Turmoil in the Muslim world and a way forward

Reuters photo

By

Shahper Hassan

Religion had been put aside by the despotic rulers in Arab countries where we have witnessed the uprising, fighting and bloodshed which continues to this day.

As a matter of fact the social system in the larger Arab world has not been allowed to develop and as a result there have been civil rights violations and suffering of minorities in different ways. A clear comparison can be made between those societies and ours.

Religion was being exploited and the form of government was developed in such a way which only fulfils the needs of the people of a specific class thus an uprising was witnessed in recent years. The masses in the Arab world, seeing that they were being suppressed while the rest of the world, mostly the Western civilization, had developed a democratic system that respects individuality and human life, wanted to get rid of the military rulers, suppression and torture they were going through.

The hurdles in their way to grow intellectually and become individuals, who could question the ruling class about what was happening and who could develop a reasonable system that guaranteed civil rights and equal economic opportunities brought them together.

On one hand their generations had seen the rule of Islamic personalities, if we start from the time of Prophet (PBUH) and the system that was developed by him and his companions based on justice, compassion, economic opportunities, development and equality. On the other hand the coming generations saw the deterioration of the entire system and everything in their part of the world getting into the hands of despots and selfish rulers who cared only about themselves and got into divisive politics and accumulation of wealth and property, forgetting about religion.

It’s debatable whether democratic form of government fulfils the need of any society, because there are also other Arab countries that have a monarchy system working perfectly and reasonably in the same Middle East which is critically under fire and torn apart. But with the passage of time there is understanding among the Arab masses that a democratic form of government is rather better and that the military must stay out of political affairs. Common observation is that in the Muslim world military involvement in everything and especially the political set up has made matters worse as the military personnel want to be in total control of each and every thing which disturbs the social and political order in any country.

There is a need to let these societies develop in a reasonable way by allowing the growth of a political system, the setting up of educational institutions that teach first of all about civil and political rights and that someone’s individuality has to be respected; this is not possible without a tolerant society which is educated in a reasonable way. It might be a slow process but this is the only way forward.

Shahper Hassan

The writer has worked as journalist for English dailies in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.