WHY The West\nCraves Materialism & The East Sticks To Religion….<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0By Imran Khan *Prime Minister of Pakistan* <\/p>\n\n\n\n
excerpted from below<\/strong> “However, the biggest factor that drove people like me away from religion was the selective Islam practiced by most of its preachers. In short, there was a huge difference between what they practiced and what they preached. Also, rather than explaining the philosophy behind the religion, there was an overemphasis on rituals. ” <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I will try to explain as concisely as is possible, what\u00a0 ‘discovering the truth’ meant for me. When the\u00a0 believers are addressed in the Qur’an, it always says, ‘Those who believe and do good deeds.’ In other\u00a0 words, a Muslim has dual function, one toward God and the other toward fellow human beings.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest impact of believing in God for me, meant that I lost all<\/em> <\/strong>fear of human beings. The Qur’an liberates man from man when it says that life and death and respect and humiliation are God’s jurisdiction, so we do not have to bow before other human beings.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n START<\/strong> My generation grew up at a time when colonial hang up was at its peak. Our older generation had been slaves and had a huge inferiority complex of the British. The school I went to was similar to all elite schools in Pakistan.\u00a0\u00a0 Despite gaining independence, they were, and still are, producing replicas of public schoolboys rather than Pakistanis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I read Shakespeare, which was fine, but no Allama Iqbal –\nthe national poet of Pakistan. The class on Islamic studies was not taken\nseriously, and when I left school I was considered among the elite of the\ncountry because I could speak English and wore Western clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite periodically shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ in\nschool functions, I considered my own culture backward and religion outdated.\nAmong our group if any one talked about religion, prayed or kept a beard he was\nimmediately branded a Mullah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of the power of the Western media, our heroes\nwere Western movie stars or pop stars. When I went to Oxford already burdened\nwith this hang up, things didn’t get any easier. At Oxford, not just Islam, but\nall religions were considered anachronism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Science had replaced religion and if something couldn’t\nbe logically proved it did not exist. All supernatural stuff was confined to\nthe movies. Philosophers like Darwin, who with his half-baked theory of\nevolution had supposedly disproved the creation of men and hence religion, were\nread and revered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, European history reflected its awful experience\nwith religion. The horrors committed by the Christian clergy during the\nInquisition era had left a powerful impact on the Western mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To understand why the West is so keen on secularism, one\nshould go to places like Cordoba in Spain and see the torture apparatus used\nduring the Spanish Inquisition. Also the persecution of scientists as heretics\nby the clergy had convinced the Europeans that all religions are regressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the biggest factor that drove people like me away from religion was the selective Islam practiced by most of its preachers. In short, there was a huge difference between what they practiced and what they preached. Also, rather than explaining the philosophy behind the religion, there was an overemphasis on rituals.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel that humans are different to animals. While, the\nlatter can be drilled, humans need to be intellectually convinced. That is why\nthe Qur’an constantly appeals to reason. The worst, of course, was the exploitation\nof Islam for political gains by various individuals or groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence, it was a miracle I did not become an atheist. The\nonly reason why I did not was the powerful religious influence my mother\nwielded on me since my childhood. It was not so much out of conviction but love\nfor her that I stayed a Muslim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, my Islam was selective. I accepted only parts of\nthe religion that suited me. Prayers were restricted to Eid days and\noccasionally on Fridays, when my father insisted on taking me to the mosque\nwith him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all I was smoothly moving to becoming a Pukka\nBrown Sahib. After all I had the right credentials in terms of school,\nuniversity and, above all, acceptability in the \nEnglish aristocracy, something that our brown sahibs would give their lives for. So what led me to do a\n‘lota’ on the Brown Sahib culture and instead become a ‘desi’?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well it did not just happen overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Firstly, the inferiority complex that my generation had\ninherited gradually went as I developed into a world-class athlete. Secondly, I\nwas in the unique position of living between two cultures. I began to see the\nadvantages and the disadvantages of both societies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Western societies, institutions were strong while they\nwere collapsing in our country. However, there was an area where we were and\nstill are superior, and that is our family life. I began to realize that this\nwas the Western society’s biggest loss. In trying to free itself from the\noppression of the clergy, they had removed both God and religion from their\nlives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While science, no matter how much it progresses, can\nanswer a lot of questions – two questions it will never be able to answer: One,\nwhat is the purpose of our existence and two, what happens to us when we die?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is this vacuum that I felt created the materialistic\nand the hedonistic culture. If this is the only life then one must make hay\nwhile the sun shines – and in order to do so one needs money. Such a culture is\nbound to cause psychological problems in a human being, as there was going to\nbe an imbalance between the body and the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consequently, in the US, which has shown the greatest\nmaterialistic progress while giving its citizens numerous rights, almost 60\npercent of the population consult psychiatrists. Yet, amazingly in modern psychology,\nthere is no study of the human soul. Sweden and Switzerland, who provide the\nmost welfare to their citizens, also have the highest suicide rates. Hence, man\nis not necessarily content with material well being and needs something more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since all morality has it roots in religion, once\nreligion was removed, immorality has progressively grown since the 70s. Its\ndirect impact has been on family life. In the UK, the divorce rate is 60\npercent, while it is estimated that there are over 35 percent single mothers.\nThe crime rate is rising in almost all Western societies, but the most\ndisturbing fact is the alarming increase in racism. While science always tries\nto prove the inequality of man (recent survey showing the American Black to be\ngenetically less intelligent than whites) it is only religion that preaches the\nequality of man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between 1991 and 1997, it was estimated that total\nimmigration into Europe was around 520,000, and there were racially motivated\nattacks all over, especially in Britain, France and Germany. In Pakistan during\nthe Afghan war, we had over four million refugees, and despite the people being\nso much poorer, there was no racial tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a sequence of events in the 80s that moved me\ntoward God as the Qur’an says: ‘There are signs for people of understanding.