GLOBALISATION AND THE CHALLENGES OF MAINTAING AN
ISLAMIC IDENTITY
PRAYER:
GREETING:
PROTOCOL:
INTRODUCTION:
I would very much like to thank the organizers of this forum for the
brilliant theme that they have selected for this year’s conference.
Indeed, this subject- matter is the pivotal point from which we must
reevaluate the position of the ummah as it aligns with the global
transformation that is happening presently in the world.
InnshaAllah Talah, my discussion with you today will explore the
phenomenon called “globalization” vis a vis “ westernization”, the
various deliberate impacts of globalization, Islam as a significant
instrument of cultural transmission, and InnshaAllah we will discover
the solutions to the negative impacts of globalization.
Globalization as a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, is generally
described as the process of international integration as a product of
exchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture in
which worldwide exchange of national and cultural resources occurs in
the process.
Globalisation – at least in its dominant face – is essentially about
expanding the economic circle in our lives at the expense of the social,
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the spiritual and the cultural. It is the expansion of the world capitalist
economy into every sphere of our lives.
Globalization means different things to different people. For some it
creates positive political, economic and technological progress. For few
globalization is domineering and antagonist to local and national
economies.
Globalization has changed situations in such a manner that power of the
state is determined by the power of the firms. If the goal of globalization
was more the liberal exchange of goods, services, labor, thoughts etc
which in later stages would make the world uniform, then there is no
space for identity.
Globalization as the continuation of social darwinism, that the fittest –
the most entrepreneurial - should lead the world. Finally, globalism
continues the ideal of progress, of creating the perfect society, the
positivist/scientific world, of forever removing religion and irrationality
from human history. Today what we see is the downside of
globalization.
It is critical to distinguish between the process of globalization in its
original sense and such relatively more contemporary processes, like
Westernization, that are masked as globalization and yet are
fundamentally different.
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In these more exhaustive definitions of globalization, where stands
Islam? Islam in these globalized worlds, defined more extensively, is
first about an alternative to the Western project, and secondly, a
promise of a more spiritual society based on the unity of thought and
purpose.
A lot of factors illustrate Islam's acceptance and predominant role in the
process of globalization. "For several centuries, Arabic was the world's
leading language in sciences. Muslims made important advances in
mathematics, astronomy and medicine -- a legacy from which European
scholars derived great benefit," and which led to the Renaissance.
Globalization is not only a Western phenomenon, for "the agents of
globalization are neither European nor exclusively Western. Indeed,
Europe would have been a lot poorer -- economically, culturally, and
scientifically -- had it resisted the globalization of mathematics, science,
and technology that emanated from the east.
BACKGROUND TO GLOBALISATION
The phenomenon of globalization gained more momentum after
decolonization that lead to the formation of new states in Africa, Asia
and the Pacific. Many used the term neo-colonialism to mark
globalization which at the time was more economic than political, more
ideologically than militarily supported. The neocolonialist powers
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turned themselves into means of control, which was facilitated by the
global telecommunications system.
The Search for new markets and the search for alternative sources of
wealth polished by the industrial revolution lead to the establishment of
international commodity markets and mercantilist trade. The deepened
economic protectionism after the First World War and the Great
Depression in the 1930’s and the end of the Second World War, along
with the expansion of capitalism was slowed only by the establishment
of socialism as an alternative form of capital accumulation and
distribution.
The fall of Soviet Union, marking an end to the Cold War along with the
acceptance of nations on capitalism as the only viable economic order to
create wealth and stability further made the way easier for
globalization.
The term globalization started appearing in literature from the 1980’s.
Initially it referred mainly to the economic transactions and growth of
economies. Soon it started penetrating into other fields like political,
with weakening authority of states, emergence of global governance
order systems etc.
We can therefore infer that Globalization/ westernization is a direct
result of specifically conceived, planned and targeted neo- liberal
policies and structural measures that were designed to bring all aspects
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of social, economic and political life under the tag of market capitalism.
