Muslim world - What is wrong with us?
by Arij Awais
Sunday, 15 August 2010 17:04 Arij Awais
courtesy: http://www.pakistanintellectuals.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=614:what-is-wrong-with-us&catid=13:featured-news&Itemid=8
What is wrong with us? How and why are we in such a pathetic condition? These kinds of questions must come across the muslim youth all over the world. When the ‘’ best nation ever risen for mankind’’ is slaughtered in millions on its home soil (Falluja, Gaza, Bosnia), something is drastically wrong somewhere. Many reasons are given for our current state, the most common being that the problem lays within us as we are bad people and this in turn makes our rulers bad. Neither is true. We are not at all bad people nor the 50 odd muslim rulers represent us in any way. The fundamental problem is something else.
The material ingredients that are required to make a nation progress include economy, money and reserves, manpower, military, strategic location, technological advancement, universities, doctors, scientists etc. We constantly hear about the peak of the Islamic State in every sphere of life from the 8th to 18th century, even Obama mentioned this in his Cairo speech. Surely, such a decline would suggest dwindling resources and numbers. But the facts point towards another reality.
The current reality tells us that the muslim world collectively possesses over 700 billion barrels of oil and half of the world’s gas. Both the worlds key energy sources. It is for this reason the Muslim countries produce half of the world’s daily oil requirement and 30% of the world’s gas needs. The fertile lands of Punjab are ready to feed a population twice as big as Pakistan is right now and it is the best irrigation system (waiting for more water reservoirs to enrich it).
The Ummah globally number 1.6 billion, more importantly over 60% of the Ummah is below the age of 28. The importance of a large population is critical for domestic economic development and defence. The number of muslim doctors, scientists, accountants, engineers, architects are increasing and they are working in all top class organizations. You name a field and muslims have excelled in it.
40% of the world’s oil passes through the Straits of Hormuz waterway that straddles between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf in the southwest. This fact alone makes it the most important waterway in the world. The Suez Canal is considered one of the world’s most important waterways as it links Asian markets to the Mediterranean and Europe. 7.5% of global sea trade transits the canal.
Pakistan fields the worlds 6th largest army with over 1.5 million personnel. Pakistan currently maintains a triad based nuclear deterrent system i.e. based on land, sea and air. It maintains multiple delivery platforms including ballistic missiles and is part of an elite club of cruise missile producing nations. It developed its own fighter jet, submarines, and main battle tanks. Published figures show that the Muslim armies combined outnumber the Israeli forces by a ratio of 68 Muslim soldiers to one Israeli soldier. The Muslim countries spend almost 17 times more on their military budgets than Israel.
Surely, Allah has blessed us with every possible resource. But with every kind of wealth, resource and military might let us analyse the condition in which an average Muslim lives.
According to official data there is one doctor available for every 1,225 people who live in Pakistan. James Rawley, a U.N. resident coordinator, completed a survey in June 2010 and quoted “One in every five Egyptians cannot meet their basic living needs". Tareq A-Zadjali, director general of the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development said, "We have an annual food security gap of between 27 and 29 billion dollars".
The dozen years since the Persian Gulf War have seen slums grow up on the outskirts of Jeddah and Riyadh. Beggars hawk bottles of water at intersections. Penniless women huddle in strips of shade outside their crumbling mud-brick houses, begging for money. Many families in the capital are so poor they can't afford electricity. Raw sewage runs through parts of Jeddah.
According to Transparency International, Muslim countries account for 8 of the 10 most corrupt countries that were surveyed.
We live in a digital and fast paced world today. Technology and easy access of resources have bridged the gaps. You name an Islamic topic ranging from Salah, Zakat, Hajj to the story of Miraaj and we will find multiple books on it from various authors. There are thousands of Islamic sites filled with knowledge. The number of scholars have increased twofold in the past 20 years. Scholars like Dr.Zakir Naik, Dr. Israr Ahmed are respected worldwide and have a massive following. The tableeghi jamaat operate in many countries around the world giving people knowledge about the religion. There are hundreds of universities offering Islamic courses worldwide. We can access the Holy Quran even on mobiles and on ipods while on the move.
All this is happening and yet a dog dying on the streets of London has more worth than a Muslim being cut to pieces in Palestine.
