We are after all, children of the sun. Adam himself would not have existed if the sun did not shine its rays on Earth, thus triggering life creating processes, processes that created bacteria, which evolved into quadrupeds, then bipeds, the evolution culminating with the ‘creation of man’ ( Ashraful Makhluqat).
Now, I have just written a few lines and I am already guilty of heresy by accepting evolution. Now I must await the proclamation of my excommunication by the religious zealots of Pakistan. It is funny, that the fatwa in Pakistan is subject to how much you have to feed the Mullah to keep him quiet.
Less Money More Fatwa.
That is where we stand. We might call for revolution in politics but the real revolution in our character is still asleep, somewhere, in the middle of nowhere. People who choose to follow the tradition of Averroes (Ibn-e-Rushd) and Avicenna (Ibn-e- Sina) rather than the tradition of Taimur or Ghaznvi are a rarity in this country of ours. In fact, the rise of militant conservative Islam corresponds directly with the reformation of Europe and the rise of the Colonial Powers.
From the days of its inception, Islam more or less has had militant minded adherents. Not that it’s a bad thing (militancy is crucial to a religion or state’s ascendancy to power-Materialism 101) but our militancy has always led to our decline. Take the crusades for example. Though a military victory, it was a strategic disaster for the Muslims because all the knowledge flowed from the east to the dark and dingy universities of Europe where it was used to reform the religious beliefs and the society, thereby ushering medieval Europe in to the Golden Age, while the Muslims gloried themselves in swords and cannons. Militancy is not a problem of religion but a problem originating with its adherents.
It has been proven repeatedly that religion alone cannot bind people together, because every time it does, things like democracy, freedom of speech and human rights start to creep in, which subsequently leads to death and destruction.
I am not against religion, what I am against is, is the use of religion to exploit the masses. Whether sacrificing humans (war prisoners) in an Aztec Temple, bringing down the walls of Jericho by the ancient Jews, murder of hundreds of thousands of women on suspicion of being witches by the Christian ecclesia, or using suicide bombers to target people on the streets in the name of Allah, the most beneficent and the most merciful, religion has always been exploited.
The common people have always been exploited and led to ‘believe’ that their faith alone is the right one. Who to believe and who not to believe, that’s a question that ultimately rests in the hands of an individual but sadly for a Pakistani, this decision is taken away from his hands and placed in the hands of a chosen few who dictate our beliefs.
These elites in order to fool people, sometimes attempt to combine science and religion, therefore those scientific ideas that are compatible with the dominant religion are acceptable while those that question the religious tenets are deemed heretical. Thus using Quranic texts in our grade 9 and 10 science books to compensate for verifiable scientific facts is nothing short of funny. Averroes and Ibn-e- Sina would be laughing. It seems that the Quran today is used to explain everything except existing and declining social morals, which it was solely revealed for. Somehow, we turn a blind eye towards ayahs about honesty, dealings with neighbors and how to change ourselves.
It seems to me that the “Ummah” is one confused lot. And this confusion is visible in mass conversions from the Muslim faith in the Middle East and some other countries. Also, the oft-repeated statement that Islam is the fastest growing religion is true, not because of missionary success but our exploits on the bed. Thus in my opinion an Islamic reformation is overdue. Especially in Pakistan, this reformation is super overdue because no nation is as caught up in an identity crisis than ours. On one hand, we have a thoroughly secular Supreme Court of Pakistan and on the other hand is the Federal Sharia Court, which is thoroughly steeped in Islamic orthodoxy. The existence of two judicial systems in one country is indeed laughable if not downright nonsensical.
So why don’t we abandon this confusion and just follow the Quaid’s vision, which was to create a free secular society where everybody is free to go to his temple , mosque or whatever his or her place of worship is.
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