Even as minority, Muslims must learn the art of challenging By Dr. Javed Jamil

1. If the writer treats Muslims as a  minority in Indian context, we cannot ignore another minority, the Brahmins who are merely 3% of the total Indian population, while Muslims tag at 13 to 15%. If 3% Brahmin can corral a majority of upto 85% for so long and now that their majority is dispersing, Muslim 'minority' could and should lead and for that it has to imbibe the national and international perspective/outlook and not remain tied to its own community's immediate agenda.

2. In practical terms, even in democracy, it is the minority that rules.

3. Islamic traditions always believe in small and insignificant over-riding, big and powerful.

Considering all these factors, Dr. Javed Jamil's focus on art of challenge is most welcome and deserves widest possible exposure.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: javed jamil <doctorforu123@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 8:50 AM
Subject: Even as minority, Muslims must learn the art of challenging
To:

Even as minority, Muslims must learn the art of challenging   Dr Javed Jamil   Normally the questions that are raised about minorities are regarding their rights particularly their religious, socioeconomic, cultural and personal rights. Here I will specifically talk about Muslims as minorities and their ability to influence the global scenario as a whole and the direction of the national policies in the countries where they are in minority.   Muslims are no ordinary minority wherever they happen to be in minority. They have a strong belief system, which calls for a specific legal, social and economic system. The pivot on which Islamic system revolves is different from the pivot on which the so-called New World Order revolves. The Islamic system revolves around the long term safety and security of the mankind as a whole; New World Order revolves around economic fundamentalism and the interests of the dominant economic forces.  The question arises: Should Muslims limit their aims to merely find a respectable place in society where they can enjoy some basic rights; or should they endeavour to change the direction of the system around them? Obviously if they are Muslims with convictions and their aim is to liberate the mankind from the clutches of some self-seeking forces, they cannot simply remain spectators of a drama unfolding at the behest of the forces of globalisation. They cannot simply sit idle watching their fellow human beings being consumed by the dangerous susceptibilities that the economic forces have learned to commercialise for the purpose of maintaining their hegemony. They must try to influence the direction of the system, and this poses a great challenge. There are several factors that need to be considered if this challenge has to be accepted.   Globally speaking, Muslims cannot be clubbed as a simple minority. They are the second largest majority in terms of the global population as well as in terms of the countries with Muslim majority and significant minority populations. It can be argued that in truth they are the biggest majority because more than half of the so-called Christian population is in fact either that of atheists or that of non-believing Christians. In contrast more than 95 per cent of the world’s Muslims are believing, if not practicing, Muslims. It can be safely assumed that the percentage of believing Muslims is higher than the believing Christians.   Despite their large numbers, Muslims seem to be currently not in any position to challenge the Western hegemony. This inability is not on account of their lack of resources but despite them. In my long 37-episode series, entitled, “Despite Shortcomings, Muslims are Most Civilised in the World”, which attracted intense debate on a large number of internet forums recently, I have given reasons why Muslims can claim to be more civilized than the West. West can certainly claim that it is the most developed part of the world in terms of scientific and technological advancement, infrastructure within their countries and prosperity and power.   Had these attainments resulted in freedom from violence, within and abroad, righteousness among people with clear distinction between beneficial and harmful practices and attitudes, respect and loyalty to relationships, value of human life and sympathetic behaviour towards smaller nations, West could definitely have laid its claim to civilisation. But ah! Its economic, political and military power was not only achieved through both genuine and wrongful ways, it has also misused them with colossal destruction of human lives and peaceful living. The bright stars of the horizon of Westernism have all degenerated into black holes – Democracy into Corporatocracy, Secularism into negation of religious conscience, freedom into license to commit evils and human rights into the defence of criminals and perverts.  