Muslim World and the
Contemporary Challenges
Questions appeared in previous years
Q.No.2013. write down in detail the problems of “Ummah” in the
contemporary world.
2012- ‫جدید تہذیب و تمدن کا نقطہ نظر بیان کرتے ہوۓ مسلم امہ پر اس کے‬
‫اثرات بیان کیجیۓ‬
Q.7-2011-In the present period the Muslim Ummah is facing different
problems and for the solution of these problem “ijtehad” is necessary,
so point out such an institution that can offer solution of the new
problems with the help of Ijtehad
Q.9-2011-In the present era, Muslim Ummah has all the resources,
but it is the victim of disunity, while analysis the reasons of disunity,
suggest measures to maintain unity amount the Muslim Ummah
OUT LINE
•Concept of Ummah
•An Over View
• The Past_Glorious
• The Present_Turmoil
• The Future_ ?????
•Contemporary Challenges faced by Muslim Ummah
•
•
•
•
Causes of debacle
Responsibilities
Suggestions
Problems in Implementation
•Epilogue
Concept
The phrase Ummah in the Qur'an refers to all of the Islamic world
unified.
The Quran says:
“You [Muslims] are the best nation brought out for Mankind, commanding
what is righteous (Ma'ruf, lit. "recognized [as good]") and forbidding what is
wrong (Munkar, lit. "unrecognized [as good]")…” [3:110].
Concept
“The Muslims, regardless of their origin,
irrespective of their geographical boundaries and
racial characteristics are one Ummah”
(The Convention of Madina)
Pan-Islamism
1. Pan-Islamism is a political movement
advocating the unity of Muslims under one
Islamic state — often a Caliphate
2. Religious nationalism, Pan-Islamism
differentiates itself from other pan-nationalistic
ideologies
Concepts Shared by
Intellectuals
•Allama Iqbal:
–All the Muslims beyond any difference of color, caste, nation,
state, ideology at the basis of religion are called Muslim
Ummah.
•Syed Jamal-ud-din Afghani:
–All the Muslim states constitute Ummah. He was preacher of Pa
Islamism.
•Shah Wali Ullah:
– Muslims belonging to Muslim states only constitute Muslim
Ummah.
–Muslims present in any part of the world are part of Muslim
Ummah.
Introduction
1. Muslim Ummah has Glorious History which Produced;
1.
Great Generals,Reformers, Thinkers, Scientists, Scholars and Astronomers
2. Today Muslims face a Common Threat of their Survival
3. Rise and fall is a social phenomenon, may be Muslim Ummah
is facing its logical correction
Basis for Unity
We are all Muslims, we believe in one God i.e.
Almighty Allah, we believe in one Prophet i.e.
Muhammad (Sallallaho Alaihe wa Aal-e-hee
Wasallam) and we all have the book of Allah i.e.
Qur'an.
Early Division
1. Political issue divided the Muslims permanently
2. Development of Islamic Jurisprudence (The science of Fiqah)
3. Ahle Sunnat Imams of Islamic Jurisprudence learnt Islamic
Jurisprudence from Imams of Ahle Bait
4. Major division among Muslims occurred when the Science of
Fiqah (Islamic Jurisprudence) became a formal subject,
1.
Sunni Muslims were divided into four Madhahib (ways), HANAFI,
MALKI, SHAFI'E AND HANBALI
5. The local nationalism was never preferred over the worldwide
Islamic brotherhood
6. Local Personality Cult- Deband , Bralivi
The Start of Real Disunity
After almost 13 centuries of Muslim rule, the focus
of Muslim Ummah changed.
What Qur'an describes the attributes of Muslims
as,
◦ "They (Muslims) are very kind among themselves but
very hard on Kuffaar".
Muslims slowly adopted the opposite attributes.
◦ They became very kind to KUFFAAR and very hard and
cruel to
3 important areas hit by the
west
 Touheed
 Cant be changed
 Risalat
 West develop and support few Muslims who are willing to
challenge the honour and authority of Muhammad (peace be
upon him).
