THE CASE OF PRESENT MUSLIMS

THE CASE OF PRESENT MUSLIMS Need for a Global Perspective F ORMER British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave an interview to The Sunday Times on March 27. During the interview, he said that “many millions” of Muslims hold a viewpoint that is “fundamentally incompatible with the modern world.” (“Many millions of Muslims ‘fundamentally incompatible with the modern world’, says Tony Blair”, The Independent, 27 March 2016). This statement of Mr. Tony Blair may annoy some Muslims, but it is based on fact. Moreover, his remarks, directly or indirectly, apply to perhaps almost all present-day Muslims. The comment that ‘Muslims are incompatible with the modern age’ is not meant in the sense of the religious beliefs they hold, but relates to their social behaviour. For example, in today’s world, freedom of expression is accepted as an absolute right of every one, provided that one remains strictly within the peaceful domain. However, many Muslims are not ready to concede this right to others. For instance, they are of the opinion that one who, according to their law, engages in an act of apostasy or blasphemy is liable to be punished. Similarly, in the present world, democracy is considered the right form of government, but there are Muslims who reject it claiming that it runs counter to their religion. The difference between Muslims and the modern world is that Muslims, according to their traditional mindset, believe in absolutism, but the present age is characterized by relativism. This means that for Muslims certain things are absolutely right or absolutely wrong, while modern thought does not agree with this viewpoint and holds that a person has the freedom to adopt whatever he thinks is correct according to him, only if he does not take to violence. In this respect Muslims’ stand on blasphemy and apostasy should be re-considered. If somebody leaves Islam for another religion, Muslims believe that he should be killed. However, the modern mind regards opting for one religion instead of another as one’s freedom to choose, something which is a person’s inalienable right. In a similar way, if a There is a need to differentiate between personal belief and universal norm. A person is free in matters of his personal belief, but when it comes to universal norms, Islam agrees to what has been accepted internationally.