Pak Tea House » Islamism » I’m a better Muslim than You
I’m a better Muslim than You
By Meera Ghani
In Pakistan being a Muslim isn’t enough anymore. You have to be a certain type of Muslim, constantly having to prove your piety and religiosity to others (by religiosity I mean public religiosity). We seem to have gone so far as a society that senseless violence justified by religion is becoming part of our culture. Once you go down that path it’s very hard to come back.
In Pakistan we wear our religion on our sleeves. With people obsessively competing to prove their adherence to “true” Islam, piety seems to be more about making a public show of how religious you are rather than looking at how your deeds affect others. For me religion is a personal matter and should be kept that way.
Virtually every major issue in society is seen through a religious lens with an objective to see whether it adheres to “real” Islam or not. Even through the media people’s sensibilities are often brought into question and emotions are evoked by the “moral police” to pass judgment on whether someone is a good Muslim or not. Clergy is called upon to give verdicts and everyone else seems to concede. Increasingly people are being put on public trial for their personal lifestyle choices and there is concerted character assassination. One such example was the atrocious interview with the late Governor Salmaan Taseer, preceding his brutal murder. Many people that I talked to didn’t think that Taseer was a blasphemer but they claimed that he wasn’t a good Muslim and so he brought his untimely death upon himself. The harshest reality check was when hailing a murderer as a hero appeared to be a virtue for many- a way to showcase their loyalty to Islam.
Unfortunately we live in a country where the word of the mullah has become synonymous with the word of Allah. Recently a friend was harassed by a mullah while visiting a bank for not sporting an Islamic beard. He was told that he needed to be taught a lesson and that the fear of eternal damnation wasn’t a good enough deterrent. Islam is also becoming synonymous with Saudi culture which is in turn is seen as the pinnacle of faith and piety. We often forget the injustices that exist in their society. Wahabisim is being exported by preachers like Farhat Hashmi and women are being encouraged to adorn Saudi style abaya and niqabs in order prove that they are good Muslims. Where will all this end?
Anyone can be labelled a non-believer by another group within the same religious construct- ullema from different sects are busy fighting and declaring each other kafir. Their adherence to the literal letter of the law has become such that even a small deviation from their dogmatic interpretation and traditional edicts is considered blasphemous. There is no room for dissenting opinion or independent thought let alone discourse. Islam is often used for political commandeering. Recently Fareed Paracha on a talk show misquoted a few verses from the Qur’an to make a point, not only was the audience unable to question it, the other religious scholar supported the claim. In fact the moderator of the show emphatically agreed with Mr. Paracha. The Qur’an prohibits talqeed and encourages everyone to study, interpret and come to their own understanding of Islam.
Religious authorities not only have a powerful hold over the public as the gatekeepers of faith but are also receive patronage by the State. In a society where people are attacked for not being religious enough you create a climate of fear where people have to prove that they are more religious than the next person leading to a downward spiral of intolerance.
How did we get here? We were put on this path to righteousness by our elders right after independence through the inclusion of the Objective Resolution, the compromises made in 1973 constitution to appease the right and last but not least due to the “wahabization” by General Zia ul Haque. He laid the groundwork that has given rise to the radicalization we see today. He created a generation of what I call the “children of Zia”, children who grew up on the anti-India, jihad, supremacy of Pakistan ideology, using religion as a vehicle of hate. People will always find ways to spread bigotry and violence, be it through religion, nationalism, fear or political ideologies. It’s not the vehicle that is the problem, it’s the message you promote through it.
What was ingrained in us was a strange mix of religious nationalism and paranoia. It’s no wonder that every issue in Pakistan becomes the object of conspiracy theories but I digress.
So my question to you would be, how do you define a good muslim? Someone who is knows the Qur’an by heart, prayers 5 times a day and then goes out and kills someone in the name of religion. Or someone who openly drinks but then spends most of his time aiding the poor and setting up free clinics?
I define being a Muslim as a person who believes in the basic tenets of Islam. If in your heart of hearts you believe in Islam and what it teaches you then you are a Muslim. No matter what category others put you in. What is in your heart is between you and God. No one can or should judge someone else’s faith.
A common strategy amongst traditionalist is to accuse anyone whose understanding of Islam is not in line with the conventional view of not being Muslims and they call for them leave their faith. This argument is of course a non-sequitur. To quote Karl Barth “Faith is never identical with piety.”