Despite its prosperity and power, West has been responsible for   most of the wars in last century, most of deaths in those wars, consuming more than 160 million lives most invasions; including colonisations at a massive scale; most attacks on countries including attacks on civilians; the only nuclear attacks made on the surface of the earth; destruction of aborigines in big numbers; most deaths in Muslim countries including more than 1million in the last decade; deaths of at least 200 million foetuses in last 10 years; huge number of murders and rapes (one fourth to one half of women having experienced rapes) within their countries; huge alcohol and gambling related deaths; rising number of deaths related to AIDS; several million suicides (highest in the world); Western system has also led to behaviours leading to total disintegration of family system with up to 50 pc of abortion rates; up to 50 pc children born out of wedlock; at least 30 pc children living in single parent homes; ever increasing number of gay couples; Western system has also been responsible for huge increase in business related to sex, alcohol, gambling and organised violence; with huge effects on health, family and society; maximum damage to environment, causing massive damage; maximum economic disparity within the countries and among the countries; monopolisation of world resources; and stockpiling of weapons of massive destruction.   Can anybody deny these facts? How can then West make even a small claim to civilisation?     Why can Muslim World claim to be civilised? I have prepared a big table based on various international statistics collected from well recognised sources:   Grand Table of Civilisation   Criteria                                    Western World          Muslim World   1.   Security   Murder Rate                                      Extremely High                    Extremely Low Rapes                                                 Extremely High                    Extremely Low Incarceration Rate                            Extremely High                     Extremely Low Killings in Wars                                 Extremely High                     Extremely Low Terrorism/counter-terrorism          Hardly 4000                            More than 1 million   2. Family   Children born out of wedlock         Extremely High (30-53%)     Rare Abortions (Induced)                         Extremely High (25-50%)     Extremely Low Divorce Rate                                    Extremely High (25-50%)     Low (1-12%) Children with Single Parents          Extremely High                      Low Institutionalized Homosexuality     Growing in popularity          Unknown Socially & Legally sanctioned          Not sanctioned Promiscuity                                        Extremely high                      Extremely low     3. Social peace   Sexual abuse of children                High                                        Much Lower Commercial Sexual abuse               High                                        Negligible Prostitution & Pornography             Socially & Legally sanctioned                                                                      Not sanctioned (Much lower in terms of prostitutes, customers, revenue in Muslim countries than others) Alcohol consumption and effects   Extremely high                      Low Gambling revenues and effects     High                                        Low Life Expectancy at birth                   High                                        Almost as High                                                                                                                                                                        In most countries   4. Human Development   Life Expectancy at conception       Much Lower                          Much higher Literacy Rate                                     High                                        High except in few Higher Education                             Excellent                                Catching fast Moral/Religious Education              Not very good                       Very good Per capita income                 high to moderate                  high to moderate in most,                                                                                                 Low in a few Growth Rate                            low in most                              high to moderate in most Income disparity                      Mostly on higher side              mostly low, high in some   5. Personal   Suicides                                High                                       Extremely low Religiosity                            Good in US, low in Europe          High except in                                                                                                 Some countries     Note: All these tables have been constructed on the basis of statistics given along with their sources in previous chapters.   Table of Comparison of Criteria of Civilization between Representative Muslim and Western Countries   Below I am comparing the situation of 5 typical Western countries – US, UK, France, Germany and Australia with 5 typical Muslim countries – Qatar, Saudi Arab, Kuwait, Indonesia and Turkey.     