The Reagan administration in the USA and the Thatcher government in
UK accelerated globalization through clearing the debt crisis,
establishment of neo – liberalism as an economic framework (later
came to be known as Washington Consensus) and the International
Financial Institutions imposition of structural adjustment programs
(SAP’s) in developing countries.
IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION:
The proponents of globalization claim that it will lead to convergence of
income, access to knowledge and technology, consumption power, living
standards and political ideas. Adding on to that, integration of
economies would lead to increase in economic growth and wealth. They
also argue that more people would be able to enjoy the fruits of
modernization and civilization.
Critics of globalization argue that it is dominating, antagonistic to the
poor and vulnerable and is weakening to the local and national
economic communities and the environment. Therefore globalization
has both positive and negative impacts.
If globalization was meant to brings about new potentials for
development and wealth creation, then a cursor look at the present
model of globalization will show that in fact globalization has increased
the problems of unemployment, inequality and poverty, while others
contend that globalization helped to reduce these aspects.
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The singular most salient achievement of globalization/international
capitalism today, is that it has increased the gap between the rich and
the poor and has lead to the entrenched marginalization of certain
sections of the society. As of 1993 just 10 countries accounted for 84
percent of global research and development expenditures and
controlled 95 percent of the US patents of the past two decades.
The global climate change along with the extinction of many species can
be attributed to globalization to a great extent. Though the international
organizations have fixed the limits of carbon emission and other
pollutants, it is still pro developed countries that hamper the growth of
developing countries.
The Ummah as a dynamic concept, reinterpreting the past, meeting new
challenges, must meet global problems such as the environmental
problem, and acknowledge moral and practical responsibility for the
Earth as a Trust and its members are trustees answerable for the
condition of the Earth.
This makes ecological concerns a vital element in our thinking and
action, a prime arena where we must actively engage in changing
things." The Ummah should be seen as a critical tool, and as a process of
reasoning itself.
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POLITICAL IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION:
One of the major impacts of political globalization is that it reduces the
importance of nation states. Many have organized themselves into trade
blocs. Emergence of supranational institutions such as the European
Union, the WTO, the G8, and The International Criminal Court etc
replaced or extended the national functions to facilitate international
agreement. This has reduced the sovereignty of nation states in taking
important decisions with respect to their country where we see massive
intervention of these organizations in all fields.
In these artificial societies where the victory of liberal ideology, the
science and technology revolution make states far less potent. Islam as
currently constituted would not play a role in this future, nor would
most nations. It would remain a fast growing religion but only in terms
of population and not in terms of defining the agenda for the next
century. The population of believers would be poor and angry,
searching for someone to blame. Local leaders would be quite willing to
play the extremist card convincing believers that by returning to the
past, they would be safe from globalization. The losers would be the
most vulnerable – women and minorities as well as modernist muslims.
Globalization has also lead to the growth of terrorism. Terrorism can be
seen as a response from certain groups of people who were neglected
and humiliated for centuries which lead to the wide spread of terrorist
networks across the world which was further accelerated with the aid
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of ultra modern technology helping them to strengthen their network
and activities.
Democracy is seen as the ultimate form of political stability, in
conformity with western intellectual propaganda where they highlight
the enlightenment values of freedom, liberty, tolerance etc.
However, Under the pretext of establishing democracy in countries
where there was autocratic rule for years, such as the recent
intervention of countries such as the United States in many Middle
Eastern and Asian countries, the obvious sole purpose of such
intervention hinging on the purpose of extracting oil from these
countries oil mines, for which they took economic, political, social and
cultural control of these oil rich nations. This can be seen as a gradual
movement to ‘World Government’.
The rise of global civil society is one of the major contributions of
globalization. These multivariate groups which make up civil society
often protests against capitalism. This shows the existence of a social
sphere above and beyond national, regional or local societies.