Historically:
Ibn Aljawzi reported in his book about the lifetime of Omar Ibn Abdulaziz that Omar asked his governors throughout the State for the counts of all blind people, those with chronic diseases, and the disabled. He then assigned a guide for every blind person and two servants for every chronically ill or disabled person throughout the whole Islamic State that spanned from China in the east to Morocco in the west, and Russia in the north to the Indian ocean in the south. The well being and prosperity of the people under the Islamic rule was such that during the khilafah of Omar Ibn Abdulaziz, the State could not find poor people to pay the zakat money to.
During the Ummyads and Abbasid khilafah, the travellers' routes from Iraq and bilad-uSham (today's Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine) to Hijaz (region of Makkah) were setup with "guest houses" along the routes which were equipped with water, food and shelter supplies everyday to ease the travel for people. The remnants of these facilities can be seen today in bilad-uSham. The records of the charity trusts (Waqf) for some hospitals in bilad-uSham testify to this.
The Uthmani Khilafah carried out this obligation too. This is evident in servicing the people by building the famous Istanbul-Madina "Hejaz" railway during the time of Sultan Abdulhameed II to facilitate travel for the pilgrims to Makkah as well as to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian regions. While the Muslims rushed to donate and volunteer to building the railway, the Uthmani khilafah offered the transportation service to people free of charge.
When the hijab of one Muslim woman was violated by Roman soldiers, the Abbasid Khaleefah Mutasim mobilized an entire army to secure her safety and dignity.
With more resources, wealth and numbers today, we lag behind in every aspect of life. This is due to the fundamental problem of the absence of a strong, central government that represents us. The governments and their western agents imposed over us do not represent us in any shape or form. Our rulers are only interested in satisfying their colonial masters and they have no concern if their citizens live or die. When the Islamic government existed, we did not face such calamity as we do today. We have fended off every threat because we had the backing of a state. Islam is not a religion, it is a way of life and the core problem with us is that we have abandoned that way of life. Our decline and current predicament is because we have abandoned the Ideology that showed us the glory. The ruling system of Islam is called Khilafat and it should be implemented in its totality otherwise we would still be asking the same question for many more years to come.
Arij Awais is a freelance writer and a graduate from Cass Business School, London.
courtesy: http://www.pakistanintellectuals.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=614:what-is-wrong-with-us&catid=13:featured-news&Itemid=8
What is wrong with us? How and why are we in such a pathetic condition? These kinds of questions must come across the muslim youth all over the world. When the ‘’ best nation ever risen for mankind’’ is slaughtered in millions on its home soil (Falluja, Gaza, Bosnia), something is drastically wrong somewhere. Many reasons are given for our current state, the most common being that the problem lays within us as we are bad people and this in turn makes our rulers bad. Neither is true. We are not at all bad people nor the 50 odd muslim rulers represent us in any way. The fundamental problem is something else.
The material ingredients that are required to make a nation progress include economy, money and reserves, manpower, military, strategic location, technological advancement, universities, doctors, scientists etc. We constantly hear about the peak of the Islamic State in every sphere of life from the 8th to 18th century, even Obama mentioned this in his Cairo speech. Surely, such a decline would suggest dwindling resources and numbers. But the facts point towards another reality.
The current reality tells us that the muslim world collectively possesses over 700 billion barrels of oil and half of the world’s gas. Both the worlds key energy sources. It is for this reason the Muslim countries produce half of the world’s daily oil requirement and 30% of the world’s gas needs. The fertile lands of Punjab are ready to feed a population twice as big as Pakistan is right now and it is the best irrigation system (waiting for more water reservoirs to enrich it).
The Ummah globally number 1.6 billion, more importantly over 60% of the Ummah is below the age of 28. The importance of a large population is critical for domestic economic development and defence. The number of muslim doctors, scientists, accountants, engineers, architects are increasing and they are working in all top class organizations. You name a field and muslims have excelled in it.
40% of the world’s oil passes through the Straits of Hormuz waterway that straddles between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf in the southwest. This fact alone makes it the most important waterway in the world. The Suez Canal is considered one of the world’s most important waterways as it links Asian markets to the Mediterranean and Europe. 7.5% of global sea trade transits the canal.
