Author: Sayyed Musleh Uddin
The Present and Future of Islam from the Perspective of Orientalists (Part 4)
Kuhfi Lal Jaba
Kuhfi Lal Jaba says: “Islam is a religion that can respond to all the needs of man in the present era. No religion can offer its societies the most successful solutions to the problems and issues of the present time like Islam. For example, the most urgent need of the world today is brotherhood, which is not found except in the Islamic program. This is because Islam considers virtue and greatness to be based solely on a person’s actions and piety.” “In our world today, where there is much discussion about human rights, what do we see when we look around us? We know that family relationships have been severely disrupted. When we realize that Islam has provided all the rights of women and has made marriage a wise and just contract between two equal parties, we can see that unmarried mothers are very rare in Islamic society. This is because Islam prescribes severe punishment for those who commit adultery, unlike modern laws, especially Western ones, which are indifferent and lenient towards such issues. This adherence to Islamic law allows society to remain clean and adorned with goodness.”
“Islam is considered the best religion for humanity. When we look around us, we see that places of worship in religions other than Islam are empty most of the time. In contrast, Islamic mosques are filled with believers, especially young people, who worship Allah Almighty in large numbers five times a day. This is the greatest proof that Islam is always the center of goodness, as it has always been in the past. Islam penetrates every detail of Muslim life and, with its inclusiveness and human nature, is present in all Muslim activities. Apart from Islam, no other religion has the ability to solve the problems of people in the modern era. This responsiveness to all human problems, according to time, place, and conditions, is a unique advantage of Islam.”
Dankos
Dankos says: “The continuity of religious sentiments in the Soviet Union, or their renewal, is a socio-cultural fact that Soviet officials themselves admit and foreign observers notice. The government looks at this fact from two perspectives: sometimes it considers it a source of pride, viewing it as clear and tangible proof of its open and democratic stance towards all religions; at other times, it shows concern about it. During these times, special media organizations mobilize their anti-religious propaganda, and the attacks of atheists become more intense; calls for awakening and vigilance multiply in newspapers. Teachers are also reminded that the primary task of the school is to educate communists; that is, to keep future Soviet citizens away from the reactionary and anti-communist ideas transmitted by religions.”
“Anti-religious programs increasingly emphasize the viability of religions and their adaptation to a society transformed by socialism. Until recently, these same television programs had been content to attack religions and predict their inevitable demise. Soviet officials gradually realized the appeal of religious practices in a society dominated by order and uniformity and recognized how religious morality (not only alongside socialist morality but also in its own right) opened a path in a society where such preparation did not increase tendencies toward deviance.”
“All official Soviet government information and data concur to show that Islam is slowly dying with the passing of a generation raised on Soviet ideology. However, contradictory information immediately upsets this picture. Increasingly, social research in the Soviet Union makes it clear that the Muslim community remains attached to its beliefs, with half of those interviewed in rural settings openly declaring their adherence to faith. For example, a survey conducted in 1972 in the Karakalpak Republic, annexed to Uzbekistan, showed that 23% of men and 20% of women declared their atheism. Thus, 77% of men and 80% of women are believers. In the North Caucasus (in 1974), only 20% of residents declared themselves atheists and non-believers. Although researchers in Islamic settings often observe that residents are cautious in revealing the truth of their faith.”
“Islamism has another feature that complicates the situation in the Soviet Union; unlike Christianity, which separates religious from secular affairs, Islam brings both together. Islamic belief, which is the fruit of the Quran and Sunnah, requires the existence of special institutions for believers whose task is to supervise social life. The Soviet government, in its program of assimilation (which aims to impose its ideology), could not accept the existence of a special system for Muslims. Therefore, in the first years of its rise to power, it abolished the essential elements of Muslim society: the legal system, religious institutions, and fundamental financial rules. Now, after making Islam the religion of specific individuals rather than the religion of a group, and after depriving it of its institutions and taking away its secular affairs, the question arises: did it remain an organized existence or did it become a skeleton that would disappear with the last group of veiled believers? There have been many bright events that testify that pessimism about the future of Islam could have been (to some extent) acceptable in the not-so-distant past, but today it has no basis; rather, the opposite is true; because these events show that Islam is rising again under new conditions, and this resurgence is based on a conscious and voluntary existence, not a continuous existence supported and guided by high Islamic authorities.”
“In the newspapers of the Islamic republics, we find several references indicating that Islamic solidarity in the Soviet Union is increasing and that the influence of believers on those who do not practice their religious rites is also growing.”
Continues…
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