Sparking intellectual discourse
This is a letter that I wrote to a friend of mine in Karachi
Assalam alekum,
Janab, it has been quite a while since I called you last. My apologies. The workload here is substantial and it becomes difficult to stay in touch. Anyway, how have you been? The last time we spoke, you were somewhat distressed at the developments taking place geopolitically as well as in your university. WHat has been the progress on that?
How is the disaster that is MQM rule coming along? I have heard that our moral standing has gone down even more than where I left it. That much comes as no surprise. I am writing an article in Urdu about that, which I will send you, Insha Allah. It is called: "Sifaat e Kanjariyah". I think you can tell what it shall be about. I will draw parallels between the worst of American society and what is becoming more mainstream in ours.
Another piece that I am working on is called "Nifaq e Muslamanan e Amreeka". If anyone tells you that Muslims in America are better than in Pakistan, don't believe it. By no yardstick can they be declared any better than our people, even in our hour of sharp moral decline. The sentiments which I wish to convey in these pieces cannot be summarizd in English. I will therefore request your patience as I compile them, commit my inevitable spelling and grammatical errors and then send them on to you.
On to geopolitical events. The shenanigans of our leaders notwithstanding, the world of Islam is on the rise. There is a disctinctly palpable ternd of regional political and economic integration, especially in the Persian Gulf region. The Mecca summit was positive for several reasons, the foremost of which was the fact that it was a closed doors meeting in Mecca. That means that they deliberately did not want any non-Muslim media present. While we can be assured that the contents of that meeting (beyond the stale headlines) were conveyed to the Western powers through the usual treacherous means, we can take heart from the fact that the Muslim world is at least trying to take on united approach.
Circumstances have changed since the first OIC summit of 1969. For one thing, we now have the example of the European Union, which proves that states do not need to agree on everything in order to successfully integrate themselves into a cohesive bloc. This is already being seen with the Gulf Cooperation Council which is agreeing to economic integration. Trade flows between the members of the GCC (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman) and Iran and Pakistan have increased dramataically over the last five years. Such institutionlized cohesion is a good sign: our past wekness was a lack of strong institutions which seems to be in the process of being rectified.
The concern for us is that the leadership of these institutions is not the kind that we would like. While this is a serious concern, it must also be realized that it is necessary for these institutions to evolve in the first place. It will be easier to reform them to a moral and Islamic agenda once they have been popularized through this amoral leadership (baseness is always more popular than morality). Our concern at this stage should be to evolve our own strategies vis a vis these transnational political and economic institutions. We have to point out why our current leadership is not doing a good job and what we can do instead.
At this current juncture, that is not possible. The common man in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Gulf likes the present dispensation. It is bringing economic progress to the bourgoisie and greater degree of political empowerment for them, or at least a setup where they have freedom from religion rather than freedom of religion. We need to wait. This setup is too popular and its weaknesses not visible enough to the bourgoisie for us to move just yet.
We need to allow this system to get stronger, while at the same time ensuring our presence in the political and economic spectrum. (By us I mean people who wish to see Islam as the foundation of everything we do. We are socially conservative but opposed to the status quo; leftist conservatives, if you will.) The rise of Islamic banking, however flawed, is a good sign for us economically. Politically, we should hope to see a widening of political discourse and freedoms. While this also allows for the development of amorality, it also ensures that we will not be pushed off the table of the national political agenda.
We must wait till this system has delivered all that it can. Its limit will be reached when its leaders cannot expand the geopolitical significance of the country without disaligning themselves from the Western agenda. Currently, the amorality of the system demands subservience to the West. We must wait till the people see our national stature growing beyond this subservient relationship. It is at this point that we must offer a political and economic agenda that is independent of any foreign interests and can take the next step in our rise as a potential power. We should, of course, offer an agenda that is in line with Islamic principles while also ensuring that people see that we need not be hostile to anyone. Too often, we are seen as defining Islam in opposition to the United States. This is a mistake and takes away from the universality of the religion.
I think I have written enough for now. Insha Allah I hope to hear from you soon.
Fi Amanillah,
Wassalam alekum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Farooq
P.S. Try to watch two movies if you can. One is called "Good night and good luck" and the other is called "Syriana". Tell me what you think of them.
