Several Supremacist, Despotic Nations Came To Grief, But They Abandoned Their Racial Arrogance And Reinvented Themselves As Prosperous Democracies: Will Muslims Learn From Them Or Continue To Flounder In A Morass Of Backwardness?

By Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef, New Age Islam 15 June 2022 Challenges and crises are part of life. Vibrant and living people and nations face challenges bravely and get out of the crises brilliantly. Some examples are as follows: Today Japan is the third-largest economy in the world. It is the same country that once was an aggressive expansionist empire that had invaded many countries around her. Moreover, she did misadventure in the Second World War by invading the American port of Pearl Harbour. New emerging power and injured from the Japan’s onslaught, America responded very cruelly by dropping her deadly and dreadful atom bombs on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, bringing the Japanese empire suddenly to her knees. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, a man who once dreamt of ruling the world, now facing the biggest catastrophe, came to his senses and realized the grim situation. Without any delay he at once announced that he was a mortal, not a deity and that he was wrong in deciding to go to war with America so he would surrender unconditionally. At hearing his words, the Japanese wept profusely. Nevertheless, trusting their emperor and his decision and coming to terms, they accepted the demilitarization of the country. Afterward, Japan changed its direction from an invading country to becoming a technology hub and economic boom followed. The rest is history. Under the Nazis and their firebrand leader Hitler, Germany fought the two great wars (world war1 and 11). She was in a frenzy of relentless conquests for nearly a century, with a racial supremacy complex. For Nazis, the German Arian race was the superhuman race destined to rule the world. Hitler, in his adventures, invaded and routed French and Russian armies and defeated many other countries in Europe, including the Prussian Empire, Hungry and Austria. A belligerent Germany was sent a shocking wave throughout Europe and elsewhere in the world. Furthermore, the Nazis regarded the Jews as a whole as their enemy number 1. Jews were wealthy, intellectually sound, and cultured, and being a money-lending group overwhelmed German society. History has shown that people and nations excluded from the corridors of politics and power go to trade, commerce, and economy. Jews, too, have been kept out of politics for centuries, so they went to trade and economic activities and eventually took the reins of the national economy into their own hands. Through vicious propaganda, the Nazis first created in German masses the bitter feelings of utter dislike, aversion, and hatred toward Jewish people. Then they tried their utmost to get rid of them by killing them in bulk in concentration camps and, most horribly, throwing them in gas chambers in cold blood until the Nazis wiped them out, killing six million Jews. The Nazis thus had killed millions of Jews, creating a sympathy wave throughout Europe for the poor wretched victims. Riding on that sympathy wave. The Jews then found it very easy to successfully establish a homeland; Israel in Palestine, under the British mandate in those times. After that, Germany was defeated by allied forces. Hitler was compelled to shoot himself dead. Germany was divided by Berlin Wall, looted, ruined, and exploited by the victorious forces. However, after World War II, having learned her lesson, she changed her course completely. Abandoning warfare first she reunited itself then assumed the polity of peaceful co-existence with her neighbours and the rest of the world. And she has emerged once again as the greatest economy in Europe now. The third pertinent example in this regard can be cited from South Africa; Nelson Mandela’s nation. Once was an epitome of apartheid regime’s racial oppression and injustice, And of worst kind of torture and human humiliation. Nelson Mandela spent the best of his days languishing in the white man Apartheid regime’s jails and struggled to liberate his people from that despotic, cruel system. At the beginning of his freedom struggle, he was legitimizing violence against the enemy to an extent. Yet, in the end, he changed his leadership mode when he successfully got freedom. He formed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, accepted white people as equal citizens with native Africans, and termed his country a Rainbow Nation. The net result is that South Africa is now the fastest growing economy in the whole African continent. So, these are some examples of the recent history of the modern world. This shows us how people and nations of the world have come out of their most severe and chaotic crises and how they eked out a possible way to go ahead, make a difference and achieve a niche for themselves in the modern world. All the above cited examples are from the non-Muslim world. As far as the Muslim world is concerned, we see that the same story is being written continuously for the last two centuries. Monarchy, dictatorship, military revolutions, counter revolutions and despotic, undemocratic regimes. In some countries there is a nominal democracy but the society is clinging to very undemocratic traditions and values therefore this nominal democracy is not proving beneficial, indeed it has proven to be counterproductive. The point is if Muslims also want to go ahead and get out of their critical phases and compete with others, they also can do that. Yet in that case, they also have no choice but to get rid of their false religiosity and ideological frenzy, a belief in Islam supremacism, and adopt a positive outlook on modernity. They should note, as described above, all supremacist nations have come to grief. Pakistan could have been a good model for Muslim nations as a secular, modern democratic country, as was the intention of its founder. On 11 August 1947, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of the new-born state of Pakistan and its first governor-general, addressed the council of legislatives and unequivocally said: “Now you are free, in this state of Pakistan. You are free to go to your temples, mosques, or any worship place. You may belong to any religion, caste, or creed. It is your personal matter and the state has no business with it. We are beginning with the primary and common principle that we are all equal citizens of a state. Over time, the people of England realized the ground realities that they had to deliver in the pressing situations imposed on them by their government. They gradually came out from that critical juncture. Now you can rightly say that there are no Roman Catholics or Protestants. What remains is that every individual is a citizen, and all are equal citizens of Great Britain. Let us keep this before us as a goal. Then you will see that as time passed, no Hindu remained Hindu, nor Muslim remained Muslim. Not in the religious sense, for, it is a personnel matter, but from the political perspective and as a state citizen.’’ قائد اعظم:تقاريروبيانات v:4P:359) (translated from Urdu) Yet, alas! The wisdom shown in this visionary statement of Jinnah was very soon lost in the country and in no time the country was in the tight grip of the triangle of the Army, Mullah, and corrupt bureaucrats, primarily the feudal lords (the obscurantist, despotic Vaderas), landlords, and so on . She is still grappling with this vicious triangle and desperately struggling for its survival now. So, we Muslims to borrow Auguste Comte’s words, “Live dead men’s lives, encased in our past’’. Until and unless we get rid of this dead past and learn to live in present and think about how to brighten our future, there is no hope. ----- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Dr. Mohammad Ghitreef is a Research Associate with the Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims of India, AMU Aligarh. URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/supremacist-racial-arrogance-democracies-muslims-/d/127251 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism