Our Situation and Today’s Needs
Our Situation and Today’s Needs
After the partition of the country in 1947 and 43 years post-independence in 1971, 43 years is not a short period in a nation's life. Especially in today's fast-paced world, changes that used to take five hundred years a thousand years ago are now happening in just twenty-five years. So, 43 years is not insignificant for Bangladesh. What have these 43 years given us? It’s time for us to reassess our path. We must look back to see how we got here and what the results of our chosen path have been. Before embarking on a new path, if we don't account for the past, mistakes are bound to happen again. For the past 43 years, we have been chasing after the material progress of Europe and America. We have attempted to emulate Western mechanical civilization at the cost of our nation's soul and by pushing the poor into deeper poverty. As a result, what has been achieved through the exploitation of the poor and the corruption of the national spirit has remained in the hands of a few. The same is true for politics. Out of inferiority complex, we have made a failed attempt to imitate the political philosophy of our former British rulers. This has led to characterless and shortsighted, self-centered factionalism, undignified changes of government, and power struggles.
The situation in the education sector is even more dire 43 years later. The education policy in place before independence was created by the imperial British. It was not designed for their own country but specifically for India. They realized that it was not possible to import enough people from England to properly govern this vast country. However, truly educating the people here would also be dangerous, so they devised an education system that would strike a balance. The British were successful in this endeavor. Exceptions exist, but they are just that – exceptions.
When the country became independent, one of our leaders' primary duties was to dismantle the colonial education system and introduce one that would be suitable for a free nation, educating the future citizens of the country. However, our leaders were so busy fighting over power and personal and party interests that this has not been done to this day. What is the situation today? Education does not mean just literacy. I am talking about education – about the virtues of humility, courtesy, and good behavior. Let’s focus on literacy alone. I don't know if anyone would disagree with me that its standard has fallen incredibly low. At least, I haven't met anyone who disagrees. The reality is that in the 38 years since independence, 80 students have been killed on the campus of Dhaka University, known as the Oxford of the East, and 23 more have been killed at Rajshahi University. Thousands of teachers have been humiliated, insulted, beaten, and even killed. The number of incidents involving guns, stabbings, and injuries is limitless, with no accurate statistics available. This is the result of vile politics. Alongside, other crimes are increasing by leaps and bounds daily. In the 200 years of British rule, the 24 years of Pakistani rule, and the 43 years of independent Bangladesh, one does not need to be told how much we have declined in terms of crimes like murder, robbery, corruption, and abductions.
What is the financial situation? The British nation that ruled us for two centuries handed over their capitalist economic system to our leaders along with their political system when they left. Our leaders blindly continued that system without any changes. The economic structure, designed to exploit and deplete the resources of a colonized nation, remained as the economic system of an independent country. In short, we became independent, first Pakistan and then Bangladesh, meaning our foreign rulers left, but they left behind their political, economic, educational, moral, and mental enslavement, which we are still dragging along in an endless cycle of poverty and misery.
Now, the question is, why did this happen? How did our leaders accept and impose foreign systems on the country so unconditionally? A long discussion is not possible in this short article, but briefly, as a result of long-term subjugation and the education of slavery, we suffer from a deep inferiority complex. Everything about Western civilization seems superior to us. Their political system is the best, their economic solutions are unparalleled, in short, they are everything, they are supreme. We are born to follow them blindly. We have no philosophy of life, no political, economic, or social system of our own. Our major leaders, mid-level leaders, minor leaders, and their followers, some worship American and British capitalism and democracy, some worship German Jew Karl Marx’s socialism and communism, and some worship the distorted form of these ideologies in Chinese communism. This is the result of the distorted mentality of inferiority developed over 43 years. The inevitable result of the British parliamentary democracy was military rule during the Pakistan era. After the end of military ruler Ayub Khan’s rule, Allah gave us another chance to choose a new path. We made another mistake, and we have never had the chance to correct that mistake. We have not yet risen to the intellectual level needed to overcome that mistake. Politically and economically, we are roughly divided into three groups today. Some parties believe in the parliamentary system imitating Western democracy and British-American systems. Some parties consider socialism and Russian and Chinese communism as the panacea for all problems. A third group believes that the Islamic social and state system is the best. Each of these groups has several sub-groups. Now, what should we common people do? We must carefully examine the basis of each of these parties and sub-groups to determine our future course of action. Otherwise, another grave mistake will be inevitable.
