Mr Ifteikhar Haider 

Thank you for your comments.

You may have read the article, but it seems you have completely missed out its central idea. The answer to your question is right there in the message, waiting for you to understand, fathom and accept it,  which I am sure you will  once you understand. I quote below some excerpts of it to refresh your memory.  

The religion, which is supposed to have abolished idolatry, itself became the idol. For, besides the stone idols, Islam fought to replace the contemporary traditions of the power structure of the society. It defied slavery, accumulation of wealth, sexual discrimination, child poverty etc. Islam claimed to be a complete code of life by defining its true meaning and suggesting the means to regulate it.  It meant to make the people answerable both to themselves as much as to the system, because the system was basically designed for self-control and subsequent self-reform. Where, the individual’s progress was aimed at the eventual uplift of society and humanity as a whole.  So much so that Ijtehad – a unique means of democratic intellectual advancement, was pushed in the background, and totalitarianism ruled sway.    

Others in general, and the Western renaissance in particular, both consciously and unknowingly, picked up the benefits of ‘ to participate and share’, from the teachings and methods of early Islamic practices. While they experimented, adopted and adapted knowledge and progressive scientific techniques, Muslims languished in the squalor of their past glory. Refusing to accept and adjust to the needs of the changing times. They thus passed on the torch of civilization to their contemporaries of the age and period. 

Is it not the way of the world to trample and destroy the weak as per the dictates of the Law of Nature ? e.g. does not the strong lion hunt the weak deer. Does not the bird eat the worm? Anyone who goes against the law of nature and relaxes his guard is in danger of losing his possessions sooner or later, be they material possessions or ideas and beliefs. If the Muslim's cannot preserve and promote a viable message the world is not going to wait and let them attack its own belongings and the beliefs. As a matter of fact they will take maximum advantage of the weakness of the enemy and let it destroy itself. 

In the closing I would just like to re-emphasize my belief on the Natural Phenomenon of ‘evolution’, which has the inherent quality of changing and readjusting to the needs of the times. By so doing the whole system readjusts to the realities of the situation. It is seen that this method of ‘evolution’ is the surviving principle of the world and as has been said in the address, it will play out its role of ‘survival of the fittest’ for the fittest to survive.  Islam, or for that matter, any other belief is bound to fail if either it does not see the reality of the situation and adjusts to it, or does not advocate a method to deal with it in consonance with the Law of Nature. 

Regards 

Ziauddin Ahmed