segments of capitalism is increasing by leaps and bounds. Therefore, even if feudalism is eliminated, the tyranny and oppression would continue and one layer of zul’m would be replaced by another layer of zul’m. Our own experience tells us that in those districts of Punjab where the feudals had disappeared, their tyrannical role has been duly usurped by the bureaucracy and police and under their patronage, the local goondas are ruling the roost. Thus, democracy will not prevail with the elimination of feudalism. Democracy will be established only when the foundations of the exploitative capitalism are put to ruin. The issue is not merely of selective targeting of some pillars of this system but of destruction of the entire oppressive system. In fact the basic problem is that of the feudal culture which extends from the highest echelons of bureaucracy to its lowest functionaries. In this system the poor oppress the poor even more than the rich.
As imperial powers change their political pawns by other pawns even before the defeat, similarly they change their economic agents. Now when the feudal system is losing its hold, its place has been taken up by the exploitative capitalism, multinationals, international trade and speculation. Therefore, we should remain wary of changing patterns and designs of imperialism lest we remain trapped in slogans of a bygone age. I have seen poverty and economic exploitation both in Africa and America. There. is yet no corner on this God’s blessed earth, which is free from the tyranny of exploitative capitalism. God Almighty had sent His prophets upon prophets for the economic, social and spiritual salvation of the pride of his creation, man, but the dominant privileged classes either murdered the prophets or distorted their message beyond recognition; The Qur’an has identified these privileged classes as the rich, the ruling classes and the fuedals and its axis of evil (Al-taghut) comprises Pharaohonic (kings and dictators); Hamanic (bureaucrats and feudals); Qarunic (capitalists and money lenders) and Azaric (idol makers and spiritual feudals). Although these classes, in spite of trying, were unable to harm the last Prophet (S4W), They did inflict many distortions on Allah’s Last Message. The beautiful dream of Islam’s universal brotherhood of man, human dignity and economic equality which had fallen prey to the martyrdom of Syedna Umar (RA) and the reign of kings, is still wandering in the Muslim lands in search of its fulfillment. As lqbal had said Islam is not a fulfillment but a vision and hope. He was of the view that Islam had not yet dawned upon the Muslims.
Anyhow through the ages men of true understanding and knowledge have time and again tried for the introduction of a truer vision of Islam, but the privileged classes were so powerful and triumphant that they were either able to divert these movements towards their own vested interests or to terminate them completely. In the revolutionary history of the world, the episode of Karbala stands at its pinnacle but the dominant exploitative capitalism was successful in changing the direction of the two hundred year old revolutionary movement of the pious Imains (RA) towards lamentation and mourning.
In the prevailing circumstances; one is at a loss to understand from where a revolutionary movement could arise, when both the pulpits of Mullas and the circles of Sufis are in the control of dominant moneyed classes. Our religious elite and scholars instead if worshipping Allah adore themselves. Peddlers of religion, merchants of Islam and traders of the Qur’an are misguiding the people from the straight path of truth by aligning truth with capital and power:
Some righteous economists of the West are now lifting curtains from the black deeds of the exploitative capitalism. Economic histories compil1 by them reveal to us how the Spanish and Portuguese invaders had killed about ten million inhabitants of South America, destroyed their glorious civilizations and diverted their unbounded .wealth to Europe. Similarly the capitalistic system of North America was based on ethnic cleansing of the Red Indian race and ruthless exploitation of its natural resources. These scholars have also pointed out how the English industrial revolution was based on the looted wealth of Bengal and Oudh. Everyone knows how the soldiers of the East India Company had severed the thumbs of weavers of Dhaka Muslim. Infact, the capitalist system can only survive on rampant accumulation of wealth and for it the domestic markets are not considered enough; it must exploit foreign markets as well. Now when the age of colonialism has gone, the exploitative capitalistic system is invading the Third World markets under the attractive but tyrannical concept .of Globalisation. Under this aggressive capitalism everywhere in the world, the rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer. We should remember that Allah is the enemy of the forces of Al-taghut and friend of the weak and the meek and, unprotected people crushed by a system of oppression and exploitation (Al-Qasas: 4,5).
Economic history shows that man had never seen such injustice and misfortune as under capitalism. Western democracy protects capitalism and imperialism and instead of justice spreads tyranny throughout the world. Marxism was an attempt to cure the problems of capitalism and the modern society based on it. While Marxism failed due to its bad economics, capitalism will fail for lack of ‘spirituality’ and its allied virtue, ‘consciousness’. Because Marxism had failed to provide an adequate alternative to tyrannical democracy and rampant capitalism, a slogan is now being raised on the streets of Europe and America that capitalism cannot be reformed. Socialism had given a message of economic equality through bringing about changes in the external relationships of man but we have seen that no lasting progress in this regard can be achieved without bringing about changes in the hearts of men. Perhaps, Islam as a living force can save capitalism by humanising it. Should the capitalistic system fail to accept Islam’s reformation, their would be no escape for it from its impending demise.
