ULEMA AND THE MODERN AGE — Misguided Politics

ULEMA AND THE MODERN AGE Misguided Politics W ITH the dawn of the modern age the western colonial powers had spread all over the world. Their primary focus was not the establishment of political power in the world; it was their discoveries in science and technology, of new lands and opportunities. This was also the case of the companions of the Prophet who took the divine message to different parts of the world. It is altogether another matter that both — western colonial powers and the companions of the Prophet — also won political power. The western powers were in fact the ambassadors of the scientific revolution and had discovered a world completely different from the traditional order. With these discoveries they had spread out to the far corners of the world, but the Muslims and their ulema considered these western powers their political rivals and stood against them in confrontation. The western powers were ambassadors of the scientific revolution. The unnecessary political and violent efforts of the ulema failed to defeat the Western colonial powers. What happened, instead, was this: internecine fighting among the Western countries themselves, culminating in the Second World War, drained their military strength to such an extent that it became exceedingly difficult for them to continue to exercise political control over other countries. That is why they granted political independence to these countries in the mid-20th century, although their cultural and economic control over them remained intact. As a result of this development, some 50 Muslim-majority politically independent states emerged in Asia and Africa. At this time, too, it was the task of the ulema in these countries to shoulder the very same responsibility that Islam had given them — that is to say, to leave politics to the politicians and to focus their energies, instead, on the spread of knowledge, communication of the divine message, as well as social work and other such constructive activities. But, instead of doing this, they again rushed headlong into the field of politics in a completely unwarranted way.