Criteria                                               Western World                                      Muslim World                                                             US        UK        Aus      Fr         Ger      Qat       SA        Kuw     IND       Tur 1.       Security   Murder Rate (per 1000)                                  .04        .01        .01        .01        .01        No one in top 50,           Rapes  (per 1000)                     .30        .14        .77        .14        .09        .01        003       NL        005       .01        Incarceration Rate (per 100K)                               730       NL        NL        95         85         Not in top 50,                           80 Killings in Wars                       Majority of 160 million killed in 29th C  A Minuscule minority   Terrorism/counter-                   More than 1 m by them combined       None (5000 alleged against terrorists) terrorism            2. Family   Children born out                    of wedlock       %                      40         44         34         45         45         Almost unthinkable in most Abortions %                              35.2      41.8      54.3      58.4      28.9      Less than 15 pc in most Divorce Rate                            54.8      42.6      24         38.3      39.4      7.6        less than 10 in most     6.0 Lone parent families %           9          10         8          7          5          Less than 1 in all countries Institutionalized Homosexuality                         All listed in top 15                                Only Turkey listed in top 15 Teenage birth rate                   52.1      30.8      18.4      9.3        13.1      Unthinkable in most except Indonesia                                                   3. Social peace   Sexual abuse of children        Much bigger    problem                       Relatively smaller                    Commercial Sexual abuse      Much bigger    problem                       Relatively smaller        Prostitution & Pornography                 Much bigger    problem           Relatively smaller        Alcohol consumption  litres per capita             8.3        11.2      9.8        14.8      10.2      NR        NR        NR        NR        1.5 Gambling (Loss per adult in dollars)                       380       375       1300     High (ENK)       NR        NR        NR        NR        NR*   * In Turkey, gambling is relatively high among Muslim countries but is not anywhere in the list of the world giants                           4. Human Development   Life Expectancy at birth           78.2      79.4      81.2      80.7      79.4      75.6      72.8      77.6      70.7      71.8 Life Expectancy at conception 50.9     47.7      47.0      39.9      62.2      65.0      58.2      62.0      50.9      57.4 Literacy Rate   %                      99         99         99         99.0 99.0           93.1      85.0      94.5      92         88.7 Moral/Religious Education       Much less religious institutions            Much more number of religious/moral inst Per capita income 1000 $        47         36         55         41         40         76         16         36         9          10 Growth Rate                            2.8        1.3        2.7        1.4        3.5        16.2      3.7        1.9        6.1        8.2                           5. Personal   Suicides (per 100000)   15.3      11.4      15.9      28.5      15.8      Extremely low in all of them               Religiosity (% of religion-loving)                65         26.5      32         29.5      40.5      94.5      94.5      92.5      99         89.5   (Note: These results are based on the data provided by various authentic international sources. The source is mentioned with each position taken in my coming book, which can also be googled in more than 40 instalments available on several international websites under the caption, “Despite Shortcomings, Muslims most civilised”, which was widely debated a few months back as series on several internet forums. At the end of this paper, I have mentioned the various sources and links related to the statistics used to arrive at the verdict given in the above tables.)   The study is not only about comparing Muslims with the West but also Muslim countries among themselves. The interesting difference between the Western and Muslim worlds is that while in the former, prosperity has inverse relationship with crimes, wars, family stability and peace, in case of Muslim countries the relationship is direct. The more prosperous a Western country the more chaotic and violent it is; the more prosperous a Muslim country is the more peaceful, crime free and non-violent it is  It can be seen that the countries with highest per capita income have also good life expectancy and good literacy rates. At the same time these countries are largely free of violence of all kinds, the level of social evils is markedly less, suicide rates are almost negligible showing the mental health of the people and the family system is extremely strong.  