ISLAMIC RESURGENCE-A BRIEF APPRAISAL

M. Moizuddin

Professor Arnold Toynbee, a renowned contemporary historian and sociologist, praising the spirit of Muslim unity and resurgence of Islam writes : “The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the extraordinary moral achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is as it happens a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue.”

Geographical boundaries are no obstacle to Muslim unity as the source of spiritual and intellectual moorings of Muslims all over the world is one and the same. The concept of one God and love for the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is common and universal for all Muslims. Imam Ghazālī, Ibn Rushd, Ibn ‘Arabī, Jamāluddīn Afghani, Sayyid Ahmad Khan and ‘Allāmah Iqbāl coming from different regions are common stalwarts of Islam. All these luminaries contribute in their own way towards the revival of Islam, a religion overpowering all evils.

We are bound to each other because of our religious belief as stated, not on account of economic, linguistic and territorial affinities. The patriotic and territorial national feelings are but natural for the inhabitants of a particular country; however, they are bound together with one centre of worship, i.e. the Ka’bah, leading to universal brotherhood or Islamic universalism. ‘Allāmah Iqbāl emerges as an exponent of universal brotherhood decrying territorial nationalism. He once said; “I have been repudiating the concept of Nationalism since the time when it was not known in India and the Muslim world.”

‘Allāmah Iqbal envisaged a worldwide Islamic unification when he said that Islam was “neither nationalism nor imperial-ism, but a commonwealth of nations.”

In a letter to Maulānā ?afar Ahmad Siddiqi in 1932, ‘Allāmah lqbāl wrote : “If in the past Muslim thinkers and statesmen had carefully reflected on the contents of the Qur’ān, a League of Nations in the Muslim world would have come into existence centuries ago. Thus history of the League of Nations, which has been created in the twentieth century, is a living testimony to the fact that unless the ego of a nation is hedged around by Divine laws, there is no way by which peace of the world can be assured.”

Today it seems more relevant. We are proud of the fact and it is a matter of great satisfaction that we recognised this admonition and are working on the dictum outlined and envisaged by Iqbāl much earlier.

The followers of Muhammad Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhāb in Arabia, Muhammad al-Sanīsū in North Africa and Sayyid Ahmad Brelvī and Maulānā Muhammad ‘Alī Jawhar in India, to name a few, were noted crusaders against imperialism and a source of a unify­ing, force to all brothers in Islam. Midhat Pāshā in Turkey, Muftī ‘Ālamjān in Russia, Shaikh Muhammad ‘Abduhū in Egypt and Sayyid Ahmad Khan in India, these were personalities who work­ed for Islamic puritanism.

Their efforts for Muslim unity and solidarity through the pas-sage of time had ultimately emerged as a great Muslim bloc striving for its rejuvenation.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the doctrine of Pan-Islamism of Jamāluddīn Afghānī after the dismember­ment of the Qttoman Empire actually took the shape of universal Muslim nationalism. ‘Allāmah Iqbāl too had faith in the concept of universalism of the Muslims of the world.

According to lqbal, Jāmaluddīn Afghānī in many respects was the greatest Muslim and certainly one of the greatest Asians of our times. Unlike his predecessors, ‘Allāmah lqbal wanted a political reconstruction of society as a whole by character-building and sincerity of purpose.

In 1918, the late Āghā Khān wrote in his book India in Transition: “There is a right and legitimate Pan-Islamism to which every sincere and believing Muslim belongs . . . the real spiritual and cultural unity of Islam must ever grow for the followers of the Holy Prophet, it is the foundation of the life of the soul.”

With this background of process, the Muslim reawakening, the present resurgence of Islamic forces in almost every Muslim country is the same unifying force which the above-mentioned stalwarts of Islam endeavoured for. In The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam ‘Allāmah Iqbāl Writes : “For the present every Muslim nation must sink into her own deeper self, temporarily focus her vision on herself alone, until all are strong and powerful to form a living family of republics. Islam is neither nationalism nor imperialism but a League of Nations which recognizes artificial boundaries and racial distinctions for facility of reference only and not restricting the social horizon of its members.”

In 1931, ‘Allāmah Iqbāl attended the historic conference of al-Mu’tamar-i Islām at Bait al-Maqdis. He discussed the sinister move of the Zionists with the then Muftī-i A’zam of Palestine, the fate al-Hij Muhammad Āmīn al-Husainī. He addressed the confer­ence and warned the Muslims of the dangers of parochial and narrow nationalistic outlook and exhorted them to remain united. He reiterated that the future of Islamic world is linked with the future of Arabs and the future of Ārabs depends on the unity and solidarity of the Ārabs. If Arabs are united, certainly the Islamic world will emerge dominant.

It is encouraging that Pakistan, the ideological state, is at the moment a nucleus of revival of Islamic values. In the recent past the congregation of the Foreign Ministers of Islamic countries who pledged themselves to-fight against the imperialist and Zionist forces is of great historic significance.

The representation of the President of Pakistan in the United Nations to voice the feeling of ninety million Muslims of the world is indeed a matter of great pride and privilege for Pakistan. It is an epoch-making event. Let us pray for the unity and soli­darity of the Muslims of the world and that they may sink their regional differences and iron them out.