CAIRO, 7 October 2004 — Scenes of uproarious public processions supporting and cheering certain rabble-rousers in the Muslim world betray a sad truth about our present culture. It is an institutionalized culture, planted in our hearts by extremist Muslim organizations who have hijacked Islam. When young, we were taught that to be a Muslim was the most important thing in the world. It was planted in our young minds that a Muslim was always in the right and that he would have the final victory in any conflict, even if his weapon were a stick and his enemies were armed with tanks. It was plainly because he was in the right and others were in the wrong that the truth should prevail. Further, we were led to believe that all noble and humane qualities were ours. We were also taught that all non-Muslims were waiting to pounce upon us and annihilate us. Teachers also warned children that Western culture was anti-religious and without any ethical values and that consequently, they had degenerated into an abyss of moral turpitude reminiscent of the pre-Islamic times. When they left the schools, the process of filling their heads with irrational and incorrect ideas were continued by the media and religious preachers who were on every street corner. At the same time, when people from the Arab countries visited foreign lands, they were surprised to find things were not as they had been led to believe. Their amazement has been well expressed in the sentence: “They saw Islam there but no Muslims.” To their surprise, they found the non-Muslims in Europe and elsewhere adhering to noble values and lofty principles more than the people in the Arab world did.
This distorted and misinformed mindset has led each of us to a delusion that he is qualified and capable to determine the course of the world. We have been continuously and systematically brainwashed to be unquestioningly submissive to anyone who speaks in the name of religion. In this condition, we have been told over and over that Islam is the solution to all problems — without ever specifying what the problems are.
Could we have dared to argue with a preacher while qualified by a flowing beard, a short thobe and the Holy Book in his hand? What else can we do but say Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) and La Ilah Illallahu (There is no god but Allah)? If anyone is not impressed by these qualifications, let him withdraw silently into a corner. If any of us still retains an ability to think and dares to question the preachers, his fate will be to be forcibly divorced from his wife — if he is lucky. In some cases, his life will be in danger.
We have unfortunately lost our power to think. Emotions guide us. We have been brainwashed to such a degree that we accept a scientifically established fact only if a religious scholar approves it with a fatwa, a religious ruling. That is why while people all over the world are making rapid progress, we squat on the sidelines, waiting for a religious scholar to outline our course. We are living in an illusory world that exists only in our imagination, far away from the realities of the modern world. It is this paradox that paved the way for Osama Bin Laden and his ilk to take center stage and pass themselves off as Muslims.
A common Muslim has no objection to being a mujahid (a warrior). It makes no difference to him whether he is a killer or whether he is killed, because his perceptions do not conform to the realities of the actual world. In either case, he believes himself to be victorious. If he succeeds in killing an infidel — who is an infidel by the way? — he has fulfilled his mission and defeated one who rejects Islam. If he is the victim and dies, he becomes a martyr and enters Paradise in the most glorious manner. This is the mindset of Bin Laden and those who follow him. They believe in what they are taught and act accordingly. There are other people more dangerous than Bin Laden and his followers. They are the teachers and speakers who poison impressionable young minds with their rabid teachings in schools, mosques and the media. They deliver speeches unmindful of the consequences of what they are saying, or still worse, not aware that every single word they are uttering will be heard by the whole world, thanks to progress in the field of IT. Such speeches only deepen the distortions of our lives and religion, which are already too distorted. A peace-loving and straightforward religion — Islam — has been disfigured to such an extent that the Bin Ladens and Al-Zarqawis have become its symbols.
It is our own actions — and inactions — that have distorted Islam and set it against the world. What is the solution? We must take religion away from the rabble-rousers and put it into the hands of wise leaders. This way, it will be able to play the role expected of it, far removed from the misleading political machinations of rabble-rousers.
— Dr. Sahar Muhammad Hatem is a writer based in Cairo.