There seems to be a dichotomy between religiosity and the moral traditions (theory and practice), but we often forget why we are being asked to follow those rituals. That these are the practices put in place to make you a better human. I feel there is a difference between spirituality and religiosity. By not following any pre-formulated doctrine doesn’t mean that you are intellectually at odds with Islam. For me a practicing Muslims isn’t the one who focuses on all the rituals and practices but rather one that embodies its message of compassion, justice, and tolerance.
I think our understanding of Islam will evolve over time and people will realize which of its teaching and their implications we should be focusing on. I for one would like our society to break away from the prevalent ideology of hate and focus on the compassion it teaches us towards others regardless of their faith, race, sex and caste. The Charter of Compassion led by Karen Armstrong is one such initiative we could all learn from.
Filed under: Islamism · Tags: Islam, Muslim, people, religious
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This author of this article at another place was defending the barbaric ancient custom of Burqah.
The great issues of the day will not be decided by speeches but by policies of blood and iron – Prince Otto von Bismarch, 1848
ciao
Addendum: The correct name is Prince Otto von Bismarck
well this is a nice article . Like the way how thoughts are sentenced..
but there is a flip side of it.Confusion lies on both side . But yes this soceity is now very much saturated and for some reason dont welcome such thoughts.Ahh :S
Meera Ghani
Sincere, unconditional apologies. Somehow I got the wrong impression that you were one of those ‘liberal’ Muslims living in Europe or Australia, freely defending Burqa ‘choice.’
Please see if you can also write in local languages and give your thoughts greater publicity in local media.
Best regards.
———————–
YLH
Still, living in Pakistan and enunciating a humane, progressive vision, the lady deserves respect. One just wishes that liberals in general grasp what you yourselves – after years of dedication and hard work, working in Pakistan – must have seen: the challenge is enormous, opposition can be brutal and unforgiving, and opportunities to make a real difference hard to come by. There may even be truth in what Feroz wrote.
The only thing that gets my goat is people not acknowledging these difficulties, and expecting non-Muslims to buy their easy optimistic views as a test case of some universal liberalism. It would be so much better if our liberal friends first changed Muslim countries, and THEN castigated France for being doubtful of the non-subversive nature of burqa and such.
Best regards.
A “Liberal” site means it liberally practices deletion of comments.
[...] I’m a better Muslim than You [...]
Apologies to all those whose comments went missing the article was moved to another page. But I would love to engage in a discussion with you all. It really helps me understand other perspectives, and I really appreciate your feedback. Thank you for reading my articles and commenting.
Excellently written, Meera. I think the views you’ve expressed in this article are totally consistent with the ones you expressed in the one on France’s burqa ban. Anyone who values life, values freedom and freedom isn’t just wearing skimpy clothes. Freedom is also the freedom to hide your face from the public for religious reasons.
I think people who are insecure in their faith in Islam tend to be the ones who make a big deal about it. You wouldn’t try to show everyone Islam’s the right religion if you really believed it yourself. When you try really hard to convince others of something, you’re really just trying to convince yourself.
What is the chance that in my life time ( i am 31 ), someday when I am in Karachi, I can safely step outside and shout, at the top of my lungs, — I am an Atheist, I do not believe in Allah’s existence, or particularly like his “last messenger”…… Anybody else???
Wow, that felt good. Seriously, is there anybody else out there who feels the same? Anybody?
“AKalam ji,
In 1947, the situation was such that if the Dominion of India had stayed together, it would have been extremely difficult to build today’s India – a pluralist democratic secular federal independent nation of laws! The obstructionist ways of Muslim League and its leaders would simply not have allowed the emergence of such an India. In fact, I doubt India would even have been able to write a Constitution till today!
Secondly the Hindu Continuum needed time to heal after several centuries of onslaughts, occupation and instability. In many ways the Pseudo-Secular Anglophone Indian Elite has somewhat delayed the healing and blooming of the Hindu Renaissance, which one should not consider to be directed against some other religion, simply a universal awareness amongst the Hindus of their past and of their beliefs. I myself consider myself to be a part of pseudo-secular anglophone Indians who are still more or less unaware of the Dharmik roots, and I am sure I too would need a lifetime of education in this regard. So I cannot really claim that the Indics are really ready for prime time and they are confident. However I do suspect, that there is more self-confidence and self-awareness. Had Partition not taken place, perhaps the Indics would have become involved in a constant struggle with the Muslims, and we would not have had time to consolidate our own sense of self!
