We are reaping what you had sown for us

Why only we, the Muslims, are destined to be subdued by the tyrant and arbitrary rulers and why only ours’ are the voices so passive and meek, nowhere to be heard? Why almost majority of the Muslim countries is under absolute rule of one man or one family? Is the fault goes to Islam? No! It is not that at all. Islam has clearly made the submission of its followers to any of the authorities on condition that the call for the obedience is in compliance with the commandments of Allah, SWT. No obedience is there for any of the creature in the disobedience of the Creator. None of those who took office as the rulers just after the Holy Prophet, SAW, was from any royal family. All the four Guided Caliphs were chosen on merit and not through palace intrigues or family influence. They followed the examples left by the Prophet, be peace and Allah’s blessings upon him. Their humble attitude towards the common people was enough to prove that they were the ‘servants’ and not the masters.

Abu Bakr, RA, the first Guided Caliph, in his very first address to those who had elected him to be the guardian of the affairs of the Muslim Ummah, had told that the people would be bound to obey him as long as he was obeying Allah and His Messenger, be peace and blessings of Allah upon him. The second Guided Caliph, Umer, RA, had presented himself for accountability when an objection was raised how he had managed to get a shirt of his size while the piece of cloth he had got from the bounty was not enough for making a shirt so long of his size.

We, the Muslims, often fanatically reminisce about our past glories. No doubt there was a time when Muslim Ummah was at the peak of its political, economic and intellectual greatness. It had made an enviable headway in all the branches of knowledge and was unique in its spiritual and moral power. When after Mediaeval ages the West was waking up from a long slumber of its ignorance and had started giving a life to its institutions, unfortunately, the Muslims, after a rise of almost one thousand years, were going to get absorbed in remissness.

In the West renaissance proved a clarion call for not only the revival of sciences, arts, literature but also for laying the foundations of a democratic system for ridding the people from the iron rule of the kings. The West became busy with blow a new soul into its institutions. Freedom of expression, a free choice for the people to elect their rulers and constitutional measures to call the rulers to account and dethrone them on their wrongdoings was a great development.

So far as the Muslim world was concerned only the moral values, fear from Allah and sense of being accountable on the Day of Judgment had been the paramount factor behind the rulers to show mercy toward their people, remain trustworthy and honest while discharging their duties as the heads of the state and thoughtful in delivering the solution to the problems of the people. But their downfall in every sphere of life immensely affected their polity. The monarchical rule left a little room for the political and administrative institutions to come into existence.

About a century or two after the cultural, intellectual, economic and political rise of the Western countries the evil imperialistic ambitions rose and almost entire Muslim world came under imperial yoke. It took whatever else was leftover there as good traditions of governance. The yoked Muslim communities had lost any chance of using their will to create something for their good.

The twentieth century appeared to be of the freedom as the imperialist powers were forced to quit the lands they had colonized for centuries. But still they wanted to keep the Muslim communities under their cultural, ideological and financial influence. For this purpose they had morally and ideologically nurtured the liberal elites from the very communities to keep on ruling their people. Only at the cost of giving priority to the interests of their western masters they were given free hand to dictatorially trample the rights and feelings of their people. In the North Africa and Middle East all the dictators and arbitrary rulers of monarchical nature were boosted and supported by the Westerns. Now what Muslim Ummah is reaping was actually sown by our masters.