 Holy Book
 we believe that Qur'an is the word of God and can not be
changed.
 West develop and support those Muslims scholars who will be
able to provide "new" meanings to the Qur'anic verses and
interpret them "differently"
The Glorious Past
00-100 AH
Period of Nabuwat
Period of Khilafat
Hazrat Umer Farooq (R.A) Iran, Iraq, Palestine and
Egypt were conquered.
Hazrat Usman (R.A) Afghanistan, Qabris, Tunis and
Moroco were conquered.
Hazrat Ali (R.A)
◦ Jang-e-Nehrwan with Kharji, Jang-e-Jaml with Hazrat
Ayesha (R.A) and Jang-e-Safeen with Ameer Muawia.
Cont….
During the period of Ummayiad Muslims got
military strength.
In the period of Waleed Bin Malik great victories
came in part of Muslims.
◦
◦
◦
◦
Muhammad Bin Qasim conquered Sindh
Qateebah Bin Muslim Conquered Turkistan
Tariq Bin Ziyad conquered Spain, Portugal
Musa Bin Naseer conquered Undlus, Africa
After this Islam emerged as power and penetrated
in whole world quickly
Hazrat
Umer (R.A)
Alexander
The Great
Akber
The Great
Sulaman
100-500 AH
Period of Umer Bin Abdul Aziz
Hasham Bin Malik ruled over Central Asia,
Roam
Periodof Khilafat-e-Bnu Abbas
◦ Haroon-ur-Rasheed laid stress on education and
he developed schools and colleges to spread
education. Muslims got strength in education in
his period
Three Major Powers
Umayyad
◦ Lost control of the empire in 750, but set up control of Muslim
lands in Spain
Abbasids
◦ Took over the empire from the Umayyad Dynasty, moving the
capital from Damascus to Baghdad
Fatimid
◦ An off-shoot of the Abbasids, they controlled most of North
Africa and Western Arabia
Cont….
Bring the period 300-400AH Khilafat was divided.
Aal-e-boya
Iran
Fatimi
Egypt
Ghazni
Alpatagin
Banu Idrees Africa
Umvi
Undlus
From 400-500 AH Shia-Suni split happened.
500-1000 AH
500-600 Crusades (Noor-ud-Din Zangi and Salah-u-Din
Ayubi)
600-700 was a period of Tatars attacks and falloff
Baghdad 1258
First Qibla captured by Crusaders
700-800 Ameer Taimoor-Mahood Garan accepted Islam
and they wreck the havoc
800-900 height of Ottoman Empire
Rule of Banu Abbass ended in 923 AH
900-1000 Saleem Usmani, Ottoman Empire
Fall of Roman Empire
The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was originally intended to
conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an
invasion through Egypt.
In 204 Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire
(Byzantine Empire).
The Empire received a mortal blow in 1204 by the Fourth
Crusade, when it was dissolved and divided into competing
Byzantine Greek and Latin realms. Despite the eventual
recovery of Constantinople and re-establishment of the
Empire in 1261
1000-1400 AH
1000-1100 Period of fall
1100-1200 wars with Russia, Austria
Attack of Abdalli,Durrani on India
1200-1300 Egypt Vs Ottomans, rebellion in
Bosnia, Napoleon’s attacks, Wahabiz at Hijaz
1300-1400 fall of Khilafat
I-WW, II-WW
Cause of glory
1. Muslims enjoyed victories
2. They had strong military
3. They were at peak in education, justice and culture
4. They were one Ummah
5. They had strong economy and Jihad was basic tool of
strong economy.
Jihad is an Economy
Jihad
Self
Finance
Pen
Qittal
Lisan
Social
Economy
Distribution
of Wealth
Education
War
Economy
Media
The Present
Conflict Ridden Muslim World
The conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Somalia, Algeria, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon,
Bangladesh, Iraq,Lebyia, Palestine, Syria
Think of any !!!
