THANK Allah for what you have, TRUST Allah for what you need.
Number 7, July 2008
Islam as the Softest Power
by Manzurul Haque
In any fight, reaching for the jugular is not the best of strategies. This sort of approach is well suited for murder. In a fight, you put your opponent to mat and let him live. In ideological terms you convert your opponent. That is precisely the method of Islam.
There can be some fundamental questions on this method as well, such as letting live without putting to mat. Isn’t that beautiful? Why must Islam seek to destroy ‘beauty’? (It is another matter that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder). The pristine glory of living naked in the deep tribal belts of the Andaman Islands needs to be preserved as a world heritage, which Islam will take no time to destroy. I have to repeat that it is another matter that the Red Indians of the two vast American continents and Aborigines of Australia were destroyed rather mercilessly by the Europeans. With the Red Indians and Aborigines, Islam would have collided sideways and not head-on, because that is its method. And, because there are still some more fundamental questions to be addressed, such as the need to think of humanity as a whole! There is a strong elemental urge to revert back to the ways of our forefathers, but what would be the scene like? Obviously most unbearable for the modern man will that be! So, let there be a small window at least to have a peep into our past through the lives of the Jarawas of the Andamans. How charming and how glamorous it is to have a view like this! Unfortunately, Islam does not accept this viewpoint, because the animal on the other side of the cage is a human, and no human can be left bereft of the light of Islam. The modernity of the Western kind be damned for it! Not much premium can be paid to assuage the elemental urges of the West.
Islam will move on slowly but surely like a giant in stride and in the process convert, because it thinks of humanity as a whole. Since when has thinking of humanity as whole, become unfashionable? Then why is there this war bugle on the movement forward of Islam!? These are some of the legitimate questions of our times. The Christians organized-ly convert. There is no reason to believe that the Hindus or the Chinese will not aspire to bring the humanity under their thought umbrella, if and when they can. Islam is therefore not apologetic to its call to convert. And you can’t blame a winner in a game played by all. You can challenge his winning, but for that you have to play doubly vigorously rather than question the play itself. Islam does not mind the game and is willing to take the challenge of fair play, anytime, anywhere.
This brings us to the concept of soft power. An interesting view propounded by the Harvard academic Joseph Nye in the context of the US is that ‘American lifestyle is its most successful export’ (with or without its largest nuclear arsenal). But the way Islam can make inroads into the lives of Americans and Europeans and other nationalities, almost certainly without any nuclear arsenal, suggests that Islam may perhaps be the softest power on earth. Indeed it has been so since its very birth in Arabia. There is reason to believe that many societies get jittery at coming into contact with Islam, as it starts receiving members from their folks. It is not surprising that there is so much reaction against Islam in non-Islamic societies. In the ideological arena, Islam is perceived as the predator from which there is no ideological escape. The only way out is to turn the arena into a physical one and start a quarrel or a fight or even a battle and become murderous. The fate of the so-called soft power of the United States of America, on coming into contact with the softest power of Islam, is a case in point. No matter the US is at the jugular end of the Muslim community. The Muslims have to suffer in silence and keep mustering their faith till softness overcomes the dogs of war.
Mr. Haque is a high court lawyer and hony. chief editor of Bakhabar(manhaq@yahoo.com)
Mohammad Shahid Raza ...
During his stay at Leicester, he was able to initiate traditions of inter-faith dialogue at the Centre and intra community dialogue through the Federation of Mosques, and as the Head Teacher at the Islamic Centre evening school, he had been imparting moral and Islamic education to the younger generation of the local Muslim community. 30 years later now and even after having moved to London in 1984, where he is currently Executive Secretary and Registrar of The Muslim Law (Sharia) Council of UK, he manages to lead the Friday prayers at Leicester Central Mosque. Among the many achievements of his, notable was the establishment of the Muslim Food Board UK which has now grown into a national organization offering guidelines and expert opinion in respect of Islamic dietary laws. Under him, the Sharia Council has helped thousands of Muslims, particularly women, since its establishment in 1985, in resolving their family and matrimonial disputes. The recognition of his services by the British crown therefore has come not too soon.
Bihar Anjuman is particularly pleased to note that such constructive actions of a pious Muslim can bring rewards in this very life not to speak of life hereafter, and would like to remind the readers that this spirit also permeates through the thinking of the Anjuman. By presenting the humanitarian face of Islam, sitting at the very core of Western civilization, Maulana Janab Mohammad Shahid Raza sahib has done a singular service to the cause of spreading the peaceful essence of Islam.
Mr. Farah is a Research Scientist in Seoul, South Korea (farahkorea@yahoo.com )
IITs or ...
We lack nothing but guidance, awareness and will. So our first priority should be to establish a Guidance Cell, supplemented by coaching for admission into professional courses where we can send our community members in hundreds and thousands, rather than remaining satisfied with a meager number of thirty.
Mr. Aslam is Dubai based Educationist,(as_bit@yahoo.com)
Best Blog of the Month
Posted by "Ghazanfar"
Thomas Stearns Eliot, an American-born scholar, sophisticated eclectic, and poetic genius claimed by both the United States and England, is the twentieth century’s touchstone author and critic. His monumental verse, written during a period of emotional turmoil and personal re-evaluation, gave voice to the post-World War I trauma that had left a generation in doubt about the future of civilization. His style transcended previous literary movements with a surprising sense of humor. Both frustratingly obtuse and dazzlingly memorable, his masterworks redirect attention from the collapse of Edwardian respectability to the birth of modernism.
(sghaque@yahoo.com)
About Prophet (PBUH)
Zaid, Prophet’s servant, said, "I served Lord for ten years, and he never said 'Uff,' to me; and never said, 'Why did you do so?' and never said, 'Why did you not do so?'"