So 1947′s Partition, I regard was good for India and good for the Hindus!”
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5337&start=2440
Ali Kazmi writes:
“Freedom is also the freedom to hide your face from the public for religious reasons.”
If it is a good high-quality religion then it won’t require or stipulate any face-hiding stuff. Bad or low-quality religions do need (and hence insist on) face-hiding devices.
Who hides his face voluntarily? No one. Even the criminal or the sick or the ugly ones do it because they must.
It is analytically impossible that someone hides his face voluntarily. The face is meant to be seen, be shown and to see, hear, taste, smell, feel, sense, be sensed, be tasted, be smellt, be heard, be recognized etc. The face is meant for all that without the exclusion of any one of them. That is its VERY purpose. A god who creates a face and then asks it to be hidden is being wrong, foolish and unwise. The religion of such a god is not only bad and low-quality but dangerous and violently divisive.
Fatima
That is an issue I have been thinking more and more about.
For whatever reasons, right or wrong, Muslims are (doing what I had always expected them to do) making it harder and harder to question their most irrational and stupid beliefs. Notice, the argument here is not that other people’s beliefs are not irrational and stupid, but that Muslims demand that others ‘respect’ their beliefs, and that their beliefs are somehow the ‘best’.
In any normal society that sort of supremacist super nonsense would be sufficiently ridiculed and laughed at, but in Muslim societies, it is becoming something everyone must agree to, or pretend to do so.
On that principle alone, some of us have a duty to respect neither Islam nor anything to do with it. That principled stand should actually be taken openly inside Muslim countries, by Muslim liberals themselves. That is what will put paid to the fanaticism of people like qadri and those who support them. Islam, quite intelligently makes that makes impossible.
All the more reason why those of us who would like to respect all religions, or none as we please, must start taking a stand against Islam. If it is demanding respect as a matter of right, without ever bothering to earn it, it is not going to get it, at least not from everyone.
That means some of us would lose a lot of our liberal friends who can’t think beyond their noses, or look past their emotions. So be it.
viva
You have probably not known many women who voluntarily wear the burqa. I have. I can assure you that most of them are very normal ladies, some among the finest.
Were they born with a desire to grow up wearing a burqa? No. Burqa is an issue of male power, maintenance of a male-dominated society, and some women – when they have a choice and because of what they have grown up believing – use it to navigate that male world.
There is absolutely no reason for non-Muslims to agree to constructing that sort of male world, or accommodating that view. Non-Muslims might not have perfected their societies but they surely don’t need to learn anything in that regard from Islam or from Muslims – real or mythical.
@ progressive right
“For whatever reasons, right or wrong, Muslims are (doing what I had always expected them to do) making it harder and harder to question their most irrational and stupid beliefs. Notice, the argument here is not that other people’s beliefs are not irrational and stupid, but that Muslims demand that others ‘respect’ their beliefs, and that their beliefs are somehow the ‘best’.”
Very well said!! I think that was brilliantly and bluntly put. I think Ms Meera ghani’s article points out to what is the extension of this mindset. once you start beleiving that your belief’s are superior then the logical thing is to start wearing religion on sleeves.
This person is not based in Pakistan.
to progressive right
I don’t think anyone wears the burqa or any such face-cover voluntarily. No one cuts his nose voluntarily. There may be psycho-disturbed persons who have done it.
Ask a muslim woman why she wers a burqa etc. and she will give reasons for it – and a detailed analysis thereof will reveal that NONE is of her free volition. She will never say “I just feel like doing it today”. She will talk of allah’s command, kuran, hadith, M’s wives, mullahs, muslim street gangs, lewd remarks by men, family values, dust, sun, heat, cold, rain, identity, tradition, family honour, women in red light district, shameless westen women etc. etc. – but that one sentence which hints unambiguously at freedom-of-will will never be there.
“…navigate that male world” – that is all……….All male are allah, M., mullah, street gangs, acid throwers, lewd spitters, rapists (no 4 muslim witnesses to the act ever available), muslim law makers etc.
Any moderator – please remove my harshly worded post above.
Dear Ms Ghani,
It is not your prerogative to apologise for anything. You are not an editor of this blog and you have no say in its editorial policy.
Thanks.
Before you press the “send” button read your own post at least once.
This is our dilemma – we keep searching for a better Muslim, a status only God can ratify. Shouldn’t we be looking for better human beings?