Western democracy is the rule of capital in the name of people. It is exploitation in the cloak of democracy. What is the difference between the democracy, which was rejected by Iqbal and that which was accepted by him? What is the difference between Islam, without which, politics become tyranny and the Islam ‘which is made a tumult in the name of Allah by our mullas. We are observing that today’s democracy has been unable to win the hearts of people, which was its real task. Indeed, what kind of democracy is this in which our leaders are not elected by people but are selected by foreign powers? Muslims consider the pious caliphate as the ideal democracy but they forget that this was dependent on the clear vision and high character of the noble caliphs.
Islam does not emphasise man’s relationship with earth so much that his relationship with Allah (SWT) fades and he becomes a tool of this world. Islam negates colour, race, language and nationality and founds a spiritual nation on the concept of unity’ of Allah (Tawhid). Islam aims to establish a society on this earth free from all kinds of tyranny, fear, oppression and conflict, in which man’s relationship with earth is moderated and his relationship with Allah is intensified, which inculcates in him the feelings of sympathy, empathy and goodwill. In short, the aim of Islam is to create a sympathetic and friendly society based on the concepts of Tawhid, and the belief that all men belong to the family of Allah. If we want to flourish in this age then we must lay the foundation of democratic rule on the Iqbal’s concept of spiritual democracy. Actually, spiritual democracy is another name for a society based on the concept of Tawhid, in which social classes do not exist. The values of spirit ual democracy are freedom, brotherhood, equality, pluralism, tolerance, human dignity and love of the poor. The foundations of spiritual democracy are fear of Allah and the power of brotherhood of man.
No doubt in the 21st century, the establishment of a true democracy should be our aim. But when democratic tradition has no historical perspective and neither does it prevail in any of our political, social and religious institutions, then how would it be established now? As opposed to this the Islamic history has been dominated by the military tradition so much so that the very temperament and inner impulse of our people is inclined towards authoritarian, hierarchical and powerful political structures and is inimical to egalitarianism and democracy. It is due to this attitude that, democracy does not take root in Islamic countries and military dictatorships remain popular.
We should know that feudalism was not introduced into India by the British but, in fact, manarchy and military feudalism (iqta’) has been the prevailing political and economic system since the early days of Islam and it remain operative in the Islamic Empire right up to the dismemberment of the Ottoman caliphate. Under this system three great empires of the Muslims: Omnayyad, Abbassid and Ottoman held sway over a period of 1300 years concurrent with powerful Muslim states in Egypt, Maghreb, Spain and India.
Under the banner of Islam, a merchant state was founded and lasted for several centuries during a time when it was thought that a merchant state was theoretically impossible because merchants did not own the means of production. The demise of the feudal system in Europe gave way to the growth of merchant capital and eventually industrial capital. In the Islamic world,, and most notably in the Middle East, the opposite took place: merchant capital and its accumulation gave way to the growth of feudalism aid military rule, suppressing the development of an industrial base.
This dynamics of the Muslim world provides a clue for its easy domination by Europe and its easy penetration by European industrial capital in the nineteenth century and continues to provide the explanation for the persistence of so many of the “men on horseback” in ‘the Muslim world. After the culmination of direct colonial rule after national independence, the newly formed landed aristocracy under colonial rule came back with the military td dominate the state. Thus; whereas historically in the West the industrial capitalism is the ‘progressive stage’ in the Islamic world ‘progressive stage’ is militarism.
If our thinkers and intellectuals have reservations about Islam’s route of development; that it does not fit in with the spirit of the current times then they would have to seriously work very hard because the issue is not that of the watershed of 1857 A.D. In fact, we have to carry forward our progressive thought (the thought of Iqbal) from the matyrdom of Syedna Umar (RA) (644 AD) onwards. I believe that this effort would not be a matter of few years but of a, whole century, particularly when in the current times throughout the Islamic world, our research institutes and think tanks are all in the control of the privileged classes. The aim of these institutes and think tanks is that while we may fervently keep on discussing the eternal verities of Islam and the soaring thought of Iqbal, no effort should be made to act upon them in the real world. In fact, this is the central point of the clash of civilisations. Global exploitative capitalism is on a collusion course with the economic ideals of the universal Islamic revolution. Iqbal had named the global exploitative capitalism as the Luciferan system. That is why Iqbal had made Lucifer say that: “One who is conscious of the spirit of ages knows well that it is not socialism but Islam which is the fitna of the future.”
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