I have discussed the political views earlier; particularly democracy and socialism—democracy and socialism—are ideals imported from abroad due to our own inferiority complex. When do people accept something from others? Only when they believe they have nothing of their own, or what they have is far inferior, do they accept and beg for something from others. The British, after ruling for two hundred years, instilled in us through their education system that we have no viable way of life, or if we do, it is so inferior that it is unacceptable. Our leaders were not immune to this inferiority complex either. Having received the same education, they imposed the same materialistic Western system on us after the creation of Pakistan. What was the result? The result is well known to all. A group of people in power built grand houses; the number of zeros behind the bank balances kept increasing; they built mills and factories. All this was achieved through the labour and sweat of the poor farmers and hardworking people. They were so busy that they had no time to think about those poor farmers. If a Prime Minister doctrined in the Western materialistic civilization has twenty-four hours a day to work, let us b subtract eight hours for sleep and other needs, they are left with sixteen hours. Out of these sixteen hours, they must spend at least ten to twelve hours maintaining their position. At best, they get four to five hours to work for the country. Every hour, party members come to them for permits, licences to set up mills, import licences, jobs for their relatives, etc. They must please everyone, or they will go to the opposition. This means the Prime Minister loses his majority, and his ministry ends. The opposition exists only to oppose the government’s work, create unrest, and pull them down from power. So, all their time is spent just maintaining their position. Where is the time to work for us? This is why many promised agendas could not be implemented, and corruption could not be eradicated. What is the truth? To understand the truth, we need to think from a broader perspective. The profound inferiority complex instilled by the perverted education of foreign rulers has deeply affected our minds, especially among our so-called educated society. If we do not free our minds from this for a moment, I cannot convey my point.
First, the question is whether Allah exists. If you say no, then there is no further discussion because everything I have to say is based on Allah. Whether you believe it or not, Allah exists. Except for a handful of atheists, everyone believes in Allah. And it is to them that I speak. The second question is whether Allah is all-knowing and perfect. Naturally, the answer is that Allah is certainly all-knowing and perfect. Because one who is not perfect and complete is not fit to be Allah. If after creating humans, Allah did not teach them how to lead their lives on earth, if He did not show them the way, then He would not have done justice to humans. He would have left them helpless on earth to create any way of life they wanted, to fight, to wage wars, without any restrictions, and without having to account for anything. But did that happen? Did Allah not do justice to His creation? We know that He did not leave humans in uncertainty and helplessness. He sent the first man, Adam (AS), as a Messenger, giving him a specific way of life. Thus, Allah has sent His Messengers throughout the ages, providing guidance for human life. This has been happening for millions of years. Upon deep reflection, several truths emerge before us. The Messengers brought the path chosen by Allah and asked people to accept it. People accepted it and as a result, their personal and collective lives were filled with happiness and comfort. But what happened afterwards? After two to four hundred years, the devil within humans raised its head. Driven by pride, greed, jealousy, and the lure of fame and leadership, they distorted the divinely chosen way of life, and the most harmful thing they did was to forget the essence of that way of life and only focus on the external rituals or the skeleton. They even inserted or omitted self-serving opinions in the scriptures given by Allah, causing distortions (as with the Torah of the Jews and the Bible of the Christians). As a result, there was inevitable injustice, unrest, and bloodshed. Then Allah sent another Messenger. He reminded them that they had forgotten and distorted Allah’s given way of life, and were fighting over falsehood. Thus, the divinely given way of life has come to humans throughout the ages, bringing peace, justice, happiness, and prosperity. This way of life sometimes came for a nation, sometimes for a community, sometimes for a group. The forms of these ways of life depended on the conditions and circumstances of that specific nation, community, or family. The foundation remained the same, but the relatively less important commands were given by Allah in harmony with the conditions of the time. It never came for all of humanity at once. The way of life for all of humanity came through the last Messenger, Muhammad (SAW). Allah sent the best way of life for all humanity through the best human being.
The last guidance system sent by the Creator through the last Messenger Muhammad (SAW) was accepted and implemented collectively by a section of humanity, resulting in the establishment of absolute security and economic prosperity. In terms of security, absolute security was established. Economically, every person became prosperous. No human-made system could provide even a fraction of this to humanity. How was this unimaginable peaceful condition created? The only reason was that people rejected all human-made systems and accepted the Creator’s given way of life, implementing it comprehensively in their national and personal lives. They lived by the principle of ‘La ilaha illallah, we accept no law but Allah’s.’
The way of life (Deen) I am advocating for is not the same as the religion currently known as Islam. I am talking about the true Islam that Allah sent to earth through His Messenger, the Islam that, when established, gave an unparalleled era of peace and security to half of the world’s people. Over the last 1300 years, that true Islam has been so distorted that it has become its opposite. The so-called learned class has made this distorted Islam their means of livelihood. The unified Ummah of Muhammad is divided into factions, sects, and disputes over jurisprudence, engaging in infighting and splitting into thousands of parts. Another part, under the name of Islam, engages in terrorist activities, turning people away from Islam. The majority of the nation merely practices the formalities of that distorted religion in their personal lives. None of these is the true Islam of Allah and His Messenger because the literal meaning of the word Islam is peace. Those who follow Islam will live in peace. But the actual situation is quite the opposite. To rescue humanity from this condition, we must return to the true and unaltered Islam given by Allah. I have presented the outline of this Deen to the best of my knowledge and understanding before the people of my country and this world. It is only through the proper implementation of Islam that absolute peace and security can be established in this world and it is to this that I call. Thanks to Allah, a group of people have accepted that way of life as the truth and are calling others to it. Now, the only question is whether humanity will accept it and prove themselves to be the best of creation or reject it and prove to be the lowest of the low. Allah has presented this way of life to humans, saying that the truth has been presented before you, let whoever wishes accept it, and whoever wishes reject it.
Leave a Comment