SOCIAL IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION:
The combination of increasingly advanced technology and the formation
of complex social structure has severely displaced the social structure of
different societies. Where Every society used to have its own unique
culture with respect to the language, social norms, morality, civic sense,
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with the advent of media which has this exceptional capability to
influence millions simultaneously has succeeded in challenging the
social institutions of the society mainly the family structure.
Any society following a contrary style of living without being much
influenced by the western culture is now seen as ‘uncivilized’. The
media as a very powerful tool is designed to convey the propaganda of
the west to inculcate it’s immoral culture into the rest of the world and
there by dominating the globe.
The social dimension of globalization is most evident in its impact on
the life and work of people, families and societies. There are more social
aspects of globalization which go far beyond the employment, working
dimensions, income, social protection. The increased political and
economic movement of globalization has ignored the main aspect of
society, the people.
The ideals of social justice which aims at creating a utopian society
based on the notions of equality and solidarity, the values of human
rights, the dignity of every human being is gradually being lost as we
can all perceive.
Talking about the gender aspect in reference to how globalization has
affected it, we can see an increased participation of women in all fields
of life, however, evidences prove that women still work more as a casual
labor.
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Though globalization has expanded women’s access to employment it
has not done considerable much to reduce the gender inequality. Also,
due to the influence of media and other socio-political- cultural aspects,
the crimes against women have increased considerably.
CULTURAL IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION:
The cultural aspect of globalization is something which attained global
attention only in recent years. Globalization represents “ the expanding
scale, growing magnitude, speeding up and deepening impact of
transcontinental flows and patterns of social interactions
If we were to argue that the act of consumption represents a
convergence of global and cultural processes, then what has evolved
now is beyond a consumer revolution in which consumption has
become the principal work of late industrial societies.
However, this cultural transmission is by no way a one way process. As
the 21" century begins, almost one out of every five human beings is a
Muslim. In the course of the 2lSt century a quarter of the human race
will probably be Muslim. The new demographic presence of Islam
within the Western world is indicative that Islamisation is now a major
globalising force.
The very concept of globalization is a major challenge to the existing
concept of world culture. This has been clearly analyzed and discussed
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by the political scientist Samuel P Huntington in his book ‘The Clash of
Civilizations and Remaking of the World Order’. According to him, the
fundamental conflict in the world will not be ideological or political. But
the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of
conflict will be cultural.
He also argued that nation states will remain the most powerful actors
in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur
between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of
civilizations will dominate global politics. He said, the fault lines
between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.
The emergence of an Americanized/westernized model World is
something that we saw with the growth of globalization. A converging
consumer behavior and tastes of the American model as a blue print for
global culture can be traced as one of the major impact of globalization
on culture. The emergence of English as the dominant language in
business and academic works is another example of how one culture
can gain dominance in the world with power and legitimacy when
economic and political forces enable the spreading of cultures and
values.
CHALLENGES OF ISLAM AND GLOBALISATION
Islam- as a counter discourse to globalization, to the expansion of
economic space and the fulfillment of the dreams of the social
darwinists. However, even as Islam attempts to create new possibilities
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for globalism, national politics doom it to a politics of reaction, of
reducing diversity and innovation.
This is especially perilous as the next phase of globalisation promises to
end historical notions of reality, truth, nature and sovereignty. In this
dramatically changed world, Islam can join with other counter
discourses to create a moral vision of a planetary society, an alternative
vision and reality of globalization.
Generally islam as an alternative vision consists of the following ten
concepts, four standing alone and three opposing pairs.
1. Tawheed (Unity),
2. Khalifah (Trusteeship),
3. Ibadah (Worship),
4. Ilm (Knowledge),
5. Halal (Praiseworthy) And Haram (Blameworthy),
6. Adl (Social Justice) And Zulm (Tyranny)
7. And Istislah (Public Interest) And Dhiya (Waste).
Tawheed expresses the larger Islamic unity of thought, action and value
across humanity, persons, nature and God. KHULAFAH asserts that it is
God who has ownership of the Earth. Humans function in a stewardship,
trustee capacity, taking care of the Earth, not damaging it.