Political Capital
Organization of Islamic Cooperation-OIC
ECO
Arab League
African Union
UNO 57 Members
No Veto
Social Capital
Geostrategic importance
Combine location of most Islamic states
Universal Religion
99% literacy rate in CARs, 57 % in Pakistan,
Iran exhibit high scientific publication growth arte in 2009
From seven three great : Egyptian, Gandhara,
Indus/Moenjodaro Civilizations are in Muslim Countries
Economic Capital
Collective population of member states is 1.6 billion as 2009-10
Combined GDP of $ 13 Trillion
Turkey had highest GDP on 2010 among OIC members as $ 729 Billion
OPEP: Except Venezuela 34% oil contribution comes from Muslim world
In Euro Zone, 575 B$ contribution is of Arab world in insurance banking and
stock exchange.
World Economies
Growth Rate
Trillion $
GDP (PPP)
Exports
Imports
OIC
5,664
1,392
933
% of World
6.81%
13.47%
9.03%
World
83,120
10,330
10,300
Arab League
2,323
European Union
12,180
1,318
1,402
Future
Challenges faced by Muslim
Ummah
1. Illiteracy
1. Concentration of wealth
2. Terrorism
2. Redefining the role of
women
3. Poverty-HDI
4. Autocracy-SDI
5. Far behind in Science
and Technology
6. No Veto Powers
3. Lack of Institutional
Ijtehad
4. Occupied Lands
5. War ridden Economies
ILLITERACY RATE AND POOR STANDARDS (WORLD BANK)
Best: Jordan & Kuwait
Worst: Djibouti, Yemen, Iraq and Morocco
Study of Arab league:
◦ 30% of Arab population are illiterate.
◦ 0.3% of GDP of Arab States is devoted to scientific research.
◦ $5-7 per capita is spent on R&D in Arab States.
◦ $1000 per capita is spent on R&D in China.
◦ 600 research centers in Arab world vs 1500 in France alone.
◦ 30% of scientists in the US are from Arab countries
Causes of Debacles:
1. Forgetting Shariah
2. Materialism
3. Internal conflicts-Division
1. Nationalism -Regionalism (Arab, Non Arab or Arab, African)
2. Sectarian
4. Internal and International conspiracies
5. Illiteracy, poverty and conservatism
6. Leaving Jihad and spirituality
Cont…
1. Acting off beam philosophies including deen-eIlahi,
Wahdat-ul-Wujood, Mootazilla
2. Aqeedat and Taqleed, Khangahi approach
3. Irrational customs-Innovations and Biddat
4. Traitors
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
1757, Battle Palassi, Nawab Siraj-ud-Dola
1799, Saranga Patam, Tipu Sultan
1857, Dehli, Bahadur Shah Zafar
1739, Sultan Nizam-ul-Mulk
Meer Jaffar was traitor of Tipu Sultan and Meer Sadiq was traitor of Sultan
Nizam-ul-Mulk
Responsibilities of Ummah:
1. Understanding, implementation and preaching of
shariah- Religious
2. Establishment of Khilafat/Shariah-Political
3. Jihad-Economic
4. Ijtehad-Educational
Recommendations
1.
Attainment of Veto power by Muslim countries
2.
Islamic banking system, which ensures a system of interest and exploitation free
principles
3.
Effective Political role of OIC
4.
Collective media of all countries to protect Muslim world
5.
Common currency
6.
Less reliance on USD
7.
Common trade market
8.
Common court of justice
9.