See the top ranking 7 Muslim countries:   They are not known to have attacked any other country or invaded any land; The level of violence in these countries has been extremely low with lowest rates of murders, rapes and abortions in the world; There has been no civil war in these countries in the recent past, no riots with any notable loss of civilian lives; They have not been threatening any nations; Family system has been extraordinarily strong with problems like children born out of marriage nonexistent, relatively much lower divorce rates; The common people are not indulging in vices like alcohol, gambling, which are creating markedly less social problems than in West; (if as alleged the elites do indulge in certain vices they do not let it affect the public; and the record of the rulers of Arab countries is certainly much better in personal lives than Sarkozies, Clintons and Berlucossinis.  ) They are enjoying almost as good comforts of life as Western people. Despite Western style democracies not being there in some countries, people in general are happy. Life Expectancy at birth and literacy rates are almost comparable with the best and life expectancy at conception is far better than that in West.   Why should then these countries not be called the Most Civilised Nations of the World? This is despite the fact that some of them are not democracies, which proves that democracies in themselves are no guarantee to better conditions. The Western model of Democracy has proved to be an abysmal failure becoming in effect Corportocracy which works mostly at the cost of the people. The political leaders in Democracies – from West to India, have proved no less corrupt and inefficient than “monarchies”. This should not be construed as a support to monarchy on my part but as rejection of Western Model of Democracy and the need of an alternative Islamic Model.   Despite this however, the New World Order is largely based on concepts that are in many ways different from what Islam envisages. This Order is based on Supremacy of economics over every other thing, the ideology of what I call “Economic Fundamentalism,” Commercialisation at massive scale of human susceptibilities including all forms of addictions, sex and gambling; A legal system that has proved to be an abysmal failure in all forms of crime; A social system that has brought chaos in personal and family lives; A political system that has failed to bring the best people to the top, and has proved to be corporatocracy in the garb of democracy; A scientific and educational system that caters to the demands of the corporate and by design supports such philosophies in the field of physics and biology that negate the need and role of God and religion; A moral system that has replaced healthy morality with commercial morality and Hegemony of certain nations.   The biggest challenge for Muslims as minority is to change this global scenario.  This is true for the Muslim world as a whole, as well as Muslim minorities in countries, which are largely following the path of New World Order.  But the challenge cannot effectively emerge unless they develop institutions which can turn their ideological positions into alternative programmes, policies, indices, parameters, models and paradigms. Almost all the current concepts need to be challenged. I have been doing this in my own humble and low profile way for several years. But this now needs to be done at the international level through institutions that have the intellectual and financial firepower to turn this into a formidable challenge to the Westernism.  I will enumerate a few here: The concept of “Freedom of Choice” has to be changed to “Freedom of Good Choices, with ban on “Dangerous Choices” that are not suitable for healthy and civilised living; The concept of “Human Rights” has to be changed to “Human Security”. “Human Rights” these days have been relegated to defending the right of murderers to live, rights of women to kill the children in their wombs, the right of women to turn prostitutes and rights of men and women to indulge in homosexuality, which all are huge threats to lives of human beings; “Democracy” has to be changed to “ethicomeritodemocracy”, where morality is not compromised, the true servants of humanity are pushed to powers and the people have the ability to choose from the best options; “Life Expectancy at birth” has to be replaced by “Life Expectancy at Conception”, which is medically more comprehensive way of determining life expectancy and would help in an effective way the fight against abortions; Human Development Indices criteria have also to be changed to make way for better criteria that do not try to bury under carpet the negative impact of New World Order; A Dynamic Model of Health has to be presented, which is in a position to stop any such practices that are threatening to health and peace; Scientific theories like Creation of Universe and Evolution too need to be challenged; and the role of the economic forces in highlighting certain theories has to be exposed.   Muslims may be in minority but this should not be a big impediment in an ideological onslaught against the false ideologies. This onslaught requires determination and efforts at big scales.  