The term “foreign pressure” is widely used these days as if it were the only justification for any attempt at reform or change. Officials constantly find themselves obliged to deny that there is any foreign pressure behind changes being made in their departments. Officials from the minister of education on down keep issuing daily statements, denying that plans to reform and improve our textbooks are coming from abroad. The minister of Islamic affairs has more than once said there was no outside pressure behind the ministry’s move to reeducate imams in the Kingdom’s mosques. The same, we are told, applies to political and economic reform.
I am beginning to wonder if things will reach a point where the minister of health will be asked whether his inspection tours of public hospitals come in response to foreign pressure.
Reform is crucial to any progress. More than 14 centuries ago, Islam laid down principles governing human development and progress. The success and failure of Muslims, as history has shown, depends on their adherence to, or rejection of, these principles. Many principles now supported and advanced by Westerners — justice, liberty, equality and other basic human rights — were long ago enshrined in Islamic teachings. What is important, however, is that we reform and develop whether the initiative comes from us or from others. There is no shame in listening to the advice of others if it is to our benefit.
People who harp endlessly about foreign pressure can be divided into two groups — those who repeat what is said to them by others and those who, with the aim of frustrating and thwarting any attempts at reform, use the term to question other people’s good intentions. It is next to impossible to convince the latter group no matter what is done — even if they see the fruits of reform with their own eyes. Let us focus on the end objective while ignoring their suspicions and reservations.