Assalam alekum,
Janab, it has been quite a while since I called you last. My apologies. The workload here is substantial and it becomes difficult to stay in touch. Anyway, how have you been? The last time we spoke, you were somewhat distressed at the developments taking place geopolitically as well as in your university. WHat has been the progress on that?
How is the disaster that is MQM rule coming along? I have heard that our moral standing has gone down even more than where I left it. That much comes as no surprise. I am writing an article in Urdu about that, which I will send you, Insha Allah. It is called: "Sifaat e Kanjariyah". I think you can tell what it shall be about. I will draw parallels between the worst of American society and what is becoming more mainstream in ours.
Another piece that I am working on is called "Nifaq e Muslamanan e Amreeka". If anyone tells you that Muslims in America are better than in Pakistan, don't believe it. By no yardstick can they be declared any better than our people, even in our hour of sharp moral decline. The sentiments which I wish to convey in these pieces cannot be summarizd in English. I will therefore request your patience as I compile them, commit my inevitable spelling and grammatical errors and then send them on to you.
On to geopolitical events. The shenanigans of our leaders notwithstanding, the world of Islam is on the rise. There is a disctinctly palpable ternd of regional political and economic integration, especially in the Persian Gulf region. The Mecca summit was positive for several reasons, the foremost of which was the fact that it was a closed doors meeting in Mecca. That means that they deliberately did not want any non-Muslim media present. While we can be assured that the contents of that meeting (beyond the stale headlines) were conveyed to the Western powers through the usual treacherous means, we can take heart from the fact that the Muslim world is at least trying to take on united approach.
Circumstances have changed since the first OIC summit of 1969. For one thing, we now have the example of the European Union, which proves that states do not need to agree on everything in order to successfully integrate themselves into a cohesive bloc. This is already being seen with the Gulf Cooperation Council which is agreeing to economic integration. Trade flows between the members of the GCC (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman) and Iran and Pakistan have increased dramataically over the last five years. Such institutionlized cohesion is a good sign: our past wekness was a lack of strong institutions which seems to be in the process of being rectified.
The concern for us is that the leadership of these institutions is not the kind that we would like. While this is a serious concern, it must also be realized that it is necessary for these institutions to evolve in the first place. It will be easier to reform them to a moral and Islamic agenda once they have been popularized through this amoral leadership (baseness is always more popular than morality). Our concern at this stage should be to evolve our own strategies vis a vis these transnational political and economic institutions. We have to point out why our current leadership is not doing a good job and what we can do instead.
At this current juncture, that is not possible. The common man in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Gulf likes the present dispensation. It is bringing economic progress to the bourgoisie and greater degree of political empowerment for them, or at least a setup where they have freedom from religion rather than freedom of religion. We need to wait. This setup is too popular and its weaknesses not visible enough to the bourgoisie for us to move just yet.
We need to allow this system to get stronger, while at the same time ensuring our presence in the political and economic spectrum. (By us I mean people who wish to see Islam as the foundation of everything we do. We are socially conservative but opposed to the status quo; leftist conservatives, if you will.) The rise of Islamic banking, however flawed, is a good sign for us economically. Politically, we should hope to see a widening of political discourse and freedoms. While this also allows for the development of amorality, it also ensures that we will not be pushed off the table of the national political agenda.
We must wait till this system has delivered all that it can. Its limit will be reached when its leaders cannot expand the geopolitical significance of the country without disaligning themselves from the Western agenda. Currently, the amorality of the system demands subservience to the West. We must wait till the people see our national stature growing beyond this subservient relationship. It is at this point that we must offer a political and economic agenda that is independent of any foreign interests and can take the next step in our rise as a potential power. We should, of course, offer an agenda that is in line with Islamic principles while also ensuring that people see that we need not be hostile to anyone. Too often, we are seen as defining Islam in opposition to the United States. This is a mistake and takes away from the universality of the religion.
I think I have written enough for now. Insha Allah I hope to hear from you soon.
Fi Amanillah,
Wassalam alekum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh
Farooq
P.S. Try to watch two movies if you can. One is called "Good night and good luck" and the other is called "Syriana". Tell me what you think of them.
posted by Farooq Tirmizi at
10:49 PM
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