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Rami Dabbas – Is the problem in Islam or Muslims?
Renewal was the slogan of the European Renaissance, while the current slogan of the Islamic Renaissance is a return to the medieval ages and to Religious factors, that is, ignoring the present and what is bringing all its complex variables and escaping into the past.
The matter can no longer tolerate much controversy that the conditions of Muslims, especially the Arabs, are dire, not between Muslims and non-Muslims only, but between Muslims themselves, whether at the level of one state or between Islamic countries each other. Thanks to Muslims, Islam has become an object of satire in the West and synonymous with backwardness, tyranny, corruption, lack of civilization, violence and terrorism, and as soon as any terrorist operation takes place anywhere in the world, you find that the first accused in it are Muslims even before the investigation begins to assess the circumstances of the operation.
There are now propaganda campaigns taking place in Europe, America, and even in Russia and China against Islam and Muslims, and despite this, the Muslims themselves do not care and their senior sheikhs believe that it is just a passing meeting between one of their senior officials with the Pope of the Vatican, for example, where there is repeated wavy and boring talk about the greatness of Islam And it is a religion of tolerance, peace, freedoms, human rights, etc. – it is a kind of public relations in reality that the West is good at obtaining Muslim money and concluding arms deals – where in the opinion of the sheikhs of Islam, these public relations are sufficient to prove that there is no problem and that the whole world respects Islam And Muslims.
The biggest reason behind this state of indifference is that Muslims have not yet passed the theological stage in the development of human thought due to the power of religious institutions in the Arab world and their role in spreading ancient myths and wrong convictions prevalent among most Muslims that they are the best nation that brought people out and that God’s support is exclusive to them. And it is guaranteed that victory will be their ally in any confrontation with the other, sooner or later, pursuant to verses such as “Be not sad (or afraid), surely, Allah is with us.
Of course, for the average Muslim, if God is with us, who is who He can be against him, but what is not said to this Muslim is that the promised victory certainly has many conditions, and there is saying “That man can have nothing but what he strives for” This saying is in line with the lived reality and logic and the best evidence of this violent crises and suffering that afflicts most Islamic countries And the Muslims do not seem to have a near end, and this is only the product of these Quranic verses that I mentioned a little while ago that came in the Muslims’ Quran. By following the example of a book called the Qur’an that is more than 1,400 years old and the illusions that this book propagates, and by means of logic, reality can be communicated to the average Muslim to change his way of thinking.
Whereas, I am a firm believer that the process of religious reform in Islam can only be achieved through Islamic sources themselves because the general Muslims will not accept anything other than this, and the history of the Arabs is witness to this, as all reform attempts have failed through Westernization campaigns and the principles of Western modernity. We have previously written about this and showed how Taha Hussein tried this and ended up being accused of atheism and his resignation from the university. The same thing happened with Naguib Mahfouz, when he tried, in some of his novels, especially children of our neighborhood, to herald the demise of the era of religions and the dawn of the era of knowledge. The matter was more dangerous with Mahfouz, as he was assassinated, and the list goes on.
Once again, the simple example that you gave shows that many established religious convictions can be changed by using some other verses that are based on stronger logic to demolish old convictions and replace them with convictions and change the erasure of the Islamic heritage that is very old and not applicable for this era, in a manner consistent with rationality and logic. In this we employ the old Arab proverb that “the Qur’an is a porter of aspects,” meaning that its verses can be used to devise multiple rulings that meet the needs of people and are in line with the times, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the door to religious freedom in the Arab countries can be opened on the other hand, and from the other as we see placing Muslims on a path Progress and modernity. This approach, of course, necessitates opening the door to hard-working and new interpretation of Islam and its books that has been closed since the days of the four imams. It works through the prisons of the distant past and pre-determined frameworks of knowledge, as is the case now with the traditional religious and ideological mind, which failed to understand that reality is in a state of constant change and that stopping the movement of time and binding it to the past is impossible.
If Muslims truly want to break the clash between each other and improve the reputation of Islam and Muslims, then they must have intellectual courage and reintroduce Islam anew by reforming Islam and the Qur’an by reviewing and addressing the humanitarian and intellectual issues suspended for centuries in Islam without ever It has extensive studies and frank and realistic solutions, including, for example, the following and without order:
- Islam’s position on secularism and the role of religion in the state.
- Islam’s position on the form of the state and the optimal system of government, and is it a hereditary monarchy or an electoral parliamentary?
- Islam’s position on democracy versus the non-compulsory Shura system.
- Islam’s position on freedom of expression and freedom of belief.
- Islam’s position on the concept of jihad and the war on terror.
- Islam’s position on gender equality and whether women will still be deficient in reason and religion?
- Islam’s position on poverty and economic development and how it can employ Zakat as a solution.
- Islam’s position on arts and culture. Is it conceivable that all forms of art are forbidden, such as music, singing, dance, theater, cinema, painting, sculpture, photography, etc., and how can a person enjoy his life and rest time in Islam?
- Islam’s position on the problem of climate change and why there is no serious awareness for Muslims about this problem, which is threatening life on Earth.
Finally, in Sayyid Qutb’s book Milestones on the Way, he talked about the concept of a house of war and a house of peace, where Islamic countries are homes of peace and Western infidel countries are homes of war. The paradox here is that Islamic countries have become homes of war, backwardness, destruction, poverty, injustice, tyranny and instability, while the countries of the West have become homes of peace, stability, freedom, progress and prosperity.
We do not want the lands of the West to turn into a land of war, but we want our Arab countries to be a house of peace, love, freedom and dignity. This will only be achieved when Muslims have a clear and frank vision towards the previous issues, and there is no way to do this except when their jurists and thinkers stop playing the role of servicing the ruler and the rotation. In his orbit and to begin to think about the interest of the homeland and the confused and oppressed citizen.
I know that the task is not easy, but Muslims have to try and they must always remember that Islam has spoken its word for centuries and is silent, and they are the ones who utter it whatever they want.
Rami Dabbas is a rare, outspoken advocate Arab for Israel fighting against terrorism. Rami is a former Muslim who became a Christian Zionist. Based in Jordan, he joined anti-Islam activities at university after leaving Islam in 2012. Rami studied civil engineering and is now a human rights activist fighting against Sharia Law, radical Islamic terrorism & Arab nationalism.
Rami is a political writer involved in Christian and pro-Israel advocacy. He is affiliated with groups like Pegida Canada and Jihad Watch which is a part of the LA-based think tank ”David Horowitz Freedom Center.” He also serves as a peace campaigner promoting normalization between Israel and the Arabs. In addition to the Voice of Europe & JihadWatch.org Rami also writes for the NY-based journal and news-site The Algemeiner and the Times of Israel.
His passion is to promote peace between Arabs and Israel following in the footsteps of the late Jordanian King Hussein who made peace with the Jewish State in 1994.
As a pro-Israel advocate, Rami connects in his home country Jordan with many NGOs and think-tanks that promote peace with Israel and work with counter-Jihad organizations.
Rami gives Israel Today readers a unique Arab Christian perspective on events in and around the Middle East. Here is the link for more of Rami Dabbas