\n‘One of them was cricket. As I was a student of the game, the more I understood\nthe game, the more I began to realize that what I considered to be chance was,\nin fact, the will of Allah. A pattern which became clearer with time. But it\nwas not until Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ that my understanding of Islam\nbegan to develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People like me who were living in the Western world bore\nthe brunt of anti-Islam prejudice that followed the Muslim reaction to the\nbook. We were left with two choices: fight or flight. Since I felt strongly\nthat the attacks on Islam were unfair, I decided to fight. It was then I\nrealized that I was not equipped to do so as my knowledge of Islam was\ninadequate. Hence I started my research and for me a period of my greatest\nenlightenment. I read scholars like Ali Shariati, Muhammad Asad, Iqbal, Gai\nEaton, plus of course, a study of Qur’an.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I will try to explain as concisely as is possible, what\u00a0 ‘discovering the truth’ meant for me. When the\u00a0 believers are addressed in the Qur’an, it always says, ‘Those who believe and do good deeds.’ In other\u00a0 words, a Muslim has dual function, one toward God and the other toward fellow human beings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest impact of believing in God for me, meant that I lost all fear of human beings<\/strong>. The Qur’an liberates man from man when it says that life and death and respect and humiliation are God’s jurisdiction, so we do not have to bow before other human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, since this is a transitory world where we\nprepare for the eternal one, I broke out of the self-imposed prisons, such as\ngrowing old (such a curse in the Western world, as a result of which, plastic\nsurgeons are having a field day),\nmaterialism, ego, what people say and so on. It is important to note that one\ndoes not eliminate earthly desires. But instead of being controlled by them,\none controls them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By following the second part of believing in Islam, I\nhave become a better human being. Rather than being self-centered and living\nfor the self, I feel that because the Almighty gave so much to me, in turn I\nmust use that blessing to help the less privileged. This I did by following the\nfundamentals of Islam rather than becoming a Kalashnikov-wielding fanatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have become a tolerant and a giving human being who\nfeels compassion for the underprivileged. Instead of attributing success to\nmyself, I know it is because of God’s will, hence I learned humility instead of\narrogance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, instead of the snobbish Brown Sahib attitude toward\nour masses, I believe in egalitarianism and strongly feel against the injustice\ndone to the weak in our society. \nAccording to the Qur’an, ‘Oppression is worse than killing.’ In fact only now do I understand\nthe true meaning of Islam, if you submit to the will of Allah, you have inner\npeace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through my faith, I have discovered strength within me\nthat I never knew existed and that has released my potential in life. I feel that\nin Pakistan we have selective Islam. Just believing in God and going through\nthe rituals is not enough. One also has to be a good human being. I feel there\nare certain Western countries with far more Islamic traits than us in Pakistan,\nespecially in the way they protect the \nrights of their citizens, or for that matter their justice system. In\nfact some of the finest individuals I know live there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I dislike about them is their double standards in\nthe way they protect the rights of their citizens but consider citizens of\nother countries as being somehow inferior to them as human being, e.g. dumping\ntoxic waste in the Third World, advertising cigarettes that are not allowed in\nthe West and selling drugs that are banned in the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the problems facing Pakistan is the polarization\nof two reactionary groups. On the one side is the Westernized group that looks\nupon Islam through Western eyes and has inadequate knowledge about the subject.\nIt reacts strongly to anyone trying to impose Islam in society and wants only a\nselective part of the religion. On the other extreme is the group that reacts\nto this Westernized elite and in trying to \nbecome a defender of the faith, takes up such intolerant and\nself-righteous attitudes that are repugnant to the spirit of Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What needs to be done is to somehow start a dialogue\nbetween the two extreme. In order for this to happen, the group on whom the\ngreatest proportion of our educational resources are spent in this country must\nstudy Islam properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether they become practicing Muslims or believe in God\nis entirely a personal choice. As the Qur’an tells us there is ‘no compulsion\nin religion.’ However, they must arm themselves with knowledge as a weapon to\nfight extremism. Just by turning up their noses at extremism the problem is not\ngoing to be solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Qur’an calls Muslims ‘the middle nation’, not of\nextremes. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was told to simply give the\nmessage and not worry whether people converted or not, therefore, there is no\nquestion in Islam of forcing your opinions on anyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, we are told to respect other religions, their\nplaces of worship and their prophets. It should be noted that no Muslim\nmissionaries or armies ever went to Malaysia or Indonesia. The people converted\nto Islam due to the high principles and impeccable character of the Muslim\ntraders. At the moment, the worst advertisements for Islam are the countries\nwith their selective Islam, especially where religion is used to deprive people\nof their rights. In fact, a society that obeys fundamentals of Islam has to be\na liberal one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Pakistan’s Westernized class starts to study Islam,\nnot only will it be able to help society fight sectarianism and extremism, but\nit will also make them realize what a progressive religion Islam is. They will\nalso be able to help the Western world by articulating Islamic concepts.\nRecently, Prince Charles accepted that the Western world can learn from Islam.\nBut how can this happen if the group that is in the best position to project\nIslam gets its attitudes from the West and considers Islam backward? Islam is a\nuniversal religion and that is why our Prophet (peace be upon him) was called a\nMercy for all mankind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n _Humbly written\nby_ <\/p>\n\n\n\n *Imran Khan* <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0*Prime Minister of Pakistan* END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WHY The West Craves Materialism & The East Sticks To Religion…. \u00a0By Imran Khan *Prime Minister of Pakistan* excerpted from below “However, the biggest factor that drove people like me away from religion was the selective Islam practiced by most of its preachers. 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