The overall goal of the Islamic worldview is ADL, social justice, and it is
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based on the larger needs of the people, istislah. To reach these goals,
IBADAH, worship or contemplation is a beginning and necessary step.
From deep reflection, inner and outer observation, ILM or knowledge of
self, other and nature will result.
One's action then are HALAL, praiseworthy and not HARAM,
blameworthy.
Moreover with this framework, DHIYA (waste) of individual and
collective potentials is avoided as is ZULM, tyranny, the power of a few,
or one, over many, or the power of a narrow ideology over the unity
within plurality that the Islamic paradigm advocates.
The science that emerges from applying these concepts are values based
and is focused on an emotional commitment to understanding of Allah's
world.
For Islamic society, the underlying concerns regarding globalization are:
how to protect a unique heritage in the face of global pressure; to
uphold religious traditions; to preserve linguistic purity; to defend
social institutions; and ultimately, to maintain a viable identity in the
midst of a rapidly changing global environment.
"According to Islam, complete submission to God is the first and
foremost priority for all Muslims. Anything that undermines Islamic
principles is considered a threat to Islam's longevity and power in the
world. More importantly, we should be aware of the fact that despite the
Islam-West bi-polarization, Islam is rapidly becoming a global
phenomenon that transcends the boundaries that once separated the
West from the rest.
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Currently Islam is the fastest growing religion in Central Asia. After the
collapse of the U.S.S.R., all five states of Central Asia - Kazakhstan,
Kyrghyztan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan - made an official
place for Islam as the dominant religion. In France, Islam is becoming
the second most important religion numerically after Catholicism. In
Britain some Muslims have been experimenting with an Islamic
parliament of their own, and others are demanding state subsidies for
Muslim denominational schools. In Germany it has been belatedly
realized that the importation of Turkish workers in the 1970s was also
an invitation to the muezzin and the minaret to establish themselves in
German cities. Australia has discovered that it is a neighbor to
INDONESIA.
In the second half of the twentieth century both Muslim migration to the
West and conversions to Islam within the West are consolidating a new
human Islamic presence. In Europe as a whole, there are now 20 million
Muslims, eight million of whom are in Western Europe. These figures
exclude the Muslims of the Republic of Turkey, who number some 50
million. There are new mosques from Munich to Marseilles.
But behind this idealism lies the current reality of an Islam that while
dramatically increasing in numbers is decreasing in conceptual unity.
Decreasing in its viability to create a new politics, economics and
culture, that is, while muslims trust in Allah, they are not doing enough
to tie their camel – to become culturally and technologically innovative.
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The dye is set and technocracy will further create a divided world.
Setting up walls against technology will be the easiest path for some
Islamic nations. Far more useful would be to develop technologies based
on Islamic science – that is science and technology focused on problems
in poorer areas as well as science and technology that are nature-based.
Conclusion:
Given the intellectual bondage and political and economic subservience
of the Muslim world to the West, prospects for the future, either
programmed or desired, remain gloomy. There seems to be an
inexplicable fatalism that continues to envelope the Ummah - the global
Muslim community.
Can We as muslims recover the dynamic principle of ijtihad – sustained
and reasoned struggle for innovation and adjusting to change – that has
been neglected and forgotten for centuries? Can Islamic civilization
avoid the future being programmed by globalization and create an
alternative modernity?
Globalization is thus an ongoing syndrome. Globalization is not only
about interplays between local, regional, national and global scales, but
also about the interconnectedness, flows and uneven development in
the world. It has had major impacts on the socio-political- economic and
cultural realms of life by diminishing the role of state, challenging the
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unique culture of every society, attacking the social structures, much
diversity in the global society etc.
THANK THE AUDIENCE FOR THEIR ATTENTIVE LISTENING.
END IN PRAYER..… (ASTAGFIRU LAHU LI WA LAKUM…. MUKLISHINA
LAHU AL DEEN WA LAW KAREHA AL KAFIRUN).
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