OLD LEADERS - NEW SLOGANS

There is a big row about the Muslim world, especially from the West and Muslim political leaders (Mainly in power), that there are Moderate Muslims and Extremists or Fundamental Muslims and there is a big danger that extremists could become in charge of those parts.   There definition of Moderate is that the Muslims who want to live peacefully with everyone despite of any religious affiliations. The term Extremism or Fundamentalism is used for those Muslims who want to implement harsh rules over people and even want to kill others due to their religious believes.

These two terms used for Muslims are not very old and came into existence mainly after 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq War. Of course it is true that there have been considerable changes in the world after these events. But have the Muslim world been divided into two main groups of moderates and extremists? Surely in every nation, religion, country, or society there would be extreme elements but is that possible that around 1.3 billion Muslims can change themselves in just few years?

The answer is No. In reality there is nothing like that which should suggest the occurrence of so called two main groups in the Muslim World. The fact is that many in West do believe that majority of the Muslims are moderates but when they talk about minority they will say yes there are 85-90% Muslims are good but 10-15% are extremists and if you get a percentage in 1.3 billion people, it means millions of people and they pose the real threat.

I belong from a remote and little city of Dera Ismail Khan, situated in the south of North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. This city is the biggest in that part and a gateway to the southern parts of the Tribal Areas, the parts which remain in news for various reasons like hotbed for Al-Qaeda & Taliban, Illegal border crossing to Afghanistan, fighting between militants and Pakistan Army.

So many would think that people living there have soft-corner for Taliban and alike, but I can tell you that it is not true. I was born there and came to Islamabad in 2001 for a job and since then I use to visit my city every month. My whole family, relatives and friends live there and I know that people are not extremists there. One must also remember that every Talib (a person who get education in Madrasah) is not an extremist. If we take a survey that how many people in that area belongs to militant organizations, the result would suggest about 500 - 600 people. So if 500 in a population of 300,000 are real extremists what would be the percentage? Certainly it is around 0.5% but not 10-15%. And we are talking about the area which is considered as hotbed for these activities. One can easily understand that around the Muslim world most of the places have much better situation.

But still we can see that from Indonesia to Pakistan, from Afghanistan to Iraq, from Lebanon to Palestine the extreme groups are gaining more power and involved in deadly attacks. But why extremists are becoming powerful in many of the Muslim world?

One of the biggest reasons -for all these kinds of troubles - is the poor leadership in many parts of the Muslim world. Many leaders are in power for long time and they also have the staunch support of the West. Whether they win the power with rigged elections, one man show or by military take over West never blamed them for any foul play. Though West always delivers great lessons about Democracy, fair elections, justice, tyranny and freedom of speech but its eyes are closed in respect of these people.

Under these leaders most parts of the Muslim world are at the top in corruption, ignorance, poverty and at the bottom in literacy, human development, law and order, justice and they take no pain to work for the betterment of their respective nations. Their only motives are to be in power as long as possible. Muslim world has received billions of dollars of aid and loans and there is no change at all in most of the countries. Is it hard to imagine where that money has gone?

Now these leaders have found a new slogan of Moderate & Liberal Muslims to show to the West that only they can save their countries and the rest of the world and West is at it again to support them.  The real agenda for these leaders is not any thing else but to remain in power with the help of West but on other hand the problems people facing in the Muslim world are mainly due to them.

There are no millions of extremists in the Muslim world and living the life according to the teachings of Islam does not make anyone extremist. Because religion does not tell anyone to kill innocents but promote a peaceful society where everyone is free to live according to their religion and customs. Many prominent Muslim Ulamas (Scholars) in many parts of the Muslim world have called the suicide bombing as an un-Islamic act.  The growing hate is due to the corrupt leadership in Muslim world and West’s support to them.

Only raising the moderate slogans is not the answer but there is need to isolate the extreme elements by doing few things right. The social injustices in many parts are responsible for this bad situation, and there is an urgent need to address them properly. If people are getting their rights, how can terrorists motivate them to join? In fact, no one will ever listen to them. But if the world, especially the West, keeps ignoring the fundamental issues behind the problems, then the situation will become even worse in the future.