Daily Times

A research study by Riaz Mohammad khan has attempted to focus on the evolution of popular thinking in Pakistani society, which for years has struggled with the question of its identity, role, and destiny in an environment shaped by increasingly intense though amorphous religious influences, islamization, jihadi policies, and weak institutions of governance. The combination of these factors has induced a resistance to modernization in education, outlook, and behavior, a modernization that is fundamental not just to development and progress but also to the survival of a large and complex society such as Pakistan. The study does not presume to offer any definitive prescription, as societies have to go through their own experience and tribulations to address challenges and adjust to the demands of the times. The purpose is to be part of the debate, in particular on what on what the study describes as Pakistan’s intellectual crisis and the confusion in its public discourse.

Nonetheless, the inescapable question is, what is the way forward? Answers to this elementary question are necessarily subjective, flowing from individual perspective. The issues that have preoccupied the Pakistani mind have both a local context and a larger frame of reference common to most Muslim societies. The discussion and research has dwelt in some detail on both aspects and has drawn conclusions. The touchstone for these conclusion has been the author’s perception of what counts as progress and strength in societies and states in today’s world.

Religious orthodoxy and madrassa education in Pakistan have their own concepts of progress and change. Their aim is to build an Islamic society with the inherent strength and moral rectitude to appeal to mush of the Islamic community and replicate the idealized, pristine times of early Islam. However, this dream is pitifully out of sync with present-day realities and oblivious of the transformation of the world in the past few centuries in terms of demographics, technological development, expansion of knowledge, and phenomenal communication. The orthodox or revivalist vision transport a Muslim society to a time warp. Today, no society can ensure its survival, much less progress, without reorienting and readjusting itself to the imperatives of modernity. Every emerging pole of global power Japan, China, and of late India-and the economic powerhouse of southeast Asia, the Far East, and Latin America have embraced modernity as part of the blueprint for building strong societies. These societies have given up neither their cultures nor their belief systems. But keeping these aspects of life in their correct perspective, they have endeavored to develop by modernizing their systems of education and governance, their socioeconomic institutions, and the outlook of their populations. Muslims, whether in Pakistan or elsewhere, need a similar orientation.

A major challenge facing leaders and intellectuals in Muslim societies is to keep this anger contained and to channel the underlying energies into productive venues rather than self-destructive activities

There is no unique vision or path that would enable the genius of Islamic societies alone to progress, develop, and rebuild their strength. They, too, will have to open themselves to modernizing influences for reform and education. Successful development and modern education have been rejuvenated culturally and on their progress carry the stamp of their historical experience and social and cultural values even as they become participants in modernity. Muslim societies have much have to impart to the changing world, provided they do not remain marginalized in the process of global change.

The anger that mutates into extremist violence subsists most Muslim societies for a variety of reasons. These range from the humiliation and sense of impotence in obtaining justice for Muslims seen as subjugated to problems of inequity, poverty, illiteracy, social deprivation, and alienation. A major challenge facing leaders and intellectuals in Muslim societies is to keep this anger contained and to channel the underlying energies into productive venues rather than self-destructive activities. This anger is particularly visible in the middle and lower middle classes in large Muslim populations, which espouse conservative religious values and are becoming increasingly active and empowered with economic development and social and political mobilization. Most unemployed and moderately educated youth also belong to these classes. The situation demands leadership engagement on both economic and social fronts. Economic growth must directly benefit these classes, reducing unemployment and income disparities. Social development must minimize the change-induced stress that conservative and traditional societies have to undergo along with economic development.

In the context of Pakistan, the study has traced the antecedents of religious movements and parties that become active after independence. The colonial experience contributed to both shaping and polarizing and religious thinking, especially on jihad, a secular outlook, and relations with the west, although the thinking was not dissimilar to debates in other canters of Muslim culture and scholarship. The rise of extremism, however, has a relatively recent origin in the developments of the last several decades. The Afghan Jihad, the policy of islamization, and the proliferation of madrassas in particular gave birth to religious militancy in Pakistan and the Taliban’s rise in Afghanistan.

In the view of the most other Muslim countries, the Taliban were synonymous with ignorance rather than standard bearers of Islam. Similar perceptions are common in these countries about madrassas and, much worse regarding the militant religious groups operating inside Pakistan. The prevalent view of these phenomena within Pakistan is thus out of step with thinking in other Islamic countries, bringing Pakistan’s intellectual confusion into sharper relief. Reforms initiated under Musharraf in education, including the madrassas, and those aimed at countering extremism were sound policies with room for improvement. They need to be pushed with increased vigor and conviction.

Because the Saudi Salafi inspiration runs deep in the large majority of madrassas, sustained mainly by largesse from the Saudi Kingdom and other Gulf states, Saudi Arabia has a special responsibility to contribute towards remedial measures. Notwithstanding their great wealth and the development of modern trappings and facilities in the country, built with foreign expertise, the Saudis themselves are not known to have established institutions for scientific learning that would testify to a Saudi endorsement of modern education in countries like Pakistan religious groups and parties that resist modern education and revel in anti-West rhetoric look up to Saudi Arabia as their model.

We should be grateful to scholars, diplomats, political analysts and others who give us ideas to understand dilemmas Pakistan faces and the serious consequences they have for our society. I salute the former foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan for his serious research work of great value, that he had undertaken as Woodrow Wilson Centre’s Pakistan scholar. Pakistan must address to secure the country’s survival, progress and constructive role in the region. Individuals contributing to economic and social development need personal security and protection. Extremism is a big challenge causing intellectual crisis and backwardness.

The writer is former Director National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) Government of Pakistan