A better muslim is one who arabizes himself and bows down towards an arab city and declares arabic as the divine language and script and regards every mumbo-jumbo in arabic script as supreme word of wisdom. A better muslim is one who believes and propagates the (mendacious) idea that everything good came and comes and will come from islam and islam only.
Thus islam and muslims become a nuisance to everyone – even unto themselves. And then they put the blame for their misfortunes on the non-muslims.
@viva
u see women who wear hijab give those reasons and muslims bow down to Mecca to follow what their God and prophet prescribed to them, now if people believe that allah created this world and told them to bow down to him and ask for whatever they want, why would anyone outside that believe want to question that?
freedom of actions and speech apply to everyone equally, by a women covering herself or a muslim bowing down to allah is their freedom right.
they could do it of their own will or do it to please allah, these actions do not effect others anywhere in the world .
p.s : this does not mean i support idiots who think their believes or practices are supreme without analytical reasoning. hence i hate those same muslims that meera has mentioned in her article.
to mariam
you are trying to dance on two floors simultaneously.
Is Mohammad’s allah worthy of being bowed to?
Freedom and its use require that harsh questions are asked and honestly answered. No mumbo jumbo.
To present faith as truth is deceit.
Islam is an expansionist-missionary and imperialist ideology, hence a muslim’s actions (even such as look harmless) affect others in the world sooner or later.
Dont you guys see this that to keep eyes and hands of masses away from ill gotten wealth of crook elites, half the folks in the country ie women are put under Burkha and almost all of the rest are made to see that Hijab and Burkha on women remain intact. The productivity of Muslim land is low because of the masses are very busy in enforcement of Hijab and Burkha. Also constantly watching women folks must be making men folks very horny. That explains Muslim lands population growth.
Interesting discussion. So my question to you all would be whats the way forward. Obviously in Pakistan people will remain deeply religious at a personal level and that’s fine. But do you agree with separation of Mosque and State? If yes, then how do you propose we go about it?
Do you really think the problem is with Islam and not the dogmatic 10th century ideology (fiqh)?
Meera G,
In the last 1600 years this is what has happened:
1. First imperialists co-opted with Yogi Yeshu (Jesus) teachings. Got Bible got written long after Yeshu was dead. So the new bible looks similar to the old one. Romans used this bible to create an armed legion called todays Christianity. Common Christian Joe became cannon fodder in the service of Roman empire. The native converts in Europe were not much different from the slaves to be traded in the bazars. They were not be sold but readily to be butchered in wars. The converts of Europe lost all their freedom, local organic spirituality, ancestry, history. Thus todays europeans do not have ancient history.
2. Arabi Mohammay perfected this exploitation and enslaving of the natives. He created Kiss Allah’s Ass armed legion called Islam. Koran was also compiled many years after Mohammay.
Abrahamic religions by design exploit other people, deprive them of their language, history and ancestry. Pakistan is such enslaved people.
Now what can be done?
First own the native languages and stop communicating in alien language. You can do your 5 times Namaz but it need not be directed to distant desert, instead you can direct it to the earth on which you are standing or the Himalaya who is nourishng Change your name to Mera devi. Start speaking in Punjabi, Sindhi and Baluch and sop o
We can’t have a doctored or diluted criticism of islam or a partial criticism of islam. Either something is correct and valid and relevant OR it is not. Either the claims made by islam are all valid OR they are (taken together) all misleading us towards a grand disaster.
If a clump of poison is coated with honey then it becomes more dangerous.
If 99 grams of honey are inseparably mixed with 1 gram of poison then the whole lot has to be labeled poison.
There is no chance of a half-reform.
Adult muslims must realize this now. Let us not behave like children and throw tantrums or show any sentimental softness towards fascism, no matter how unrecognized or dear this fascism was to our hearts earlier.
The writer and the forum moderators seem to be madly in love with one Ms. Karen Armstrong runaway nun cum Book Seller by appointment to the Saudi Arabian Crown. Any comment deemed critical of Ms. Armstrong is blatantly censored.
@ Meera Ghani:
Do you really think the problem is with Islam and not the dogmatic 10th century ideology (fiqh)?
You have to be intellectually dishonest in order to separate “Islam” from whatever ideology you don’t approve of. There are no two ways about it. And you will never find the “solution” you are looking for.
Islam was a practical religion at a certain time in history, and so it succeeded in that certain time in history.
Islam is not a practical religion today, and so it is not succeeding today.
