A Case of Flawed Liberalism

Martin Luther King Jr once said, “The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.”

 A recent article in the Express Tribune blog (‘'Calls to free Qadri are not Reflective of PTI: Can we please stop the bashing?') made an interesting point quoted verbatim below,

“Pakistan is the only country in the world where instead of being anti-war, so called liberals are vocal proponents of military actions, consequences be damned”

The writer’s words reminded me of a photograph I had seen nearly a year ago, soon after Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head. The photo was of a woman participating in a protest against the shooting holding a placard with the words ‘Drones Kill So Malala Can Live”

It was, without a doubt, one of the scariest photos I had seen in my life

At that moment, I realized that extremism can take many forms. With the plethora of ideologies cultivated, extremism can seep into our thinking and that it can, at any moment, blind us to our own flaws.

For example, the lady’s stance that was so boldly proclaimed on her placard seems to have arisen from some asinine type of logic that can only be summarized as ‘We kill people who kill people because killing people is wrong!’

This clearly goes against the principles of liberalism which is really a beautiful concept, in that it is grounded on the concepts of liberty and equality for all human beings. Why am I bringing up liberalism? Because it is certainly true that a lot of self-professed liberals I know seem to have adopted a similar stance. Ironically, they fail to realize that such a crude perversion of liberalism is a denial of equal rights and liberty. It proclaims that the lives of a few innocent men, women and children on our borders mean nothing as long as we are ‘safe’.

Liberals. Seculars. Moderates. Fundamentalists. Extremists. These are divisions that cut us deeper than anything else. Before we divide ourselves into any category or ideology, why don’t we look at what Islam has to say? No, I am not trying to wax religious here but if we are all so interested in following so many ideologies, let us look at the one ideology that may unite us! True, the former are mostly political ideologies but we are not known for which political ideology we follow. Ever since 9/11, the world has been mostly interested in the fact that we are Muslims not if we are moderates, liberals, right or left-wing. For Muslims, Islam is an inevitable part of our identity so instead of shying away from it, why don’t we learn to aceept and embrace it?  Also, let’s keep in mind that there is no place for extremism in Islam.  In the fourth chapter of the Quran the following injunction has been given:

“Do not go to excess in your religion.” (4:171)

The same point has been made in a hadith. The Prophet of Islam observed:

“You should restrain yourselves from committing excesses (ghulu) in religion. For it was due to their having gone to extremes in religion that the previous communities were destroyed.” (Al-Nasai, Ibn Majah, Musnad Ahmad, 1/215, 347)

In the light of the above verse and Hadith, maybe what Islam has to say is the solution we have all been looking for.

In an article ‘Selctive Islam’ published in 1989, current PTI leader Imran Khan observed the same, “What needs to be done is to somehow start a dialogue between the two extremes. In order for this to happen, the group on whom the greatest proportion of our educational resources are spent in this country must study Islam properly. Whether they become practicing Muslims or believe in God is entirely a personal choice; as the Quran tells us that there is “no compulsion in religion.” However, they must arm themselves with knowledge as a weapon to fight extremism. Turning up their noses at extremism is not going to solve the problem.

The Quran calls Muslims “the middle nation”, i.e. not of extremes. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) was told to simply give the message and not worry whether people converted or not, therefore, there is no question in Islam of forcing your opinions on anyone else.”

There is a need to study in-depth as to what Islam really has to say. Between the clutches of extremism and false liberalism, we may wake up to find that what we have been practicing is flawed. And when that happen, what will there be left to call ourselves, or to follow?