Jabou,
Is the writer trying to tell us that we should ALTER the destiny that our
CREATOR prescribed for us.? If GOD says that WE ALL MUST GO then GO we ALL
WILL. The issues of global warming, BSE, CJD and AIDS are mere signs to warn
you to START PACKING.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jabou Joh" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 1999 8:46 PM
Subject: fwd: Islam and the New Millinium - Abdul Hakim Murad 3 of 3
> There are a whole cluster of questions here. Clearly, as we leave the
second
> millennium, the planet is in abjectly poor physical shape as compared to
the
> year 1000. Materialism, enabled by Reformation notions of the world as
> fallen, and by protestant capitalistic ethics, has presided over the gang
> rape of Mother Earth. Everywhere the face of the planet is scarred.
Megatons
> of tons of toxic waste are now circulating in the oceans, or hovering in
the
> stratosphere. Hormone and plastics pollution has resulted in a 50% drop
in
> male fertility in the UK. Every day, another 12 important species become
> extinct. Every form of life apart from our own, and perhaps domestic
> animals, has been decimated by the holocaust of modernity. The BSE
disaster
> is a hint of what may be in store: Government analysts have confirmed
that
> as many as 30,000 British people may contract Creuzfeld-Jakob disease as
a
> result of eating contaminated beef. As technology advances, similar
> scientific blunders may well wipe out large sections of the human race.
>
> But the most urgent and undeniable environmental issue which we carry
with
> us into the new millennium is that of global warming. For a hundred years
we
> have been pumping greenhouse gases into the skies, and are now beginning
to
> realise that a price has to be paid. We need to focus close attention on
> this issue, not least because it will affect the Islamic countries far
more
> radically than the West. Worryingly few people in the Muslim world seem
> interested in the question; and it is hence urgently necessary that we
> remind ourselves of the seriousness of the situation.
>
> For years government scientists mocked the idea of global warming. But
the
> Rio Earth Summit in 1992 revealed to an anxious world that the scientific
> facts were now so clear as to brook no argument. The world is heating up.
> The industrial gases in the atmosphere are turning our planet into a
> greenhouse, reflecting heat back in rather than allowing it to be
dissipated
> into space.
>
> Here in England, global warming is noticed even by the ordinary citizen.
> Temperature records go back over three hundred years, but the 10 hottest
> years have all occurred since 1945, and three of the five hottest (1989,
> 1990 and 1995), have been in the past decade. Water supply is equally
> erratic. January of 1997 was the driest for 200 years. Storms at sea have
> become so bad that the North Sea oil industry is now laying pipelines
> because the seas are too rough for tankers.
>
> What are the exact figures? Surprisingly, they seem tiny. The rise in
> average temperature between 1990 and 2050 will be 1.5 degrees Centigrade,
> which appears negligible. But the temperature rise which 4000 years ago
> ended the last ice age was only 2 degrees Centigrade. Research has proved
> that the polar ice caps are already beginning to melt, which is why the
sea
> level is now creeping up by five millimetres a year. In places like the
> North Norfolk coast the EU is spending millions of pounds on new concrete
> defences to keep the sea out. How long even the most elaborate defences
can
> be maintained is not clear.
>
> However, for the West, the bad news is mixed with good. Rising
temperatures
> would probably be welcomed by most people. It will, in thirty years, be
> possible to grow oranges in some parts of southern England. Already, the
> types of seeds bought by farmers reflect the awareness that summers are
> warmer, and winters are dryer. But no great catastrophe seems to
threaten.
>
> What is the situation, however, in the Muslim world? At the Rio summit,
many
> Islamic countries showed themselves indifferent in the issue. In fact,
the
> countries which campaigned most strongly against environmental controls
were
> often Muslim: the Gulf states, Brunei, Kazakhstan and others. The reason
was
> that their economies depend on oil. Cut back emissions on Western roads,
or
> switch electricity generating to sustainable sources like tidal or wind
> power, and those countries lose out.
>
> There is still inadequate awareness in Muslim circles of the great
climatic
> calamity that is looming in the next millennium. But just consider some
> precursors of the catastrophe that have already come about. In the Sahel
> countries of Africa - Chad, Mali and Niger, which have over 90% Muslim
> populations, rainfall is declining by ten percent every decade. The huge
> Sahara Desert is becoming ever huger, as it overwhelms marginal pasture
and
> arable land on its southern fringes. The disastrous drought which
recently
> afflicted the Sudan ended with catastrophic floods.
