Author: Mubarak Ali
Publication: Dawn, Karachi
Date: September 3, 2000
THE Dictionary of Concepts
of History defines the notion of decline as a loss of cohesion in a society,
leading to potential public disorder, (diminishment) of political power,
loss of economic wealth, and social disintegration. Keeping in view
this definition, we find that Pakistan is a perfect example of a society
that has declined, a society that has lost all its energy to improve its
economy, political system and moral values.
It appears that Pakistani
society is generally in agreement that its fate is to be humiliated, insulted,
and abused internally as well as externally. Sometimes it surprises
one as to why people at large become so apathetic and fail to react in
spite of mass-scale sufferings and miseries. What are the factors
that are responsible to make society so pliable as to endure all hardships
without even a protest?
The phenomenon of rise
and fall of civilisations is not new in history. It occurs again
and again. There are civilisations that touched their maturity and
then disappeared. The Assyrian, the Egyptian, and the Greek civilisations
have gone, but their nations are living in their debris, symbolizing the
decline and fall of these civilisations.
Nations that emerge experiencing
decline tend to have a cyclic rather than a linear view of history.
They mostly look back to have a feel of the past glory rather than ahead,
to have a bright future. The reason for this backward-looking attitude
is that the past remains very much alive in the collective memory of societies,
with the belief that the restoration of the past would solve all their
problems.
The belief in revivalism
is appealing to nations because it entails no need to create anything new;
just reconstructing the old, renewing the former institutions sounds enough
to the revivalists. Mind you, repair and renovation can be done by
even unskilled workers, while to create something new requires not only
skill but creativity and innovation as well.
Therefore, exhausted
societies burdened with a heavy. glorifying past, find the revivalism
option more appealing than having to build something new. Moreover,
in the backward-looking attitude there is no place for any change, while
in case of a progressive attitude, change becomes essential in order to
adjust to the new circumstances and to respond to the new challenges.
The Indian Muslim society
has remained on the decline since the fall of the Mughal Empire.
It tried to find some solace in the greatness of the Ottoman Empire in
the 19th century, but the eventual disintegration of it left it in a state
of helplessness.
The concept of having
a separate homeland in the subcontinent gave it some hopes of avoiding
further decline, but what happened to the new home soon disillusioned the
masses. Finding no solution for its present ills, society has continued
to insist on the validity of its past values and traditions. It looks
to the past to counter their present condition. Under these circumstances,
popular history has reconstructed a variety of pasts in which society has
taken refuge.
In view of its geographical
location in the subcontinent, our society continues to feel pride in the
fact that Muslims once ruled the land for nearly thousand years.
It does not feel much bothered by the question of cultural achievements
of the Sultans of Delhi and the Mughals, as Hindus were very much part
of it. Taking a diversion, it is charmed by the stories of the Abbasid
Empire and its civilisational achievements, but there is no popular feeling
to revive it. It is only a source of pleasure, not taken as a serious
role model.
Basically, revivalist
movements in Pakistan aim at reviving the early Muslim society that is
considered to be perfect because of its religious purity. These movements
generally deny all developments and cultural achievements after the period
of the four Guided Caliphs as deviation from true religion, and, hence,
not related to Islam. The denial of the Ummayid, the Abbasids, the
Muslim rule in Andulus, the Safavids, the Mughals and the Ottomans is an
act that has deprived the Muslims of their past glory. Their argument
is that all these political empires "polluted" Islam and served only their
political ambitions, therefore, they are not a part of Islamic history.
Following the process
of deconstruction, the revivalists reach the early period and reconstruct
those institutions which existed at that time. Their belief is that
as in the early period, religion transformed society, making it an energetic
and vigorous entity, and the religion can play a similar role once again.
Generally speaking, we
have two types of pasts: one is the past of political and cultural achievements
which we would like to use to express our pride; and the past of the religious
purity which we would like to implement as a panacea for our problems.
In both cases, we adopt a cyclic view of history, believing that history
can be repeated. We avoid the linear view of progress and make no
effort to change ourselves in accordance with the needs of the time.
The main characteristic
of the revivalist movement is to oppose change and to prevent any experiment
to introduce fresh institutions and lay down new traditions. They
insist on re-using the old ones. The other characteristic is to adopt
power as a means to revive the purity of religious life and to implement
religious teachings. The best model of this approach is the Taliban,
who have implemented their version of religion by using power, terror and
harassment. The revivalist movements in Pakistan take inspiration
from the experiences of Iran and Afghanistan, and want to adopt the same
methods here.
History shows us that
once a civilisation begins to decline, it cannot be revived. The
repeated failures of revivalist movements make society disillusioned, giving
it a tired, exhausted look. In the end it looses all hopes, and leaves
itself at the mercy of the circumstances. The only way for such a
society is to get rid of the burden of its past, and adopt fresh ideas
to make a new beginning. "Lest the graves of institutions rob the
living of light, and narrow their habitations," said the German philosopher,
Herder. But do we care?
