There are two kinds of Muslims in the world.
There are those who happen to have been born in the Muslim families and regard Islam as their religion, to be practised the way all other religions are practised. They may and may not be observing the rituals regularly, but mostly they do subscribe to the mandatory nature of these rituals.
And there are those who may or may not have been born in the Muslim families, but regard Islam not just their religion and identity, but also their way of life in all matters ranging from culture and economics to politics and morality. They may be further categorized in two groups; those who are so staunchly transfixed in the past that they forcefully reject any deviation or departure from the established traditions even if their roots happened to be in the practices of some particular times and regions; and those who find it essential to draw a line between those values and practices that are of constant nature and those ones that should change with varying times and conditions.
Technically therefore all Muslims can be placed under three rather than two categories. For the rigid and the inflexible ones, mankind’s quest for knowledge and advancement ended in the seventh century and they are ill-prepared to adapt their practices to the requisites of the progress that the human civilization has made over the centuries. Their inflexibility and dogmatism happen to be so complete that their tolerance level regarding those who are in disagreement with them is Zero.
They constitute what the West with concealed and unconcealed glee dubs as Islamic Extremists and Fundamentalists. It is because of them that the World of Islam has been forced to go on to defensive. Even though they identify themselves as Islamists, they should more appropriately be regarded as ‘dogmatists’ for whom there is no Islam beyond their well-flaunted beards which instead of being considered cultural symbols, are regarded as ‘stamps’ of high religious piety. In this kind of definition of Islamic identity is lost the dynamic spirit that galvanized the followers of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) into fired and resolute agents, visionaries and flagbearers of change. The historic journey that took the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) and his followers from Makkah to Madina, and that transformed the face of the earth and the destiny of mankind, was essentially a Journey in the cause of Change. This journey did not end at Madina. It continued through the years, decades and centuries to countless centres of alien civilizations which in no time succumbed to Islam’s dynamic power of change – the power that transformed stagnant societies into fountainheads of progress. It is no secret that for about seven hundred years Islam spearheaded all advancement in knowledge and inventiveness.
Only those amongst us, who are in these times seized by a nostalgic longing to re-discover the dynamism and the progressive spirit of that Islam – the one and the only Islam that qualifies ‘one’ to declare ‘oneself’ an Islamist, can be branded as true Islamists. Their role model is Allama Iqbal.
They are the ones who have fought their way into power in Turkey. And they are the ones who have a historical role to play in the transformation of Pakistan – from ‘an agent’ of vested interests – both alien and indigenous – to a dynamic democratic state that is divorced permanently from all kinds of despotism. These Islamists happen to be in an overwhelming majority in the country. Ironically they don’t have a party. Nor a leader. But their time is bound to come.
(This Column was first published on 25-10-2017)
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