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Dr. Israr vs Sh. Mokhtar

Thursday, March 15, 2012

During my college days, back in the early 90’s, I had the very fortunate opportunity to attend a weekend conference featuring both Dr. Israr Ahmed and Sh. Mokhtar Moghraoui.  It was organized by TINA (Tanzimi-Islam of North America), a branch of Dr. Israr’s Pakistan-based Tanzimi-Islam movement. The 3-day conference was very small (around 20 attendees) and offered an extremely intimate environment whereby serious discussions and exchanges could be had.  The organizers had Dr. Israr presenting his political philosophies while Sh. Mokhtar was asked to focus on the spiritual aspect of community development.

For anyone unfamiliar with Dr. Israr and his pro-khilafa movement, he preached an almost literal approach to the Prophetic model of state development.  He advocated for a grassroots movement by which a critical mass of devoted followers would accumulate, after which a confrontation with state authorities would inevitably ensue. At it's core it wasn’t a violent message, but one which called for Muslims to prepare for sacrifice if and when the need arose.

But in our private sittings with Sh. Mokhtar, he was respectfully adamant in disagreeing with Dr. Israr’s approach.  Instead of the need for a revolution, Sh. Mokhtar believed in the need for an evolution.  He insisted that revolutions only bring about fleeting change, while the Muslims are in dire need of an evolutionary change that is sustainable and enduring.

Years later, I’m convinced that both approaches are required.  We need an evolutionary change to our spirits, but we need a revolution to initiate an upheaval to our crumbling status quo.

This excellent article over at CommonDreams succinctly states the steps we need to take considering the dire circumstances in which we find ourselves:

“We are going to need a revolution. An energy revolution.  A social revolution. And a revolution in international relations -- waging war on climate change, instead of war on countries with the misfortunate of sitting on top of oil and other coveted resources. 

To achieve all this we are going to need to summon an unprecedented collective will to take back the public sphere, including the media, and we will have to re-imagine our democracy, our cities, our societies, and our daily lives.”

I think Muslims have become too timid to discuss the need for a revolution.  Revolutions need not involved bloodshed.  Revolutions need not result in outright chaos and anarchy.  Revolutions can take countless shapes and forms.

Must we restrict ourselves to the ‘revolution within’? In the midst of all this global uncertainty, where are the Muslims to offer their Divinely-inspired solutions?

Thursday, March 15, 2012 | Labels: Islam, Islamic State, Jihad, Spirituality |  

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 and is filed under Islam , Islamic State , Jihad , Spirituality . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 

4 comments:

Dreamlife said...

"Must we restrict ourselves to the ‘revolution within’? In the midst of all this global uncertainty, where are the Muslims to offer their Divinely-inspired solutions?"

Change starts within. If each and every one of us changed within ourselves, it would mean we would live the deen the way we're supposed to - which then means that on a community, local, national, then international level, the changes would come.

It all starts from within...

March 15, 2012 at 8:33 AM
Anonymous said...

@Dreamlife
I agree. But you also need community activism - people too often use the "change within" pretext to rule out any mobilization.

March 17, 2012 at 3:28 AM
Anonymous said...

We are not Hakuna Matata people, we struggle on the inside, and on the outside. One is not exclusive of the other - just because we do zikr and try to refine our character does not mean we exempted from our community obligations. We need dawa, building schools, hospitals and stuggle

March 17, 2012 at 3:35 AM
Naeem: said...

AA- DL,

Sorry for late reply, but I figured the two Anons summed up by response.

If you've been reading my blog long enough, you'll agree that I am a staunch believer in the need for spiritual reform.

My only qualm is that the vast majority of the spiritually-inclined relieve themselves of their socio-political responsibilities.

For too long, we've been duped into this line of thinking. It must change.

March 22, 2012 at 5:37 AM

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