Once they start working for an ideological alternative and use scientific techniques and social mobilisation for this, they would soon find that those understanding their viewpoint are no more in minority. I have always maintained that Muslims must take all religions along in this fight. Unfortunately “Interfaith” in recent years has become an exercise to undermine the influence of religion in society. Interfaith seems to have been hijacked by the forces that want the followers of various religions to dilute their positions on various moral issues. I strongly believe that religions should unite against “Economic Fundamentalism” and must form an alliance against commercialisation of human susceptibilities, Economic Disparity and hegemony of certain nations in the world. This is a challenge that Muslim minorities all over the world must accept. If they are able to do it on ideological and not on communal foundations, taking all the right minded people of all religions along them, we will surely see the emergence of a new world order: a world order that will bring peace and security along with prosperity.   Muslim Indians are in a unique position. Legally they are entitled to enjoy “Minority Rights”, ethnically they are the second largest majority and socially they are part of the majority, which is socioeconomically deprived in one way or the other. Fortunately, Muslims in India are living in an entirely different kind of conditions than the Muslim minorities living in West. Muslims living in West have to live along with the people a large percentage of whom does not believe in religion and inside a system that is largely antagonistic to religion. Muslim Indians are part of a nation the overwhelming majority of which has strong faith n God and religion and in a system that respects religion. Muslim Indians are therefore in a better position to challenge the atheistic secularism promoted by the forces of globalisation. They have better chances of developing an all-religion alliance against social evils, economic disparity and moral depravity. A nationwide campaign against Dirty Economics and call for introduction of “Fundamental Prohibitions” in the Constitution along with Fundamental Rights and Duties can go a long way in changing the national scenario, which will then have a huge impact on the global scenario.   Challenging an established system is an art in itself. A minority can challenge it only when it realises that an established system too is more often than not controlled by forces that form minuscule minority. They control the system at the cost of the majority. Muslims must learn to convert the minority into majority by creating awareness in the masses irrespective of their religious or ideological connections how certain forces are causing havoc with their lives. With a sustained ideological and social campaign, they will soon realise that they are no more in minority.   Let’s hope the minority in India will show way to the majority!     References   Murder statistics (Source: Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention) Incarceration Wikipedia   Wars and civil wars website copyrighted by Pierie Scruff terrir statistics http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0884893.html Rapes Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention) Children born out of wedlock The U.S. National Vital Statistics Report for April 2010, produced by the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics (EWTN News, www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/US.php?id=358) Daily Mail 28 June 2002] http://www.cafemom.com/group/416/forums/read/12943401/Stupid_excuses_for_having_kids_out_of_wedlock Abortions tatistics and Computer Resources Br, Div of Reproductive Health, National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC) UNICEF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy Child Neglect due to Divorce Maggie Gallahanger report on “Marriage and Children’s Health and Longevity” Divorce Rate The Dreaded D-Word, D-Word Statistics, Divorce Around the World divorcereform.org2004 http://family.jrank.org/pages/1574/Single-Parent-Families-Demographic-Trends.html OECD Child Abuse World Report on Violence against Children 200 Dept. of Health and Human Services, Child Maltreatment, 1995 Dr. William C. Holmes of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine ·      Forward, 1993 Mental Health journal CNN.com, 17.12,01 Dept. of Health and Human Services, Child Maltreatment, 1995 Violence and the Family. Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, 1996 United States. Department of Justice, 1991 National Resource Centre on Child Browne & Finkelhor, 1986 Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., et al, Medical College of Virginia Commonwealth University USA Today,9.9.2001 Third World Women’s Health World Health Organisation Statistical Information System Homosexuality Constanineau, 2007 Boyd, 2008, p. 224 [Haans Ebensten]] (Puar, 2002) 2000 U.S. Census Bureau http://www.believershomepage.com/homosexual_stats.htm http://lifewise.canoe.ca/SexRomance/Lovewise/2009/06/30/9982306.html” 2006 by the Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientation Prostitution and Pornography http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/fempsy2.html Jonathan Nambu, 'Samaritana Bulletin' 1996 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_and_the_law National Task Force on Prostitution Hanna, 2005; Schlosser, 1997 Farley, M. and V. Kelly. 