We Are Waiting

WE ARE WAITING Sabir Ali

[email protected] Institute of Communication Studies University of the Punjab, Lahore Ignatius Loyola was a heroic soldier in the Spanish army. Fighting a war against France, he wounded his right leg and thus became unsuitable for military services. He studied religious scriptures and came out as a religious preacher. Having set his aim, he journeyed bare footed and arrived at Jerusalem to force Muslims to embrace Christianity. In 1953, he founded “Society of Jesus” there. Through this society he entailed his struggles to implement the fundamental teachings of Church. Reforming catholic beliefs, he provided sound bases for the superiority of church. Catholic sect became an influential missionary of pre-modern age under his leadership. Highly trained members of this missionary society became preachers of educational and moral reforms. These Jesuits successfully retreated Protestants in France, South Germany and many other areas of Europe. Adding new stones in the knowledge structure these Jesuits acquired fluency in the regional and local languages of China, India, and Japan and observed local traditions very minutely. In this way they served as the mediators between Europe and Central Asia from sixteenth century to nineteenth. More or less, this was the period of sixteenth century when Deen-e-Elahi, as a royal charter by Akbar, was troubling Muslims. Akbar’s genius officials were praising new cult in order to earn royal favor. On the other side, Shah Abbas and Ottoman Suleiman were also unbeatable and unmatchable in their military and economic powers. That was the Muslim glory that missionaries were determined to darken. Muslim fate was obvious when Akbar the Great was enquiring that where the poor island (Britain) was situated. Whether it was a geographical ignorance and unfamiliarity to international relations or pride of Moghal dynasty? A careful dialogue with history will justify this decisively. Situation is not much different now. The past glories, with which we feel relaxed, are now narrated and generated in the west. No doubt they are lush and luxurious but their think tanks, missionaries, and philosophers are doing their job well. It gives me much pain to say that we are a beggar nation; our leaders are begging dollars and policymakers and scholars are imploring for new western thoughts and ideologies. So-called religious and sectarian leaders are manipulating Islamic jurisprudence only for their own prominence. Argumentative and logical style debates are their everyday diversion. Conversely, religion is considered as an obsolete phenomenon in west. Hubbard’s New Age Movement is on track and Rockefeller philosophy is making inroads into educational institutions and God is Carl Yong’s archetype. All these contemplations are directly introduced to young age band through imported text books and western trained tutors. This is the new version of Jesuits. Are our scholars not capable of understanding thought of preachers of global religion, atheism? Are they still unaware of their methodology, history, philosophy, and aims?

Are they naïve to the mixture of skepticism, propaganda, and satanic credence in the branches of knowledge? Millions of books are produced every year under countless titles. Even a single one book doesn’t contain the name of Muslim scholars. We are producing doctors and master of philosophy every year. Where do they go? Who is benefiting from this expertise? We are seeking for western books even in the field of social sciences, and then boldly claim that our Deen is complete code of conduct of life. How much our students will depend upon western curriculum? Will the Oxford, Prentice Hall, and McGraw Hill Books, hefty and attractive, having coercive power to corrupt ideologies, be imprinting true Islamic philosophy and culture on the brain cells of their readers? These books will do fighting in army’s stead. Who will come forward to take the initiative? We are waiting.