WE ARE WAITING

Sabir Ali
sabirnastran@gmail.com
Institute of Communication Studies
University of the Punjab, Lahore

Ignatius Loyola was a heroic soldier in the Spanish army. Fighting a war against
France, he wounded his right leg and thus became unsuitable for military services.
He studied religious scriptures and came out as a religious preacher. Having set his
aim, he journeyed bare footed and arrived at Jerusalem to force Muslims to embrace
Christianity. In 1953, he founded “Society of Jesus” there. Through this society he
entailed his struggles to implement the fundamental teachings of Church. Reforming
catholic beliefs, he provided sound bases for the superiority of church.
Catholic sect became an influential missionary of pre-modern age under his
leadership. Highly trained members of this missionary society became preachers of
educational and moral reforms. These Jesuits successfully retreated Protestants in
France, South Germany and many other areas of Europe. Adding new stones in the
knowledge structure these Jesuits acquired fluency in the regional and local
languages of China, India, and Japan and observed local traditions very minutely. In
this way they served as the mediators between Europe and Central Asia from
sixteenth century to nineteenth.
More or less, this was the period of sixteenth century when Deen-e-Elahi, as a royal
charter by Akbar, was troubling Muslims. Akbar’s genius officials were praising new
cult in order to earn royal favor. On the other side, Shah Abbas and Ottoman
Suleiman were also unbeatable and unmatchable in their military and economic
powers. That was the Muslim glory that missionaries were determined to darken.
Muslim fate was obvious when Akbar the Great was enquiring that where the poor
island (Britain) was situated. Whether it was a geographical ignorance and
unfamiliarity to international relations or pride of Moghal dynasty? A careful dialogue
with history will justify this decisively.
Situation is not much different now. The past glories, with which we feel relaxed, are
now narrated and generated in the west. No doubt they are lush and luxurious but
their think tanks, missionaries, and philosophers are doing their job well.
It gives me much pain to say that we are a beggar nation; our leaders are begging
dollars and policymakers and scholars are imploring for new western thoughts and
ideologies. So-called religious and sectarian leaders are manipulating Islamic
jurisprudence only for their own prominence. Argumentative and logical style debates
are their everyday diversion. Conversely, religion is considered as an obsolete
phenomenon in west. Hubbard’s New Age Movement is on track and Rockefeller
philosophy is making inroads into educational institutions and God is Carl Yong’s
archetype. All these contemplations are directly introduced to young age band
through imported text books and western trained tutors. This is the new version of
Jesuits.
Are our scholars not capable of understanding thought of preachers of global religion,
atheism? Are they still unaware of their methodology, history, philosophy, and aims?
Are they naïve to the mixture of skepticism, propaganda, and satanic credence in the
branches of knowledge?
Millions of books are produced every year under countless titles. Even a single one
book doesn’t contain the name of Muslim scholars. We are producing doctors and
master of philosophy every year. Where do they go? Who is benefiting from this
expertise? We are seeking for western books even in the field of social sciences, and
then boldly claim that our Deen is complete code of conduct of life.
How much our students will depend upon western curriculum? Will the Oxford,
Prentice Hall, and McGraw Hill Books, hefty and attractive, having coercive power to
corrupt ideologies, be imprinting true Islamic philosophy and culture on the brain
cells of their readers? These books will do fighting in army’s stead. Who will come
forward to take the initiative? We are waiting.