Solution to Islam's Crisis?

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Subject: Solution to Islam's Crisis?Solution to Islam's crisis lies within.Amir Taheri National Post For decades the big question in the world of Islam has been: "Who did it to us?"Recalling the losses of Grenada and Kazan in the 15th century, the colonization of most Muslim lands by Western empires in the 19th, and the almost total marginalization of the Islamic world in the 20th, rulers and intellectuals from Jakarta to Casablanca, and passing by Tehran and Cairo, asked the same question.The common belief was that Islam was the victim of some vast conspiracy by the "Christian" powers, manipulated by "devious Jews" who feared the message of Muhammad, and were determined to prevent Islam from spreading to the entire universe.The conspiracy theory is still strong in the Muslim world. But the shock of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States seems to have encouraged a fresh attempt at understanding the causes of Islam's current crisis.Many Muslims are now asking: "What have we done to ourselves?" Some of the issues raised are certainly important and must be debated.But the risk is that the right question may lead to wrong answers and thus prevent a serious critique of Islam, both as faith and as existential reality -- a critique without which Islam cannot find a way out of its deepening crisis.Let us consider some of the issues raised by the "what have we done to ourselves" group.Some, like Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, have focused on Islam's deteriorating economic performance.While Muslims account for almost a quarter of mankind, their share of the global wealth is less than 6%. Nearly two-thirds of the world's poorest, those who live on under $2 a day, are Muslim, while not a single Muslim country figures among the world's 30 richest nations.Others, like, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad, have drawn attention to the failure of Muslim nations to adapt to modern technology and the global economy.Of the 5,000 world-class brand products, not one is produced in a Muslim country. In fact, leaving aside oil, caviar and Persian carpets, the 53 members of the Organization of Islamic Conference`have nothing to offer the global market.It was only half in jest that Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika recently quipped that the Muslim world did not even have a world-class football team.Still others, Iran's President Muhammad Khatami for example, have lamented the brain drain that is forcing 1.2-million highly educated Muslims, among them 180,000 Iranians, to immigrate to Europe, North America and other "Christian" lands such as Australia and New Zealand each year.Arab, Iranian and other Muslim commentators have highlighted other facts.Of the 30 active conflicts in the world today, 28 concern Muslim governments and/or communities. In the past two decades at least 2.5 million people have died in the wars fought within or between Muslim states.Two-thirds of political prisoners are held in Muslim countries, which also carry out 80% of all executions in the world. Muslims also account for nearly 80% of all the world's refugees.All that is welcome as far as washing dirty linen in public goes. But what ultimately matters is what the Muslims mean to do about it.On that score the results may be described as disappointing -- at least so far. Musharraf blames unidentified "fanatics" for the sorry state of affairs he has described. But he does not mention the fact that all but one of the world's last military regimes are in the Muslim world and that he himself heads one of them. Nor does he acknowledge the fact that his government is financing thousands of madrassahs (religious schools) where millions of Pakistani children are brainwashed by Taliban-style teachers.Mahathir seems to have abandoned his silly notion of "Asian values." But he is still reluctant to admit that his authoritarian rule, including his manipulation of the judiciary against political rivals, have been factors in encouraging Islamist radicalism.Khatami, for his part, needs to be reminded that, five years after becoming President, he is yet to present a single reform project to a parliament supposedly packed with reformists. Instead, he has presided over the closure of virtually all independent newspapers in Iran and the trebling of the number of political prisoners.As for Bouteflika, rather than lamenting the absence of an efficient 11 squad, he should explain why Algeria, which earns US$20-billion a year from energy exports, is unable to feed its people or provide drinking water for its capital.All the leaders mentioned, and many of the intellectuals who have joined the "dirty linen" exercise, end their discourse with the assertion that "we have not been good Muslims." Their proposed solution is to apply "true Islam."Each, of course, has his own definition of what a "good Muslim" is and what "true Islam" looks like. Some have come out with citations from the Holy Book and, by doing so, have defined themselves rather than the problems discussed.The result is a new form of obfuscation designed to theologize political problems and, thus, avoid the core issue that is the absence of democracy and the rule of law in most Muslim countries. Muslims need the exact opposite method of dealing with their problems: They need to de-theologize their politics and recognize the concept of the political as an independent category.Unless that is done, the Muslim world shall continue in its current state of denial that breeds bigotry, ignorance, violence and, yes, terrorism.Amir Taheri, an Iranian author and journalist, is editor of the Paris- based Politique Internationale.

Solution to Islam's Crisis?

Solution to Islam's Crisis?

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