Daily Times

In human history, nations only prosper when they submit to a code of conduct.

Before the advent of Islam, Arabs considered their tribe first before anything, and regarded the support of a tribesman a supreme service, even if he was a culprit. Other bad practices of Jahiliyyah Arabs were the perpetuation of injustice, maltreatment of women, orphans and slaves as well as a lack of integrity in social and commercial dealings.

This state of existence is termed Jahiliya or barbaric ignorance.

Islam is derived from the root word s-l-m, which means submission (to the will of Allah).

Submission to the will of Allah transformed the same barbarians in three decades so that a handful of desert tribesmen astonishingly conquered Persia and Rome, the superpowers of the day.

However, not everyone submitted, and some remained fiercely prideful, the most prominent of whom were Abu Lahab and Abu Jahal. They rejected the Quranic message for the sole reason that Divine revelation did not descend upon them or their sons. They refused to submit to another.

Willful pride is his primary failing, which Satan markets to those he can–setting them up for doom.

They were doing the same thing that Iblis had done in paradise when Adam was created. Willful pride is his primary failing, which Satan markets to those he can–setting them up for doom.

Europe was stuck in the dark ages when in 1095, Pope Urban II gave a call to war to reclaim the holy land from the Muslims. This was not so much a holy war, as it was a tactic to stop the internecine tribal warfare, which had plagued Europe like it had plagued the Arabs of Jahiliya.

When the crusaders arrived in Palestine, the Muslims were surprised by their barbaric ways. Karen Armstrong states that the Muslims commented on their barbaric ways, poor hygiene and the ill-treatment of women. Jabbir bin Hayyan had invented soaps almost three centuries earlier, and the civilized Muslims made use of it.

The Knight Templars were the first group who submitted to a code after encountering the Muslims. Templars was a Catholic military order, founded in 1118, headquartered on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Members had to take vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience.

They were amongst the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. Prominent in Christian finance, they managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom.

Although Sahahuddin Ayyubi freed Jerusalem in 1187, he remains alive in the western memory as Saladin, due to his chivalry, principle centeredness and bravado.

Europe was inspired by Saladin to submit to a code. The Magna Carta was signed in 1215. It still forms an important symbol of liberty today, often cited by politicians and campaigners, and is held in great respect by the British and American legal communities as the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot.

The Magna Carta was huge at a time when serfdom was common in feudal Europe.

Perhaps the biggest gift of Islam to Europe is the legal transplant of Shariah Law to create the English Common Law. Henry II (1216-1272) introduced revolutionary changes in the English legal system. Chief among these were the action of debt (from the Islamic Aqd), the assize of novel disseisi (from the Islamic Istehqaq), and trial by jury (from the Islamic lafif). The crusades (1099-1291) changed Europe forever with all that the Islamic world taught it.

The momentum began there.

The Petition of Rights was sent by the English Parliament to Charles I in 1628 as a statement of civil liberties. It covered taxation, imprisonment, conscription and the imposition of Martial Law. Europe, which profiteered from its colonial exploits, provided little to the have-nots. The poor escaped to another continent, terming it the Land of Opportunity–a title it holds to date.

The Constitution of the United States of America (1787) and the Bill of Rights (1791) created a superpower that leads the world in every way possible. The Constitution of the United States of America is again based on the English Common Law.

Europe soon caught up with the US, with the French Revolution which led to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789).

The western world took 900 years of social evolution to stand where they do today. They thrive socially and economically and hence rule the world.

They keep us under their thumb with the World Bank, NATO, IMF, UNO, G-8, FATF, the Paris Club, the London club as well as the international (read western) banking network at large.

During the days of the British Raj, the English cleverly created serfdom in undivided India, which was fairly easy in a loose confederation of Hindu and Muslim princely states. Local traitors were given titles and lands to make them feudal lords. The English pushed us back to their own pre-Magna Carta days. They messed with our penal code to make it viable only for colonial exploitation.

The father of the Nation was a skilled lawyer and statesman who created Pakistan for the Muslims. The Quaid-e-Azam only lived long enough to bequeath a nation to us. His time ran out before he could teach us how to practice his motto of faith, unity and discipline.

The Islamic ideology has been in fashion for four decades, we can no longer shift the blame on our colonial masters, who were ousted 74 years ago.

“People of the Lie ” is an eye-opening book by Scott Peck, where he

amazingly talks about submission, either to the will of God or to a code of conduct, as the necessary element in good people.

He asserts that evil people submit to nothing, and follow their desires to live life as per their own will.

The state of Pakistan today traces back to being wilful and not submitting to a code. The discipline that made M A Jinnah the Quaid-e-Azam sorely lacks in the nation.

The TLP showed this exact behaviour in militant critical mass. We love to hate them. However, it is not just them. This is the majority of Pakistan.

We refuse to submit. We all love to flout rules.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. She can be reached at aliya1924@gmail.com.