>
> Any climatic map will show that agriculture in many Muslim countries is a
> marginal business. In Algeria, a further 15% decline in rainfall will
> eliminate most of the remaining farmland, sending further waves of
migrants
> into the cities. A similar situation prevails in Morocco, where the worst
> drought in living memory ended only in 1995. The Yemen has suffered from
the
> change in monsoon patterns in the Indian Ocean - another consequence of
> global warming. In Bangladesh the problem is not a shortage of water - it
is
> too much of it. Floods are now normal every three or four years, largely
> because of deforestation in the Himalayas which limits soil retention of
> water.
>
> Dr Norman Myers of Oxford University predicts that by 2050 'the rise in
sea
> level and changes in agriculture will create 150m refugees. This includes
> 15m from Bangladesh, and 14m from Egypt.'
>
> However, this figure does not include migrants generated by secondary
> consequences of climatic change. These huge waves of humanity will
> destabilise governments and produce wars. The modern nation-state does
not
> facilitate migration: Bangladeshis before 1948 could move to other parts
of
> India, but with Partition, they are stuck within their own borders.
> Epidemics, also, are likely to be widespread. Some island nations, such
as
> the Maldives or the Comoros, will disappear completely beneath the waves,
> and their populations will have to be accommodated elsewhere.
>
> Again, I repeat that these forecasts are not doomsday scenarios. Those
are
> much worse. I merely cite the predictions of mainstream science, as set
> forth in European Union and UK Department of the Environment reports. It
is
> true that measures are beginning to be taken to limit greenhouse gas
> emission. But even if no more gases were to be released into the skies at
> all, temperatures would continue to rise for at least a hundred years,
> because of the gases already circulating in the atmosphere.
>
> Let me close with some reflections on the above three themes.
>
> Are these developments on balance cause for optimism, or for disquiet?
Well,
> we know that the Blessed Prophet (s) liked optimism. He also taught
tawakkul
> - reliance upon Allah's good providence. However, he also taught that
tying
> up our camels is a form of relying on Allah. So how should Muslims
consider
> their options over the next few decades?
>
> There are a number of issues here. Perhaps the most important is the
> cultivation of an informed leadership. I mentioned earlier that most
Muslim
> leaders cannot provide the intellectual guidance needed to help
intelligent
> young people deal with the challenges of today. Ask the average Muslim
> activist how to prove a post-modernist wrong, and he will not be able to
> help you very much. Our heads are buried in the ground. However, it is
not
> only intellectual trends which we ignore. The environment, too, is an
> impending catastrophe which has not grabbed our attention at all. Perhaps
> our activists will still be choking out their rival rhetoric on the
correct
> way to hold the hands during the Prayer, while they breath in the last
> mouthful of oxygen available in their countries. They seem wholly
oblivious
> to the problem.
>
> All this has to change. In my travels in the Islamic world, I found
> tremendous enthusiasm for Islam among young people, and a no less
tremendous
> disappointment with the leadership. The traditional ulema have the
courtesy
> and moderation which we need, but lack a certain dynamism; the radical
> faction leaders have fallen into the egotistic trap of exclusivism and
> takfir; while the mainstream revivalist leaders, frankly, are often
> irrelevant. Both ponderous and slightly insecure, trapped by an
> 'ideological' vision of Islam, they do not understand the complexity of
> today's world - and our brighter young people see this soon enough.
>
> Institutions, therefore, urgently need to be established, to train young
men
> and women both in traditional Shari'a disciplines, and in the cultural
and
> intellectual language of today's world. Something like this has been done
in
> the past: one thinks of the Nizamiyya madrasa in Baghdad where Ghazali
> taught, which encouraged knowledge not only of fiqh, but of philosophical
> theology in the Greek tradition. We need a new Ghazali today: a moderate,
> spiritually minded genius who can understand secular thought and refute
it,
> not merely rant and rave about it.
>
> The creation of a relevant leadership is thus the first priority. The
second
> has to be the evolution of styles of da'wa that can operate despite the
> frankly improbable task of toppling the bunker regimes. The FIS declared
war
> on the Algerian state, and has achieved nothing apart from turning much
of
> the country into a battleground. Unless the military can be suborned,
there
> is no chance of victory in such situations. Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and the
> rest are similar cases.
>
> An alternative da'wa strategy already exists in a sense. In many of these
> countries, particularly in Egypt, the mainstream Ikhwan Muslimin operate
a
> largescale welfare system, which serves to remind the masses of the
superior
> ethical status of indigenous Islamic values. That model deserves to be
> expanded. But there is another option, which does not compete with it,
but
> augments it. That is the model of da'wa activity to the West.
