With the first flowers of spring in the Indus Valley, the Taleban completed the destruction of two Buddha statues. One of them, at 53 meters high, had been considered to be among the tallest Buddha statues in the world for the last 1500 years. The two statues had survived numerous attacks ranging from the Mongol’s invasions to the Soviet’s attacks. This time, not only did the Taleban manage to register their name in the list of those who destroy human history, but also with those who do not tolerate others. The Taleban also persecuted the Hazarah sect, executed about 500 of them while others fled under sever conditions to the borders of Tajikistan in search of safety.
There are, unfortunately, precedents to the story of Taleban in the Abbasids’ era. Ibn Khaldun, a medieval Muslim sociologist, mentions in his Muqaddimah, three incidents that force us to re-examine our history. The first is Harun Al-Rashid’s attempt to destroy the court of Kissra. The second is when the Abbasids’ caliph, Al-Ma’moun, tried to demolish the Pyramids. And last but not least, the futile attempts of the people of Tunisia to demolish the remains of the historical city of Carthage.
Ibn Kahldun, however, only witnessed the last incident. He comments, “If we find a monument that can stand in the face of our human attempts to demolish it, we learn that the civilization behind the construct had been powerful and long lasting” (346).
Malik Binnabi, the late Algerian writer, illustrates the cycle of civilization in three stages, the spiritual, the rational, and the instinctual. When there is a charge of spirituality, the civilization is in a state of inertia. When rationality is dominant, the civilization can sustain itself. Finally, it reaches the state of collapse when instinct and irrationality overtake, leading to its disintegration and fall.
Binnabi sees that the Islamic civilization ceased to ascend at the battle of Siffin in 32 H. In that year, the Umayyad Dynasty succeeded in assassinating the righteous political atmosphere with a military coup. Then, the Muslim world entered the rational stage, which lasted until the time of Ibn Khaldun six centuries ago. Thus, the Islamic world has now entered the dark night of history. This can help us understand why we find it has been difficult for us to adapt to the modern world, which we did not help build either.
The Taleban are a good example to demonstrate the nature of our current ideologies. Our outdated world view exhibits itself in the intolerance of Taleban against new ideas, women, humans, and even stones. Once intolerance is paramount and, for them, there is no differentiation between the divine and the humane, there is no place for rationality, tolerance, or the ability of self- reflection and criticism.
I believe if power falls in the hands of those who embody this kind of culture, regardless of location, the results will be similar. Those who nurse at this kind of culture are unaware of the evolution of history and the birth of a new world. They remain under the pressure of the idea that the world has already been created and, that at a certain point, stopped evolving, which makes adherents to this culture incapable of letting go of the sacred ideas of their ancestors. The Qur’an states the opposite of this way of thinking with three parameters: Creation has not ended; it is in a state of constant evolution. Secondly, the universe is still expanding. And thirdly, knowledge has no limits.
Muscle, armament, and soldiers no longer measure strength. Strength is, rather, measured by rationality and the ability to utilize the laws of the universe because humans have the unique ability to understand the laws of the material, psychological and ideological existence.
Humans have manipulated matter, split the atom, and produced the miracles of communication. Secrets of biology are revealed every day, resulting in longer life expectancy and the gradual elimination of disease. However, laws pertaining to psychology and sociology are still ambiguous. The origin of the problem is that the world, including the Islamic world, believes that the way to extract the best out of a human being is by coercion rather than by persuasion.
The Qur’an came to eradicate this idea from both the human consciousness and unconsciousness. When the prophets came with this concept, which is one of the biggest changes in human history, it was understood and interpreted as a supernatural phenomenon and not as a law of the human condition.
After Spain destroyed the Mayan civilization and burned all their books, save only three of them, it retreated back under the darkness of intolerance into the neglected corner of Europe, after it had been one of the most powerful nations of the world. In contrast, the Anglo-Saxon nations, which were more open and rational, occupied the forefronts of the European stage.
Today, the Taleban are accusing the world of heresy, acting upon this accusation and turning legacies of history into ruins with heavy artillery.
We, as Muslims, do not reconsider our understanding of the text. Rather, we are far more willing to place nature and the universe at odds with each other instead of questioning our own understanding for a moment.
