The Muslims of the world, taken as one body, do
not present the image of a coherent personality.
There is no consensus among them about certain
fundamental issues. They are not all committed
to the same world-view, they do not have the
sense of a shared destiny, and they are not
quite agreed on the broad framework within which
the diverse activities of society are to take
place. The reasons for this fragmented being of
the Muslim Ummah are not far to seek.
When, in the last phase of their decadence,
Muslims were faced with the modern challenge,
they did not respond to it in a united manner.
One section of their intelligentsia strongly
resisted the onslaught of modernism. The new
thought and culture which had come from the West
they condemned as antireligious and unethical,
and they spent all their energies in preserving
the legacy of Islam from the depredations of
modernism. But though they succeeded in
safeguarding their heritage, they were seriously
at fault in having fought a purely defensive
war. They had shut themselves up in cloisters
and hoped, ostrich-like, that the storm would
blow over.
The other section of the intelligentsia
meanwhile saw it more expedient to welcome the
new creed with open arms. In order to jump on
the triumphant bandwagon from the West, they
willingly made the sacrifice which was demanded
of them or which they themselves thought
necessary to make. Thence began the strife
which, being of the nature of a civil war, has
enervated the body-politic of the Muslim Ummah
and has reduced the Ummah to the status of what
Toy bee calls an arrested civilization.
Attempts have no doubt been made to heal this
rift between the traditionalists and the
modernists. But so far they have not borne
fruit. Their rejection of each other is almost
total. The traditionalist thinks that he has
nothing to do with what he dubs irreligious and
immoral modernism. He, therefore, rejects it
with completeness worthy of his blind
dogmatism.The modernist,on the other hand, looks
down upon all tradition as the principal cause
of backwardness and misery. And so he spurns it
with a perversely rigid attitude.
The traditionalistis mistaken because he failsto
appreciate the true nature of the modern
challenge. The modernist falls into error
because he fallaciously thinks that anything
rooted in the past is antiquated. The
traditionalist blames modernism for having
weaned Muslims from Islam, their mainstay, while
the modernist accuses traditionalism of making
the disastrous attempt of putting the clock
back. The two are not prepared to listen to each
other because each thinks he is in the exclusive
possession of the truth. So while things stand
as they do, it is well nigh impossible to affect
a compromise between the two parties. And, one
is disposed to think, even if some kind of
compromise were affected, it would be no more
than a patchwork, with the fate of a patchwork.
There is only one way in which this gulf between
two very important forces of the Muslim
community can be bridged. There must come into
existence a new breed of intellectuals who
combine in them selves both the traditional and
modern strands. The new breed must have a
profound sense of the worth of the Islamic
traditions and be so well versed in it as to be
regarded better custodians of it than the
traditionalists. On the other hand, they must
have an intimate knowledge of and a deep insight
into the modern situations and problems and
prove themselves to be better modernists. It is
only men of this caliber who can pull Muslims
out of the quagmire they are at present stuck
in.
The only means of producing this kind of
peopleis to open educational centers in which
talented young Muslims could be trained on the
lines suggested above. It would be ideal if some
Muslim government were to undertake the
establishment of such educational institutions.
But it is doubtful whether any government would
take such a project in hand before concrete
proof of its feasibility is made available. The
initiative, therefore, will have to come from
private individuals.
"...Verily never will Allah change the condition
of a people until they change it themselves..."
Qur’an 13:11
courtesy: islamicity.com
