Elf Habib

Religion is no longer the decisive or dominant factor in growing secular and pluralistic global trends. The world through repeated bitter, bloody and marathon religious conflicts has learnt the futility of religious wars

Even if it is assumed that the
revival of the Caliphate as some supranational institution parallel to the president of the European Union (EU) is possible, its entire edifice would have to be built on an elected representative basis. But most of the present preachers and proponents of the Caliphate cannot even succeed in local council elections.

Still, despite the impossibility of reversing the current intellectual, socioeconomic and technological matrix, the ideals of human equality, care, dignity, harmony and social justice kindled by the Caliphate can be realised through the means and modes of the modern democratic social welfare state. The ideal of questioning and criticising the conduct and performance of the Caliph, for instance, has been streamlined into the existing systems of opposition parties, independent judiciary and freedom of the media and expression. The romance related to a Caliph carrying flour to some starving family or accepting his accountability even for the death of a dog on the banks of the remote Euphrates have culminated into the social welfare proffered by the western European states. They not only furnish victuals for all and sundry but also tackle health, housing, education, employment, communication, transport, old age and community care. Care and concern for animals has also become far more popular in western societies.

These welfare systems, which someone more enthused with Muslim eminence may consider a replay of the wondrous welfare programmes prevailing during the pristine Caliphate, cannot be emulated without adequate economic and industrial resources which, in turn, cannot be generated without mastering modern education, manufacturing, marketing, management and service skills. Pillage of NATO containers, piracy on Somali shores or heroin smuggling certainly are not sustainable skills for resource generation. Modern battles, unfortunately, also do not bring booty and spoils. The skills required for resource generation in the present world evidently cannot be acquired without the help and cooperation of the advanced western world. For this, the prevalent Muslim attitude of angst and animosity towards the West has to be dispassionately altered. Yet another important prerequisite for achieving this desired social welfare system is that a larger part of the available resources must be continuously invested in social and economic development, eschewing non-productive ostentatious pursuits like mammoth armies and arms building. This immediately brings us to the cloying notion of conquests paraded by many Muslim preachers, particularly of the conservative and militant shades. The splendour of Islam in several circles, unfortunately, is equated with the grandeur of its armies, war victories and territorial extension. The argument, however, is contradicted by another claim that love and cooperation were more instrumental in its acceptance as it also spread to the territories never invaded by Muslims. If conquests and territorial annexations are accepted as the parameters for the greatness of a religion, then Christianity evidently supersedes, as its adherents like the British, Dutch, French and Portuguese not only conquered most of the Muslim territories but also commanded far larger regions. Numerically, it is still the largest religion on earth.

Therefore, Muslims must reconcile to the fact that peace, prosperity, health, happiness and contentment of a community coupled with its excellence in skill, innovation and creativity plus its eminence in leading global efforts for the elimination of disease, deprivation and environmental degradation are the real criteria of the new grandeur and glory. Many nations, like Canada and the Scandinavian states that lead the world in the most coveted human development index, have persistently spurned the temptation of gargantuan arms and might. Larger Muslim endeavours or crusades thus ought to focus on the new realities and dictates. A new interpretation of jihad glorifying the scalpel versus sword, drug against disease, knowledge against ignorance, freedom against fetters, production against paucity and fairer and wider distribution of necessities against monopolies is needed in the emerging world. The mantra for the popularity or prevalence of some particular concepts, conduct or practices lies in their spontaneous appeal and efficacy.

Religion is no longer the decisive or dominant factor in growing secular and pluralistic global trends. The world through repeated bitter, bloody and marathon religious conflicts has learnt the futility of religious wars. No religious wars, in fact, were waged by advanced industrialised nations during recent centuries. Even the crusades did not radically alter the relative strength of the two belligerent sets of believers. Religion similarly could not contain conflicts among its followers. The two greatest world wars during the last century were actually fought among the Christian faithful. In the First World War, Germany, a dominantly Christian country allied with Turkey, a prominent Muslim state. Iraqi incursions into Kuwait and kindred incidents corroborate how Muslims have slaughtered their fellow faithfuls for reasons other than religion. Preponderant historical evidence and records thus negate the fanatics’ dreams and forays to found religious empires or states in the present world.

The receding role of religion in worldly affairs also exposes the naivety of our gargantuan notions about the Ummah so garrulously orchestrated by the fundamentalists and political leaders. Unity amongst the Ummah translates into uniting on the basis of something that has decidedly lost its binding forte. Religious identity may facilitate some interaction on the basis of some common cultural or culinary strands, but wielding it as an instrument of international cooperation can have some serious repercussions. It fuels an anachronistic signal to other mightier and advanced communities to follow suit and create the corresponding creed-centred power and trading blocs, reigniting the rivalries of the Crusade days. Imagine an extreme scenario if, in a quid pro quo rebuttal, modern knowledge and technology transfer are denied to the societies practicing or preaching discrimination. The days of religious, racial, regional or ideological supremacy are fast slipping away and the time, traditions and cultures are being continuously swept and scattered by the winds of change, just as the water once flowing under a bridge never returns.

(Concluded)
The writer, an academic and freelance columnist, an be reached at habibpbu@yahoo.com