Institutional Ijtehad
10. Development of Science and Technology
Problems in implementing solutions
1. Linguistic issues
2. Inter and intra country Economic disparity
3. Leadership crises
1. Political, military and economic strengths are distributed. Iran
is politically strong, Pakistan had influential military, and KSA
is economically rich, Together Muslim world can bring
revolution
4. Disparity between population and physical area
Challenges Faced by Muslim Ummah
Political Problems
•
•
•
•
•
Territorial Disputes
Ethnic Clashes
Dictatorships
Monarchies
Fragile Political Governments
Challenges Faced by Muslim Ummah
Economic Problems
•
Muslims Represents 1/5th of World’s Population,
Possess 70% of World’s Energy Resources, 40%
of available raw material
• The Total GDP of Muslim Countries = 5% of
World’s GDP
• Entire GDP of OIC States = 4300 Billion US $
and Japan = 5500 Billion US $
Challenges Faced by Muslim Ummah
Social Problems
•
•
•
•
Nationalism and Sectarianism
Jihad and Terrorism
Absorption of Foreign Culture
Clash of Civilization
Challenges Faced by Muslim Ummah
Educational Decay
•
Lack of Creativity and Innovation
•
Failure to Promote Technical Education
•
Failure to Educate Women
Conclusion
According to the Question
Good Governance Models of
◦ Pakistan-Army and Nuke
◦ Turkey- Modernization
◦ Iran-Oil and Political Will
◦ KSA_ Religion and Economy
◦ Malaysia-Development and Governance
Reasons of Optimism
Biology:
The political role of death.
Geology:
Recovering from the curse of oil.
Theology:
Not all Islamists are Bin Laden.
Technology:
free public sphere.
Ideology:
The end of Sectarianism
Counter Reading of Center for the Study of Islam
and Democracy among Others (Said's Orientalism)
“Democracy-friendly” aspects
of Islam
such as shura.
ijtihad.
racial equality.
Islam’s sensitivity to the
needs of the poor and weak.
Respect for order.
Islam’s sense of justice.
“Democracy-challenging” aspects of
Islam
Democracy as people-focused
doctrine while tawheed (oneness of
God) as piety-focused doctrine.
Beda’a (disguised innovation).
Ijma’a that delegitmizes dissent and
opposition.
The unequal status of women and
non-Muslims in Islam.
The link between mosque and
monarch.
Stipulation of Democracy?
Democracy as a Hardware for
“Label”
Democracy:
“Institutions
and
Procedures”
Software for
Democracy:
“Socio-Political
and Religious
Tolerance”
Countries included in the analysis:
Countries that has 480 or more respondents.
Including 4 countries where Muslims are minorities: USA, EU, and India.
Total of 33 countries.
91 Iraqis residing in the Arab world are included.
III. Stipulation of Democracy
Hardware for
Democracy:
Institutions and
Procedures
Software for
Democracy:
Socio-Political and
Religious Tolerance”
Analysis and Findings
Traditionalist
Islamists
(Deductionists)
Modernist
Islamists
(combination)
Secularist
Muslims
(Inductionists)
?? is Islamic if it is
explicitly accepted
by the Qura’an and
Sunni and forms
(quasi-) consensus
among ‘Ulama.
?? is Islamic if it does
not contradict with
the Qura’an and
Sunni.
Tell me what is good
for society, I will get
you what will
support it from the
Qura’an and Sunni.
They fear
imitating nonMuslims since it
is innovation.
It is not imitation,
it is wisdom.
Innovation is
better than blind
imitation.
71
Relatively Most Democratizable
Cultures
Support for Democratic Software
69
67
Albania
Turkey
USA
Morocco
Egypt
65
63
India
Qatar
61
Malaysia
Senegal
Mali
Gambia
UAE
Bangladesh
59
Europe
Iran
Bahrain
57
Turkmenistan
55
Iraq
Average
Oman
53
51
47
45
Yemen
43
Kuwait
Jordan
Lebanon
Libya
49
Algeria
Syria
Indonesia
Tunisia
Sudan
Pakistan
Nigeria
S.Arabia
41
Tajikistan
39
Relatively Least
Democratizatble Cultures
37
Relatively Least
Democratizable Cultures
Support for Democratic Hardware
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
Respondents’ Ideal Political Systems (%)
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
Modernists
Traditionalists
Autocr-ats
Pluralists
Freq.