Certain parts of Islam are practical even today in certain respective situations and cultures, and so people even today stick to following those certain parts in those situations and cultures. So the hijab is Islamic for the one who depends on it, and non-Islamic for a woman who doesn’t need it. Killing a blasphemer is a human being’s supreme show of love where it ought to be, and not where it ought not to be.
So Islam today really is a “personal” religion of sorts. On PTH you will find many Muslims who find only a very small set of beliefs to be within the confines of “Islam”, and don’t “believe” in the non-21st-century-compatible parts. At the same time, for burqa wearing women in Europe, the Islam of which for you is some dogmatic 10th century ideology, is STILL very practical and utterly believable to be a direct revelation of God. Which of the two is truly Islamic, is a simple exercise in intellectual honesty.
So while simply its all about your beliefs, you should abandon your search for the “solution” if you are not committed to being intellectually honest.
to salman
Islam abhors honesty.
Believe and submit – that is the core spirit of islam (=submission).
No matter what happens defend and glorify islam and thus reserve a place for yourself in the arab god’s heaven.
Don’t allow any doubts or crucial questions about islam to reach your heart or your muslim society.
Terrorize/silence apostates and critics by various means.
That is the core spirit of kuran and islam and Mohammad’s sirat (biography). Muslims will deny that (even vehemently) with their mouths but practise it (may be out of social pressure or cowardice or opportunism) with their real acts.
viva
Are you open to anyone discussing or questioning your own approach to argumentation? ‘Constructive criticism’, perhaps?
to progressive right
If you have bothered to read me carefully (most ignore me or abuse me) then you will find that I have always given credit where it is due. Very often you will find me saying “you are right” (whenever that is the case).
As regards islam I have studied and observed it carefully and closely in practice since many years and have concluded that it has a hard core of unreformable, undeniable and ineradicable fascism-totalitarianism in it. Even some muslims have (anonymously or indirectly) confirmed this conclusion and have thanked me for speaking it out. I can’t disappoint them since they cannot speak out publicly.
The solutions to Pakistan’s problems are non-solutions or pseudo-solutions so long this basic fact about islam is kept hidden or is ignored or pretended over.
The more I interact with muslims, even intelectuals, the more I notice how islam makes honesty impossible. If islam allows honesty and freedom of expression then islam will collapse. And that will be a great day, a great and necessary liberation, for mankind.
There is a limit to how long we can or should tolerate dishonesty, how long we should practise this tolerance of dishonesty in the name of peaceful coexistence or flattering each other and trying to please each other by covering up lies or by letting them go through.
In that case, viva, it is extremely important that you make your words count.
Tthe situation is dire. People from around the world are making a virtual beeline to Paris to ensure that some lady from Egypt is not denied her desire to wear a burqa, not in Egypt, but in France. Yet none is available to stand up for Fatimah’s elementary rights to her faith in her own city of Karachi.
Had the words of outsiders counted for much, this situation would never have come to pass. Nor would its consequences have escaped the attention and concern of normal people.
In this scenario, we can’t afford to merely sing to the choir. Human beings have a nasty habit of closing themselves off to arguments they don’t want to hear.
(Consider yourselves lucky that only a few nutjobs have actually threatened to come after you with chappals.)
We are actually helpless.
I am no man of any possessions or powers.
I care for muslims as human beings and I now know that this can happen (they can live as normal human beings) only after islam vanishes.
They need not worry. The good that is in islam is available without its fascism from many other non-islamic non-fascist sources too.
What Muslims have when they live as normal human beings is Islam. The rest is the very corruption that their theology charges other peoples have done to the teachings of the other anonymous prophets sent to them.
—
Or to put it another way – when someone comes out and argues and argues that “This is Islam” and other people listen to him, it is hard to know who is the bigger idiot.
If you believe so, make the case so people might listen. There is no need to feel helplessness.
Inspiration is everywhere. True inspiration doesn’t come from false poets. It comes from normal human beings who hold onto to human hope, like Fatimah who does not have a soul for speak for her own rights either among Muslims or in Pakistan.
Keep faith in humanity. Oppressive gods and their prophets will be defeated and shown the door once people of conscience open their eyes. Cheers.
I’m sorry dear Meera, you seem to be in a state of hullabaloo, at one point you are judging women who wear the abaya and niqab and at the other you are saying that we should stop judging. Isn’t it high time for you to stop judging as well?