>
> New Muslims like myself are grateful to Allah for the ni'ma of Islam -
but
> we cannot say that we are grateful to the Umma. Islam is in its theology
and
> its historical practice a missionary faith - one of the great missionary
> faiths, along with Christianity and Buddhism. And yet while Christianity
and
> Buddhism are today brilliantly organised for conversion, Islam has no
such
> operation, at least to my knowledge. Ballighu anni wa-law aya ('Convey my
> message, even though a single verse') is a Prophetic commandment that
binds
> us all. It is a fard ayn, and a fard kifaya - and we are disobeying it on
> both counts.
>
> Ten years ago a book appeared in France called D'Une foi l'autre, les
> conversions a l'Islam en Occident. The authors, both career journalists,
> carried out extensive interviews with new Muslims in Europe and America.
> Their conclusions are clear. Almost all educated converts to Islam come
in
> through the door of Islamic spirituality. In the middle ages, the Sufi
> tariqas were the only effective engine of Islamisation in Muslim minority
> areas like Central Asia, India, black Africa and Java; and that pattern
is
> maintained today.
>
> Why should this be the case? Well, any new Muslim can tell you the
answer.
> Westerners are in the first instance seeking not a moral path, or a
> political ideology, or a sense of special identity - these being the
three
> commodities on offer among the established Islamic movements. They lack
one
> thing, and they know it - the spiritual life. Thus, handing the average
> educated Westerner a book by Sayyid Qutb, for instance, or Mawdudi, is
> likely to have no effect, and may even provoke a revulsion. But hand him
or
> her a collection of Islamic spiritual poetry, and the reaction will be
> immediately more positive. It is an extraordinary fact that the
best-selling
> religious poet in modern America is our very own Jalal al-Din Rumi.
Despite
> the immeasurably different time and place of his origin, he outsells
every
> Christian religious poet.
>
> Those who puzzle over the da'wa issue in the West generally refuse to
take
> this on board. All too often they follow limited, ideological versions of
> Islam that are relevant only to their own cultural situation, and have no
> relevance to the problems of educated modern Westerners. We need to
overcome
> this. We need to capitalise on the modern Western love of Islamic
> spirituality - and also of Islamic art and crafts. By doing so, we can
reap
> a rich harvest, in sha' Allah. If the West is like a fortress, then we
can
> approach it from its strongest place, by provoking it politically and
> militarily, as the absurd Saddam Hussein did; in which case we will bring
> yet more humiliation and destruction upon our people. Or we can find
those
> areas of its defences which have become tumbledown and weak. Those are,
> essentially, areas of spirituality and aesthetics. Millions of young
> Westerners are dissatisfied both with the materialism of their world, and
> with the doctrines of Christianity, and are seeking refuge in New Age
groups
> and cults. Those people should be natural recruits for Islam - and yet we
> ignore them.
>
> Similarly, and for the same constituency, we need to emphasise Islam's
> vibrant theological response to the problem of conservation. The Qur'an i
s
> the richest of all the world's scriptures in its emphasis on the beauty
of
> nature as a theophany - a mazhar - of the Divine names.
>
> As a Western Muslim, who understands what moves and influences
Westerners, I
> feel that by stressing these two issues, Islam is well-placed not merely
to
> flourish, but to dominate the religious scene of the next century. Only
> Allah truly knows the future. But it seems to me that we are at a
> crossroads, of which the millennium is a useful, if accidental symbol. It
> will either be the watershed which marks the final collapse of Islam as
an
> intellectually and spiritually rich tradition at ease with itself, as
> increasingly it presides over an overpopulated and undernourished zone of
> chaos. Or it will take stock, abandon the dead end of meaningless
extremism,
> and begin to play its natural world role as a moral and spiritual
exemplar.
>
> As we look around ourselves today at the chaos and disintegration of the
> Umma, we may ask whether such a possibility is credible. But we are
living
> through times when the future is genuinely negotiable in an almost
> unprecedented way. Ideologies which formerly obstructed or persecuted
Islam,
> like extreme Christianity, nationalism and Communism, are withering.
Ernest
> Gellner, the Cambridge anthropologist has described Islam as 'the last
> religion' - the last in the sense of truly believing its scriptural
> narratives to be normative.
>
> If we have the confidence to believe that what we have inherited or
chosen
> is indeed absolute truth, then optimism would seem quite reasonable. And
I
> am optimistic. If Islam and the Muslims can keep their nerve, and not
follow
> the secularising course mapped out for them by their rivals, or travel
the
> blind alley of extremism, then they will indeed dominate the world, as
once
> they did. And, we may I think quite reasonably hope, they will once again
> affirm without the ambiguity of worldly failure, the timeless and
> challenging words, wa kalimatuLlahi hiya al-ulya - 'and the word of God
is
> supreme'.
>
> This essay is based on a lecture given at the Belfast Central Mosque in
> March 1997
>
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