Total
Select-ing
Own
Count-ry
Iraq
43
0.18
0
0
0
11
0
Turkey
102
0.42
12
18
1
5
22
Jordan
173
0.71
11
5
2
21
10
Pakistan
311
1.28
8
1
4
18
4
Egypt
395
1.62
3
2
1
19
6
Sudan
398
1.63
15
5
12
9
3
S. Arabia
401
1.65
14
1
14
1
0
UK
503
2.06
34
10
1
1
14
India
546
2.24
23
6
0
2
12
France
955
3.92
31
7
0
1
10
Afghan
2,989
12.27
-
3
14
2
0
Iran
3,372
13.84
27
17
3
6
6
USA
4,072
16.71
37
11
0
2
12
None
9,883
40.56
-
14
48
2
1
Total
24,365
100
100
100
100
100
24.93
34
1
6
48
Support
Democracy
II. Insignificant Variables
Blaming the West for the continuation and spread for dictatorships in
the Muslims world .
The attitudes toward political Islam measured by Muslims’ attitudes
toward the concept of Islam as a religion and state were not found to
be helpful in explaining the attitudes of Muslims toward democratic
hardware at all.
Concluding Remarks
Muslims and Arabs are too heterogeneous to be
studied in a lump-sum way of thinking.
Not all secular Muslims are liberal and not all
Islamists are anti-democracy.
Some do bark: some countries’ political cultures are
compatible with democracy--- search elsewhere for
why they do not democratize.
Some countries’ political cultures are clear obstacles
to democratization.
Islam Expands (cont’d)
B.
Reasons for success
1.
2.
3.
4.
Muhammad’s desire to spread Islam North
Disciplined and well commanded armies
Persecution suffered by people under Byzantine and Sassanid rule b/c
they didn’t support state religion
Muslims allowed conquered peoples to follow their own religion, but
not spread it, as long as they paid the tax
V. Muslim Culture
A. Society
1. Rise of Muslim Cities
◦
◦
◦
Many cultures combined
Attracted many people
Baghdad approaches 1 million people
2. 4 Social Classes:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Upper class—Muslim at birth
Second Class—converts to Islam
Third Class—”protected peoples” included Christians, Jews,
and Zoroastrians
Lowest Class—slaves (POWs; all non-Muslims)
The Muslim World Expands
1300-1700
Empire Builders in the Middle
East and South Asia
The Ottomans
The Safavids
The Mughals
The Ottoman Empire:
Turks Move into Byzantium
Anatolian Turks: ghazis, warriors for Islam
Formed military societies and invaded the territories of infidels, people
who did not believe in Islam
Osman: successful ghazi, his followers were called Ottomans
Success and expansion until stopped by Timur the Lame
The Ottoman Empire:
Powerful Sultans Spur Dramatic Expansion
4 powerful sultans led Ottoman Empire until 1566
1453: took Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) under Mehmed the
Conqueror
1514: defeated the Safavid under Selim the Grim
◦ Continued on to take Mecca, Medina and Cairo
The
Ottoman
Empire:
Suleyman
Suleyman the Lawgiver and Suleyman
the Magnificent
Continued to expand the empire into
Central Europe, North Africa and
Central Asia
Structured social organization: law
code, simplified taxes and
government
Tolerance of religious and cultural
differences
Mosque of Suleyman
Istanbul, Turkey
The Ottoman Empire:
The Empire Declines Slowly
Pattern of gaining power and holding power
The practices of the sultans led to weak leaders and the decline of the
empire
◦ Suleyman killed his most capable son and sent another into exile
◦ Selim II inherited the throne
Building the Safavid Empire
Major influences: Persians, Ottomans, Arabs
Located between the Ottoman Empire and the Mughal Empire
Strong military force
Leader Isma’il became a religious tyrant and controlled Persia, (now Iran) and
took the ancient Persian title of shah (meaning king)
Defeated by Ottomans in 1514, set present day border between Iraq and Iran
The
Safavid
Empire
Golden
Age
Shah Abbas, also called Abbas the Great, helped create a Safavid culture that
drew from the best of the Ottoman, Persian and Arab worlds
Reforms and respect for military and civilian life
Tolerance for other religions and cultures
◦ Encouraged industry, trade and art exchanges with European nations
Built a beautiful new capital at Esfahan with influences from all over Europe
and Asia
Esfahan, Iran