Betting on the wrong horse: The battle to define moderate Islam By James M. Dorsey (Oct 5, 2022)

 

The title above is an article by Dr James Dorsey - which you can read online  here.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist and scholar, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer.

Since the article is long I have truncated it substantially.  I have extracted points that caught my interest. Here they are and my comments in blue as usual.

Betting on the wrong horse: The battle to define moderate Islam

By  James M. Dorsey (Oct 5, 2022)

moderate Islam (tolerance, diversity, pluralism) betting on wrong horse 
by supporting scholars on autocrats' payroll
in Middle East state-sponsored clerics lack credibility

My comments : The clergy have always lacked credibility especially among themselves. The clerics and their societies have had a violent and bloody "religious" past - going back over 1000 years - because all of them lack credibility among each other. Hence the  term 'sects'. Throughout their history the clerics have very rarely been able to deliver peace and harmony to the people. And they most certainly have no knowledge about economic growth. It is incorrect that the clerics lose credibility as sycophants of autocratic regimes. Even in democratic or non-autocratic societies -  in the present day (because there were none in the past) - the clerics have never had too much credibility, especially among themselves. 

The lack of credibility of the clerics is a feature inherent to them.

 

non-violence has become less effective, magnifies clerics' legitimacy deficit.
less credibility and ineffectiveness (of clerics) enhances risk of violence

My comments : Again we must differentiate between the clerics need to earn an income using the job skills that they have and their job skills. Their income has to come from the ruling regime.  In Saudi Arabia the ruling regime relied on the clerics' head chopping job skills to keep their people in line. Now the Saudis are telling the clerics to turn to non head chopping to keep their people in line. The clerics will likely oblige - they need to earn an income. 

But their basic job skills have not changed, it is still head chopping. The regimes are headed by autocrats who will come and go. But the basic job skills inside the heads of the clerics does not change. Hence the violence will not end.

 

Added that young Muslims perceive a persecution of the faithful
Muslim youth argue a genuinely Muslim state would garner God’s favour.
jihadists say (Muslim state) has to be got ‘through blood 
rose isn’t got except by putting one’s hand on the thorns.’
“cant combat jihadis with platitudes, deradicalisation programmes, websites”

My comments :  The youth are the victims of indoctrination by the same clerics. As I said the job skills of the clerics do not change. It will always be head chopping. Hence the never ending violence.  The youth have been indoctrinated with a guilty conscience by clever clerics to cover up their own failures. This is how the clerics mask over their own failures. 

"It is your fault. You are not a good Muslim. That is why you are suffering. To earn god's favour you must embark on jihad."

Or "The government is kuffar. They are not upholding Islam.  That is why we are suffering. We need true Islam. We must overthrow the government by force if necessary. Fighting them is jihad. God will favour us."

I have personally heard this type of arguments from the clerics.  If Muslims are suffering it is because they are not Muslim enough.  Considering that generally almost all Muslims all over the world are suffering it does point to the clerics and their teachings as the common denominator that causes the failure.

There is nothing wrong with the Muslims as people or as human beings. What makes them such colossal failures is what is put inside their heads by the clerics.  In the Islamic Pakistani side of Punjab the GDP per capita is about US$1500. On the non-Muslim Indian side of Punjab the GDP per capita is about US1,900. On the Indian side they are more than 25% "wealthier".   They both farm the same fertile land, speak the same language, eat the same food, wear the same clothes. The main difference is in their religion.

It is high time the Muslims (especially the youth) started to shift the blame for their failures where it really belongs - with the clerics. The clerics are the failures who have failed the Muslims. 

rivalry in Muslim world to define moderate Islam
credible response to militancy must come from independent Islamic scholars 

rather than clerics who do Muslim autocrats' bidding
religious institutions need to be reformed

My comments : Easier said than done. Yet it has to be said. But why have the religious institutions NOT BEEN reformed for the past 1000 years or more? Why cant the rot be reversed? Because the clerics have an iron grip on the religious discourse. They do not allow dissenting views. Hence the violence. Correction : Hence the clerics' reliance on violence. Whether it is State sanctioned violence, police powers of the State or whether it is mob violence it is still force and violence. The clerics have whipped up hatreds and violence to protect their own status quo. Until today every Islamic country still relies on State sanctioned force to determine which sect dominates its religious discourse. Today it is simpler - Islamic countries are either Sunni or Shia, with the majority being Sunni. And one discriminates against the other.  When there is no clear cut dominance by one sect against another there are civil wars. Examples are Shia-Sunni fighting in Lebanon, Iraq and the Friday shootings and suicide bombings between Shias and Sunnis in Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

This is the single biggest factor holding back the Muslims. Different, divergent and opposing views about the religion are not only not tolerated but they are also criminalised by the State.  Apostasy is a criminal offence in many Muslim countries, regardless of whether Sunni or Shia. The State's criminalisation of religious belief and religious discourse - most certainly at the behest of the clergy - has been the undoing of Muslim countries and societies for over a thousand years. And it shall remain so in the future.  

Arab youth note religious figures endorse govt reforms they rejected 
feeds Arab scepticism towards religious institutions 
further highlights inconsistency of religious discourse 
inability to provide timely justifications to changing reality 

The Arabs really have to throw the baby out with the bath water. They have to throw out their religious figures. They simply cannot be trusted to do anything good for the Arabs. The Arabs are perhaps the second most forsaken people on this earth. And it is not because they are Arabs.

They have to realise that "non scientific" truth cannot solve real world problems. Religious discourse is focussed on an afterlife. Not this life. Religion cannot be based on science, logic or evidence.  Religion is what can be termed non-scientific truth. Also known as blind faith. On the other hand real world issues like jobs, transportation, sanitation, laws and rules for society that work in the real world depend on modernisation, science, technology, evidence and logic. So these are 180 degrees apart. On opposite sides. There is no working relationship. One cannot help the other. It is mutually exclusive. You choose one at the exclusion of the other.

radical preachers…have a constituency. 
They hit a nerve and are watched

The easiest way to handle the jihadists is to simply open the entire spectrum of religious discourse, without threat of prosecution by the State, persecution by village mobs, without declaring anyone an apostate just because you disagree with their views. This seems to work very well for Muslims in modern non-Muslim countries where Muslims are minorities or migrants. 

It is true that Muslims are much happier in the United States, UK, Canada, Australia and other non Muslim countries because there is freedom of religious belief in these countries. They do not care if you are a Sunni, Shia, Salafi or whatever. They respect your freedom to believe your sect. If you cause trouble they will lock you up in jail.  So Muslims behave better in those countries.

The problem is not the Muslims. The real problem is the clerics. 

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.