It is said that sometime in the 1970s, a Sheikh from Egypt went on a visit to Europe. The Sheikh stayed there for some time and then returned to Egypt. Upon his arrival, everyone expected the Sheikh to criticize Europe as a land of vice, nudity, drugs and alcohol. But when asked how he found Europe, the Sheikh responded, “In Egypt, there are Muslims without Islam. In Europe, there is Islam without Muslims.” This response of the Sheikh astounded everyone but the Sheikh had good reasons to make that observation.
Egypt is a typical Muslim country. What is generally true of Egypt is also generally true of Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Morocco, and Algeria and many other Muslim countries. What I mean is that the same problems that plague the people of Egypt also plague the people of most other Muslim countries (as well as many other non-Muslim countries). And what are they? Government officials are generally corrupt, the people are generally untidy, people have a general disregard for the law, et al. When the Sheikh observed that in Egypt there were Muslims without Islam, what he meant was that the people of Egypt had in general forgotten some of the most basic principles of Islam, For example, the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) has said, “May the curse of Allah be upon the giver of the bribe and the receiver of the bribe.” Yet, in Egypt, corruption was seen as a fact of life. But can government officials continue to be corrupt if the people refuse to pay bribes? Likewise, the Egyptian people would respect laws only to the extent their convenience was not forsaken. Thus, continuing to drive the car even when the traffic light is red would not be an abnormal thing to do.
Now, coming to the second part of the statement where the Sheikh had observed that in Europe there was Islam without Muslims. What the Sheikh meant to highlight was the fact that in Europe, the rule of law is supreme. Bribes are a rare thing at most levels of governance. The people keep the roads clean. The people respect the laws. To break a law is unthinkable for most people. No one jumps a traffic signal even if the roads are all empty. Small things like these were observed by the Sheikh who was impressed by the people in Europe. Thus, what the Sheikh meant was that although the people of Egypt professed Islam, they had given up many of its teachings and although the people of Europe were mainly non-Muslim, they followed many of its teachings without knowing it.
I am highlighting this statement of the Sheikh for one reason. We, in the East, always criticize the culture of the West for encouraging nudity, alcoholism and immorality. But we fail to see the positive aspects of Western culture. At the same time, by confining the scope of our morality to just dress, personal habits and sexuality, we are encouraging the sustenance of what I would call public immorality i.e. a social culture that tolerates corruption, and disrespect for the laws because these things are not among the most important aspects of morality in society’s imagination.
Therefore, I hope that instead of blindly criticizing the culture of the West, we first examine our own idea of morality just as the wise Sheikh did in the 1970s. (And, may I add that the Sheikh’s observations are not relevant just for Muslim societies but also other Eastern societies with similar cultural values like, for example, India).
View the Original article
0 comments:
Post a Comment