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The Pulpit
Deification In Muslim Society by Saad Anis Agriculture is the most detestable profession. Allow me to explicate. No matter how much sweat and toil is devoted by the peasant in tilling the land, the eventual determinant of the fate of the harvest is the vicissitude of weather. Such hopeless dependence of his livelihood, and thus survival, on the caprice of circumstances beyond his control, naturally makes the peasant gullible to superstition. Ergo, he is inclined to believe in the existence of omnipotent gods, both human and otherwise. The inability to exercise any vestige of control over the weather that ascertains his survival instills in him, fear, and thus, dependence. He is more ready than the common man to seek divine and mortal leadership, often confusing the two. Furthermore, he is disposed to an implicit belief in the infallibility of the deified, in a desperate attempt at reassurance of his own fate. Similar assertions hold for the entire agrarian society, grasping for faith in the uncertainty of its endurance and settling for eternal subservience. This explains the strong theistic roots of medieval society. Indeed, primarily comprising agrarian civilizations, the ancient world needed the comforting assurance of mortal and immortal deities shielding them from the wrath of nature. Consequently, the commencement of the crumbling of theistic foundations in the west with the ascent of industrialization may be seen as no mere happenstance. For perhaps, the first time, man had found a way to ensure his own survival independent of divine benediction. This virgin act of defiance gave way to an era of religious, political and cultural upheaval, one that continues to this day. Significantly enough, the Muslim society remained largely agriculture-based throughout this time, and thus, maintained its strong theological character and vertical power structure. Instead of weakening, the deification continued to solidify among Muslims. The deities, primarily symbolizing ideals, theologies and people, were understood to epitomize perfection, and were thus beyond critical mortal scrutiny. The Muslim penchant for persistence with long-held ideals is understandable, given the political and cultural developments following the western Renaissance. Not by coincidence, Muslim decline the world over came with the rise of the industrialized West. Shocked by such a dramatic political and military submission, the Muslim world feared an equally fatal ideological and cultural invasion, granted credence by several Christian missionary movements in the conquered regions. Throughout their history, Muslims had always been the conquerors, and so construed this novel, unenviable position of the vanquished as a threat to their very socio-cultural existence. Their general reaction was an evasion of all cultural, educational and scientific advancements introduced by western advent into the Muslim world. The boycott was implicit to all modern ideals, whether good or bad. Driven into a corner, Muslims, out of fear, became defensive to the point of hostility. Modern innovations in science and learning were shunned as religious seminaries crammed eager young minds with archaic texts of Aristotle and Euclid, a curriculum followed even today. On the religious front, the avenues of Ijtihad – self interpretation of religious texts -- already deserted for around three centuries – were bolted to disallow any evolution in religious law with the progression of time. Terrified of losing their heritage, the Muslims clung desperately to established practices and beliefs in all quarters, advertently overlooking their eroding practicability with age. Lacking the resources to develop and armed with a defeatist mentality due western imperialism, the still-agrarian Muslim society sunk further into the abyss of intellectual stagnation. Wary of protecting their culture and ideology, scholars and leaders sought to make ideals conceived and interpreted by humans, sacred. Such mental rut gave credibility to preposterous European claims to the manifest destiny. Even though the Muslim world has since been more or less liberated from the shackles of imperialism, the blitzkrieg of the modern West has left indelible prints on Muslim socio-political thought. The consequence is a society with a penchant for infallible deities. Generations of self-imposed theological and intellectual impasse has engendered and nurtured acute intolerance among Muslims. The pluralism of Rumi has given way to the scholastic communalism of today. In a distorted interpretation of religion, rationalism in its entirety is condemned. Independent thought today is stifled upon its very conception, and plurality is subjected to the wrath of brainless lynch-mobs under rash accusations of heresy and apostasy. In a world of creative thought, the order of the day in our society is silent conformity and blind adherence. This long-standing cognitive stagnation has brought about a noticeable change in individual religious convictions, from belief in god and conquest of nature (science) to an unquestioning fidelity to opportunistic theologists with their own axe to grind under the sanctimonious pretext of religion. The need for the preservation of faith in rapidly crumbling ideals has caused the people to tacitly license a greater patronal role for the elitist leadership. Ergo, the strengthening of imperialist feudalism in society. The general distrust of democratic polity prevalent in the Muslim world today is partially a by-product of this pernicious compromise. Such a collectivist isolationist approach has led to the demise of the individual mind in our society. It has spawned a mindset whereby a son is expected to adopt the beliefs of his father by mere virtue of posterity. The emphasis is on preservation of decrepit convictions rather than their evolution. Justice takes a grudging back seat to the predominant views of a public remiss of the value of pure thought, and such travesties as the Blasphemy and Hudood Laws are granted official benediction. Of course, it is society which reaps the stale fruit of its creative intransigence in the form of a nation of vacuous yes-men, in the stead of individuals with substance. Indeed, our sins have come to haunt us. About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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