BaKhabar, April 2010, Page-8

better light a candle than curse the darkness

Western scholars and the study of Islam
- Mohammad Allam, Minto Circle, A.M.U
mohammad_allam@rediffmail.com

Nowadays the market is flooded with the books and magazines on Islam written by the western scholars. The western scholars, in the aftermath of attack on USA, put forward new theories and approaches to the study of Islam. However, careful analysis of their writings brings out the discrepancies inherent in their approaches and theories towards Islam.

Western scholars try to define aims and objectives of Islam in ambiguous terminologies. Notwithstanding the basic tenants of Islam, they study Islam as means of materialistic development of individual society and nation. Their studies are confined to the controversial issues, say of terrorism, homosexuality, freedom of gay and lesbian culture, feminism etc, to question the humanistic approaches of Islam.

Islam, in fact, is a religion for those who are ready to embrace it, not for those who do not want to accept it. Based on this concept of acceptance the Sharia of Islam becomes law for them. Therefore, Sharia, drafted to govern our lives, has to do with the very existence of Islamic politics, economics, culture and society. Here we find different approaches that the western scholars adopt to impose multi-dimensional aspect of society as a culture and study the relationship of culture with Islam. Given their knowledge of European religion, which completely subjugates the religion to individual and culture, they try to project Islam in the same manner. That is why they are far away from the real essence of Islam.

Even the universal sharia of Islam coexists with the rapid transformations world is witnessing. Or we have alternate option of ijtehad? Here the western scholars again adopt wrong approaches to the concept of ijtehad. They seemingly do so because they are obliged to deal with the problems, somehow relating to Islam, to fulfill the western political demands. Their altered approaches towards terrorism as a product of Islam and not as the outcome of political and cultural tyranny spill the beans over their intention. Their analysis of Islam is based on western culture and experiences, not on Islamic tenets and morality. They want to rationalize basic faith of Islam just for the sake of making western way of life acceptable in the Islamic Sharia. They treat Islam as a culture rather than religion. Their such approach causes misunderstanding between the west and the Muslim world. Therefore, before indulging into their writings, we should try to uncover their identity and the hidden motives bringing the World of Islam and West into Clashes. (The Theory of Samuel Huntington of clashes of civilization is an example).

One of the biggest drawbacks in their approaches is their deliberate negligence to accept the big gap in the nature and development of the western and Islamic society. The present stage of the western society is the result of the development of more than 500 years. In the meantime western society made remarkable developments compared to the stagnant world of Islam under the bloody clutches of the colonial governance of the west. The challenges of the western and Islamic society are different. So, to judge these societies on a single parameter would be an exaggeration, which will eventually lead to form a misconception about Islam. And looking at the attitude of the western scholars towards, Islam one can realize that they are not supportive. They expect the believers of Islam to act at their beck and call assuming their orders as the divine words.

Therefore, the works of western scholars may be used as reference for other communities, but it will be of little value for the followers of Islam. For, if they really want to play a positive role in the reconstruction of Islamic society in the 21st century, they are required to change their Oriental mentality.

Views on News

- Anayatullah Niyazi

anayatullah_niyazi@yahoo.co.in

UK: Muslim women who refused to take full-body scan are barred from flying

Two Muslim women have become the first passengers to refuse to subject themselves to controversial ‘naked' full body airport scans. The pair - who security officials insist were selected at random - opted to miss their flight to Pakistan and forfeit tickets worth £400 each rather than be screened. One of the women refused to go through the full-body scanner at Manchester Airport on religious grounds while her companion also declined for ‘medical reasons'. The women were travelling together to Islamabad when they were selected to pass through the controversial security screen after checking-in at Terminal Two at the airport. An estimated 15,000 people have already passed through the scanners, with the pair the first passengers to refuse a scan.

Dutch anti-Islam leader is major winner in polls

Dutch anti-Islamist leader Geert Wilders scored major gains in local authority polls Thursday, making him a serious challenger for power in a June national election, preliminary results showed. In the first test of public opinion since the collapse of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's coalition government last month, Wilders's Freedom Party (PVV) led in the city of Almere and was second in The Hague. The results came on top of an opinion poll showing that the PVV, which campaigns against Muslim immigration as its main platform, would win the most seats - 27 in the 150-member Dutch parliament - in the June 9 election. The popularity of Wilders, who compares Islam to fascism and the Koran to Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf," has dented the image of the Netherlands as a country that has often portrayed itself in the past as a bastion of tolerance. The PVV has been pitching its policies to a nation of 16 million that is turning increasingly inward as the economy struggles and social tensions rise. There are nearly 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands. "The leftist elite still believes in multi-culturalism, coddling criminals, a European super-state and high taxes," Wilders told cheering supporters at a rally in Almere after polling ended Wednesday. "But the rest of the Netherlands thinks differently. That silent majority now has a voice," he said.

U.S. Wages Food War Against Somalia

While nearly half the population of Somalia teeters at the edge of starvation, the U.S. is preventing the United Nations from delivering desperately needed food. According to documents obtained by the New York Times, the Americans demand that aid agencies guarantee that no fees are paid "at roadblocks, ports, warehouses, airfields or other transit points" controlled by Shabab resistance fighters. Since the Shabab and other militias control more than half of the area in conflict, United Nations compliance with U.S. conditions would mean starvation for about three million people. Indeed, if international aid were restricted to areas controlled by the U.S.-backed puppet regime, only a few neighbour hoods in Mogadishu, the capital, would be fed. As the Americans' Somali puppets' position becomes more untenable, the U.S. squeezes the UN's food delivery system, in effect punishing the entire Somali people. U.S. food relief to the UN's Somali operations in 2009 was only half that of 2008. In 2007, United Nations officials declared Somalia the "worst humanitarian crisis in Africa...worse than Darfur," as a result of the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion in late 2006. Thus, the United States has been waging continuous war against the people of Somalia, directly or by proxy, for over three years under the guise of the "war on terror." .... cotinued on Page-9

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