2000. “Prostitution: A Critical Review of the Medical and Social Sciences Literature.” Women and Criminal Justice Holsopple, K. 1999. “Stipclubs According to Strippers: Exposing Workplace Sexual Violence.” Pp. 252-276 in Making the Harm Visible: Global Sexual Exploitation of Women and Girls, Speaking Out and Providing Services, edited by D. and C. Roche Hughes. Kingston: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. Raphael, J. and D. Shapiro. 2004. “Violence in Indoor and Outdoor Prostitution Venues.” Violence Against Women 10:126-139. 11:29-63. http://beautyfromashes.org/ (http://crossculturalconnections.org/documents/sex_stats.pdf   Promiscuity Blaine Powel, Family Therapist, Walmsley and Associates, 1512 Queensway, Prince George, BC http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_tee_bir_rat-people-teenage-birth-rat Alcohol U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1990 NIDA Report, the Scientific American and Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario.) Also see Alcohol Consumption and Mortality, Alcohol poisoning deaths, CDC report OECD Health Data 2005   Gambling (Ladouceur et al. (1994) http://www.casinocity.com/casinos/ http://www.infographicsinsights.com/2011/05/top-10-gambling-nations.html Life Expectancy Sadock, M.D. - 2007 - Medical - 1472 (http://books.google.com/books?id=u-ohbTtxCeYC&pg=PA391&lpg=PA391&dq=life+expectancy+alcohol+related&source=web&ots=9fsxulf8wU&sig=msFSKjDKQSTHxE_0BS_2GBcSMUw). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy “Alcohol-related mortality by age and sex and its impact on life expectancy” Pia Makela, Researcher, M.Sc., Population Research Unit Department of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Finland((“Source: http://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/8/1/43) JM Shultz, PhD, Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health, Univ of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida. DP Rice, Dept of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Univ of California, San Francisco, California. DL Parker, MD, Park Nicollet Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/00001576.htm)” (Roman, 1998) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3919/is_200704/ai_n19433284 Hogg RS, Strathdee SA, Craib KJ, O'Shaughnessy MV, Montaner JS, Schechter MT. 1997. Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay and bisexual men. Int. J. Epidemiol. 26:657-661. Cameron P, Cameron K, Playfair WL. 1998. Does homosexual activity shorten life? Psychol. Rep. 83:847-66. Cameron P. 2002. Homosexual partnerships and homosexual longevity: a replication. Psychol. Rep. 91:671-678. Cameron, C. and K. Cameron. 2007. Federal Distortion Of Homosexual Footprint (Ignoring Early Gay Death?) Family Research Institute. Doll, R., R. Peto, J. Boreham, and I. Sutherland. 2004. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years' observations on male British doctors. British Med. J. 328:1519. http://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/html/health_news/240604smoke.html   Literacy Rate United Nations Development Programme Report 2009 Wikipedia - UNESCO http://www.aneki.com/universities.html UNESCO (2007) http://www.top10stop.com/lifestyle/countries-with-most-number-of-university-students-top-10-list Science growth ScienceMetrix (http://www.science-metrix.com/30years-Paper.pdf) Per Capita Income by Country World Bank (2009)[2] CIA World Factbook (2000-2010)[3] Countries with greatest inequality World Development Index 2002, The World Bank. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908770.html#ixzz1Psga7n1F Growing Economies International Monetary Fund: http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/world-top-ten-fastest-growing-economies-map.html http://www.businessinsider.com/fastest-growing-economies-2011-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/slowest-growing-countries-2011-2?op=1 http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/EASTASIAPACIFICEXT/INDONESIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:22938727~menuPK:224605~pagePK:2865066~piPK:2865079~theSitePK:226309,00.htm Suicide GECD Society at a Glance 2001, Statistical Annex Table D3 WHO: http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide_rates/en/ Religion vis-à-vis Mental Peace Pew Research Center (2002) Dr Javed Jamil is Executive Chairman, International Centre for Applied Islamics, Chief Editor, “Islam, Muslims & the World” and Director PEACE. He is also author of more than a dozen books including “Islam means Peace”, “The Essence of the Divine Verses”, “The Killer Sex”, “Rediscovering the Universe”, “The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism” and “Islamic Model for Control of AIDS”. Also has more than 200 articles and papers to his credit. His soon-to-be-published works include “Scientific & Social Principles based on Qur’an” and “Westernism: the Ideology of Hegemony”. He can be reached at doctorforu123@yahoo.com. Phones: 91- 8130340339