A liberal’s view on Islam
As an agnostic (and somewhat influenced by Buddhism), who is not very impressed by the idea of organized religion, this might sound like a biased piece to few (or many). On the other hand, I am secular and liberal in my orientation, having friends across religions and a belief that if there is a proper focus on celebrating diversity and inclusion, we can progress as a Nation. In that context, I admire the Governance model of New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. However, I do view different religions differently. In that sense, I follow the worldview of Sam Harris, who is also liberal and has done some work in Analyzing Islam vis-à-vis say Judaism and other faiths. I also admire Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins for calling a spade a spade while having more centrist views.
Islam is practiced by a large number of population across continents and in many places it is the fastest growing faith. The followers of the religion, as everyone knows, are Muslims. Islam by its definition expects the faithful to surrender to the will of God or “Allah” and has various moral codes and obligations to adhere to. In a sense, besides being the holy book, the religious book of the Muslims, Quran is a medieval version of an ideal “code of conduct”. In many parts, it is a great treatise where the codes of marriages, divorces etc. are clearly defined. However, in various other parts, it supports violence against infidels or non-believers and is very contradictory in the matters of peace or violence. In one passage, it decrees that killing of one innocent man is equivalent to killing entire humanity. While in the other it talks about death as a punishment for non-believers. The problem is not in the book as such (because many books of different religions justify violence for a “Holy” cause and it is not limited to Islam), but how it has been interpreted by the millions of followers.
Post second world war, most of the newly independent Islamic countries (except for Saudi Arabia and its neighboring Arab sheikhdoms) were governed by leftist or socialist dictators like Nasser in Egypt or other rulers in Algeria, Iran etc. and there was not a big display of fundamentalism from the Government’s side. Of course some of the elements of the clergy was not happy in those regimes but these countries were largely peaceful. Terrorism, as we know it now, was non existent for a long period of time (except for Palestine, where new resistance movement was being started by Palestine Liberation Organization or the PLO that would also lead to killing of Israeli Olympians in Munich years later). But yes, largely there was no insurgencies or militancy movements during that era.
Let us fast forward to mid 1970’s where the CIA had a plan to overthrow the communist USSR-backed regime in Afghanistan. In collusion with Pakistan’s ISI, insurgents and militants were extensively trained to force the USSR to leave Afghanistan. The word “Jehad” which in Islam also refers to the inner purification became known as a symbolism for a holy war (as the fighters were thinking they were being part of) or for Islamic insurgency: depending on which thought is more in alignment with your perception. The same resources and manpower was used by ISI to create trouble in Kashmir in mid eighties. This was the main starting point of Islamic Terrorism which culminated in 9/11 in the United States, followed by creation of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Now this is the historical context to this issue.
As a Liberal I know that largely, majority of Muslims are peaceful, especially in the west and even Countries like India, the UAE or even perhaps Saudi Arabia. I have many Muslim friends who do not wear the religion on their sleevs. However, there is a large section of their populace that is very orthodox in their thinking and and have rarely spoken against Terrorism (barring few clerics here and there). There have been numerous surveys where a big number of people believe in the rule of Islam or the shariah. They usually give reasons for why Islamic terror happens and not how these things should be addressed. They in-fact do not like the term, “Islamic Terrorism” and then we hear a cliché, “Terrorists do not have any religion” that has often been repeated by Politicians as well. This still doesn’t make us come near to any discussion on the probable solutions in the future. As a realist, I do understand that people who are conditioned in religion (any religion for that matter), will believe in their own perception or interpretation. Another uniqueness of Islam is that there is a level of brotherhood that is not so much present in other religions. A recent example is the protest over the cartoons of the Prophet in countries as diverse as Pakistan and Albania or beheading of a teacher in France by a Chechen migrant. Consistently, the brutality of the Islamic terrorists, from Boko Haram to ISIS gives a chill in the spine. They have not spared children or underage girls as well. Also, the way they sold Yezidi women as sex slaves and massacred them is the worst kind of extremism the world has ever seen. My problem is that there is not enough noises in the Islamic world against this kind of monstrosity. Merely saying that the US and the western powers have historically meddled in the affairs of the Islamic nations and hence terrorism is the after effect does not help. The other challenging issue is of people who leave Islam. The ex-Muslims, as they are referred to, face harassment and are frequently murdered on the charges of blasphemy. The ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi ali is conveniently labelled as “Islamophobic”.
As a practitioner of Positive Psychology and a proponent of Positive Politics, I believe that inclusion is the key. The growth of “hard Hindutva” in India is a area of big concern and there have been incidents where Muslims have been targeted on alleged consumption of Beef or in the matters of Inter religious marriages. This is not the way to tread on, if we want a prosperous and happy Nation. If politicians make provocative comments against the Muslims everyday, there would be divisions that are not good for the growth of a Nation. Just because a large section of the Muslim community is orthodox is not a grave area of concern as by and large, Muslims in India live in a and peaceful co-existence with their Hindu or Christian brethren. The only exception is Kashmir where the insurgency has created dent in the growth of the Union territory. The bigger challenge is that the religious scholars of Islam are not doing enough to provide right advise to the faithfuls and condemn all acts of terrorism and brutality in all possible forums. The image of Islam will surely get a boost towards the positive if there are institutional interventions in place from the side of the clergy. Many liberals are also in denial about these facts and living in their Eco-chambers. Status quo is not the way forward unfortunately. We need to find positive and inclusive ways to engage people into conversations.
No Religion is perfect as religions in essence are used in context by followers, based on their understanding or perceptions. Usually people who are religious are obsessed with their own belief systems and are not too much fond of others who follow a different religion or faith. Many of us believe in the superiority of our religion, whatever it may be. My own rational thinking detaches me from any religion although I respect people’s rights to practice whatever they would like to believe in.
I will end this piece by a Hindi couplet by the legendary poet, Harivansh Rai Bachchan;
Mandir Masjid Bair Karaate, Mail karaatee madhudhala (Temples and Mosques divide people, spirits served in a tavern unites people). Here the term “spirits” is used as a metaphor for an inclusive spirit of living a whole-hearted life, with openess.
Sandeep is a Positive Psychology Practitioner and a Leadership Coach. He is an advocate of Positive and Inclusive Politics and is working on a book on the same idea. The views expressed here are personal. Sandeep can be reached on hello@sandeep.com.co