Pakistan fields the worlds 6th largest army with over 1.5 million personnel. Pakistan currently maintains a triad based nuclear deterrent system i.e. based on land, sea and air. It maintains multiple delivery platforms including ballistic missiles and is part of an elite club of cruise missile producing nations. It developed its own fighter jet, submarines, and main battle tanks. Published figures show that the Muslim armies combined outnumber the Israeli forces by a ratio of 68 Muslim soldiers to one Israeli soldier. The Muslim countries spend almost 17 times more on their military budgets than Israel.
Surely, Allah has blessed us with every possible resource. But with every kind of wealth, resource and military might let us analyse the condition in which an average Muslim lives.
According to official data there is one doctor available for every 1,225 people who live in Pakistan. James Rawley, a U.N. resident coordinator, completed a survey in June 2010 and quoted “One in every five Egyptians cannot meet their basic living needs". Tareq A-Zadjali, director general of the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development said, "We have an annual food security gap of between 27 and 29 billion dollars".
The dozen years since the Persian Gulf War have seen slums grow up on the outskirts of Jeddah and Riyadh. Beggars hawk bottles of water at intersections. Penniless women huddle in strips of shade outside their crumbling mud-brick houses, begging for money. Many families in the capital are so poor they can't afford electricity. Raw sewage runs through parts of Jeddah.
According to Transparency International, Muslim countries account for 8 of the 10 most corrupt countries that were surveyed.
We live in a digital and fast paced world today. Technology and easy access of resources have bridged the gaps. You name an Islamic topic ranging from Salah, Zakat, Hajj to the story of Miraaj and we will find multiple books on it from various authors. There are thousands of Islamic sites filled with knowledge. The number of scholars have increased twofold in the past 20 years. Scholars like Dr.Zakir Naik, Dr. Israr Ahmed are respected worldwide and have a massive following. The tableeghi jamaat operate in many countries around the world giving people knowledge about the religion. There are hundreds of universities offering Islamic courses worldwide. We can access the Holy Quran even on mobiles and on ipods while on the move.
All this is happening and yet a dog dying on the streets of London has more worth than a Muslim being cut to pieces in Palestine.
Historically:
Ibn Aljawzi reported in his book about the lifetime of Omar Ibn Abdulaziz that Omar asked his governors throughout the State for the counts of all blind people, those with chronic diseases, and the disabled. He then assigned a guide for every blind person and two servants for every chronically ill or disabled person throughout the whole Islamic State that spanned from China in the east to Morocco in the west, and Russia in the north to the Indian ocean in the south. The well being and prosperity of the people under the Islamic rule was such that during the khilafah of Omar Ibn Abdulaziz, the State could not find poor people to pay the zakat money to.
During the Ummyads and Abbasid khilafah, the travellers' routes from Iraq and bilad-uSham (today's Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine) to Hijaz (region of Makkah) were setup with "guest houses" along the routes which were equipped with water, food and shelter supplies everyday to ease the travel for people. The remnants of these facilities can be seen today in bilad-uSham. The records of the charity trusts (Waqf) for some hospitals in bilad-uSham testify to this.
The Uthmani Khilafah carried out this obligation too. This is evident in servicing the people by building the famous Istanbul-Madina "Hejaz" railway during the time of Sultan Abdulhameed II to facilitate travel for the pilgrims to Makkah as well as to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian regions. While the Muslims rushed to donate and volunteer to building the railway, the Uthmani khilafah offered the transportation service to people free of charge.
When the hijab of one Muslim woman was violated by Roman soldiers, the Abbasid Khaleefah Mutasim mobilized an entire army to secure her safety and dignity.
With more resources, wealth and numbers today, we lag behind in every aspect of life. This is due to the fundamental problem of the absence of a strong, central government that represents us. The governments and their western agents imposed over us do not represent us in any shape or form. Our rulers are only interested in satisfying their colonial masters and they have no concern if their citizens live or die. When the Islamic government existed, we did not face such calamity as we do today. We have fended off every threat because we had the backing of a state. Islam is not a religion, it is a way of life and the core problem with us is that we have abandoned that way of life. Our decline and current predicament is because we have abandoned the Ideology that showed us the glory. The ruling system of Islam is called Khilafat and it should be implemented in its totality otherwise we would still be asking the same question for many more years to come.
Arij Awais is a freelance writer and a graduate from Cass Business School, London.
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