Sorry for the late reply - somehow I missed these replies.
In Islam the responsibility for financial welfare of the family falls upon man.
Islam is not the dominant mode of life style today - even amongst Muslims.
The dominant life style is the western liberal democratic life style - if I may call it so.
Dr Israr Ahmed gave a very detailed speech about it.
In view of this environment today it has become extremely difficult to defend the Muslim way of life.
In above post I gave an example of a friend who is absolutely modern educated and so is his wife but he unapologetically adopts a Muslim way of life.
He can not be accused of being outdated and outmoded and parochial and unenlightened. Yet he cares to hoot about adopting the western way completely.
Now I can be little more specific and precise about this issue.
I think I have figured out what people like me can do about the problems that Muslim Ummah faces today in the world and perhaps in India.
This does not amount to a specific and complete and sure shot solution to the problems of the Ummah.
But it may be a significant step in the right direction.
And I mean the academic route to the problems of the Ummah.
We academicians of Ummah should take up at least the responsibility for this route.
If you remember a few years ago around 145 international Muslim academicians wrote to the Pope about co-operation and mutual understanding between the Christians and Muslims.
Rather than doing that these academicians and intellectuals should have written 145 books upon how at international level the Christian world still academically and intellectually colonizes the Muslim world and that this colonization must be lifted and the Muslim world must be liberated from this so called post-colonial order that in reality is residual colonialism and intellectual and psychological and social colonialism at a practical level.
Muslim intellectuals have to make this concerted effort.
They have to write books on social encroachment upon Muslim social space by the west.
The same has to be done about the encroachment upon other spaces of the Muslim world - cultural, economic, theological, business, economy, finance, industry, military and politics.
Muslim academicians are not gathering the requisite courage to go about this task. They fear the west will go after them the way the west deals with the militants.
Clearly I am not hinting at any physical struggle in this context. I am talking about just defining the problem of the Ummah with the west. And perhaps in India.
What I am saying is that there is the militant narrative - I suppose there must be otherwise why they will hit to field.
Then there is the western narrative.
In this paradigm where is the Muslim narrative?
Where is the Muslim paradigm? What is the Muslim paradigm? Who has coined it? Who should coin it? Why is the west not concerned about it? Why do they assume that Muslims must fall in line with the so called modern western liberal, democratic paradigm? why can they not have their own paradigm? Why must they fit into the western mold? Or, the worse, why should they be slapped with the charge of being militants?
In a sense the main task is to develop a narrative that is Muslim and Islamic and that scrupulously avoids the trap of militancy-narrative.
My proposal in this regard in there in my Signature : Muslim Ummah aspires to attain a rightful and honored place among the civilizations of the world and make our proportionate contribution towards international peace, progress and happiness of humanity.
Please understand that the moment you talk about Muslim World, Muslim Ummah and the like it triggers the worst fears of the the western psyche. They do not think of the western crusades against the Muslim world and the most horrible atrocities there-in but they fear for themselves what they came to deliver to Muslims during the crusades. Never underestimate the fears of the present dominant powers.
The trick is to bring your concerns, your interests and your aims and objectives to the fore without alarming the worst fears of the powers that be - that is the west.
How smartly, how deftly, how cleverly we can do it will decide the shape of the events to come.
The paradigm for India has to be tailored differently because in India we do not have the same psychology and disposition of the powers that be. Their dominant mode of thinking is not liberal democratic and of fascist and Islamophobic. Our narrative, therefore, has to be designed differently for India.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
Please wait...
