Thank
god(!!), the Prof. has stepped back in to remind the
unruly bunch to focus on the topic at hand. I am quite
amazed at the Muslim bashing that is going on and the
delight some are deriving from it. Muslims are a huge
bunch of people and to classify them as killers and
ignoramuses is to indulge in racism and essentialism
because some of the statements (Najeeb
Kazmi, Rashid Mughal)
are implying that Muslims are inherently stupid and
violent. Furthermore, Muslims are being treated as an
abstraction. An extremist fringe or absolutist Islamists
are being equated to the whole billion of people. It is
intellectually and socially irresponsible to make
blanket statements about ANY people. If the present is
not assessed in the light of history, the inferences are
incomplete. The political history of modern nation
states and constant attempts at hegemony by one or two
superpowers must be taken into account to assess the
present situation/condition of any struggling state not
just Muslim states. Socio- economic relations within a
state and between states must also be taken into
account. Many variables play a role in determining the
possibility or impossibility of establishing a certain
form of governance. To reduce the whole blame or praise
onto one dogma or religion is to be an essentialist.
Human societies and social systems are too complex to be
understood or explained through essentialism. To do so
is to join the ranks of absolutists, literalists and
fundamentalists.
Social-economic relations i.e means of production and
distribution, AND class relations play a major role in
determining the form of society and its governance.
Fundamentalism or absolutism is a symptom and not a
cause of a dysfunctional society.
Last
point for now. It is interesting and distressing to note
that how many "Muslims" have accepted the image
projected onto them by the mainstream media. There are
many Muslims who are contributing to the 21st century.
There are doctors and scientists and teachers and
researchers etc. who also happen to be Muslims. It is
more productive to be a constructive citizen and do
something concrete, and hands on to work towards the
betterment of a people or society than be smugly
satisfied by group bashing and/or self flagellation. An
iconoclast HAS to offer a better alternative or his/her
iconclasm is empty rhetoric.
