Political Extremism

CONSEQUENCES OF MISINTERPRETATION Political Extremism Pandit Nehru writes in his autobiography that while he was studying at Cambridge, he considered joining the Indian Civil Service after graduation, as this was a prestigious goal for an Indian at the time. However, as his sense of independence grew, he developed an aversion to this idea, realizing, in his words, that joining the Indian Civil Service meant becoming a mere “cog” in the administrative machinery of British rule. And how could someone whose life mission was to expel British rule from his country serve as an agent of that very government? (Autobiography, London, 1936, pp. 24–25) This issue has always been central to political thought and is bound to arise in any ideology of this nature. It also emerges strongly in the interpretation under discussion. According to this interpretation, the core objective of the Islamic mission is “changing the system.” I acknowledge that systemic change is indeed one stage in Islamic struggle, but this interpretation has removed it from its proper context. In doing so, it has led to distortions similar to those that arose in various religions when the Islamic value of “detachment from the world” was taken out of its true place. The philosophy of monasticism, by indulging in spiritual extremism, imposed many unnecessary hardships