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Perspectives
Malaysian Prime Minister addresses the Organization of Islamic Conference
By Prime Minister of Malaysia
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Updated Oct 28, 2003 - 7:05:00 PM
[Editor’s note: The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan would like our readers to study the speech delivered Oct. 16, 2003, by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad during the opening of the 10th session of the Islamic Summit Conference (OIC) of 57 Muslim countries, held in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Min. Farrakhan believes this address is an important message for Muslims concerning the future of Islam. The following is an excerpt of his speech, which can be read in its entirety at www.oicsummit2003.com.]
The whole world is looking at us. Certainly 1.3 billion Muslims, one-sixth of the world’s population are placing their hopes in us, in this meeting, even though they may be cynical about our will and capacity to even decide to restore the honor of Islam and the Muslims, much less to free their brothers and sisters from the oppression and humiliation from which they suffer today.
I will not enumerate the instances of our humiliation and oppression, nor will I once again condemn our detractors and oppressors. It would be an exercise in futility, because they are not going to change their attitudes just because we condemn them. If we are to recover our dignity and that of Islam, our religion, it is we who must decide; it is we who must act.
To begin with, the governments of all the Muslim countries can close ranks and have a common stand; if not on all issues, at least on some major ones, such as on Palestine. We are all Muslims. We are all oppressed. We are all being humiliated. But we who have been raised by Allah above our fellow Muslims, to rule our countries, have never really tried to act in concert in order to exhibit at our level the brotherhood and unity that Islam enjoins upon us.
But, not only are our governments divided, the Muslim ummah is also divided, and divided again and again. Over the last 1,400 years the interpreters of Islam, the learned ones, the ulamas have interpreted and reinterpreted the single Islamic religion brought by Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), so differently that now we have a thousand religions which are often so much at odds with one another that we often fight and kill each other.
From being a single ummah we have allowed ourselves to be divided into numerous sects, mazhabs and tarikats, each more concerned with claiming to be the true Islam than our oneness as the Islamic ummah. We fail to notice that our detractors and enemies do not care whether we are true Muslims or not. To them, we are all Muslims, followers of a religion and a Prophet whom they declare promotes terrorism, and we are all their sworn enemies. They will attack and kill us, invade our lands, bring down our governments whether we are Sunnis or Syiahs, Alawait or Druze or whatever. And we aid and abet them by attacking and weakening each other, and sometimes by doing their bidding, acting as their proxies to attack fellow Muslims. We try to bring down our governments through violence, succeeding to weaken and impoverish our countries.
We ignore entirely, and we continue to ignore, the Islamic injunction to unite and to be brothers to each other, we, the governments of the Islamic countries and the ummah. But this is not all that we ignore about the teachings of Islam. We are enjoined to Read, Iqra i.e., to acquire knowledge. The early Muslims took this to mean translating and studying the works of the Greeks and other scholars before Islam. And these Muslim scholars added to the body of knowledge through their own studies.
The early Muslims produced great mathematicians and scientists, scholars, physicians and astronomers etc., and they excelled in all the fields of knowledge of their times, besides studying and practicing their own religion of Islam. As a result, the Muslims were able to develop and extract wealth from their lands and through their world trade, able to strengthen their defenses, protect their people and give them the Islamic way of life, Addin, as prescribed by Islam. At the time, the Europeans of the Middle Ages were still superstitious and backward, the enlightened Muslims had already built a great Muslim civilization, respected and powerful, more than able to compete with the rest of the world and able to protect the ummah from foreign aggression. The Europeans had to kneel at the feet of Muslim scholars in order to access their own scholastic heritage.
***
But halfway through the building of the great Islamic civilization came new interpreters of Islam, who taught that acquisition of knowledge by Muslims meant only the study of Islamic theology. The study of science, medicine, etc., was discouraged. Intellectually, the Muslims began to regress. With intellectual regression, the great Muslim civilization began to falter and wither. But for the emergence of the Ottoman warriors, Muslim civilization would have disappeared with the fall of Granada in 1492.
The early successes of the Ottomans were not accompanied by an intellectual renaissance. Instead, they became more and more preoccupied with minor issues, such as whether tight trousers and peak caps were Islamic, whether printing machines should be allowed or electricity used to light mosques. The Industrial Revolution was totally missed by the Muslims. And the regression continued until the British and French instigated rebellion against Turkish rule, brought about the downfall of the Ottomans, the last Muslim world power, and replaced it with European colonies and not independent states as promised. It was only after World War II that these colonies became independent.
Apart from the new nation-states, we also accepted the western democratic system. This also divided us because of the political parties and groups that we form, some of which claim Islam for themselves, reject the Islam of other parties and refuse to accept the results of the practice of democracy if they fail to gain power for themselves. They resort to violence, thus destabilizing and weakening Muslim countries.
With all these developments over the centuries, the ummah and the Muslim civilization became so weak that, at one time, there was not a single Muslim country which was not colonized or hegemonized by the Europeans. But regaining independence did not help to strengthen the Muslims. Their states were weak and badly administered, constantly in a state of turmoil. The Europeans could do what they liked with Muslim territories. It is not surprising that they should excise Muslim land to create the state of Israel to solve their Jewish problem. Divided, the Muslims could do nothing effective to stop the Balfour and Zionist transgression.
***
Allah has said in Surah Ar-Ra’d, verse 11 that He will not change the fate of a community until the community has tried to change its fate itself. The early Muslims were as oppressed as we are presently. But after their sincere and determined efforts to help themselves in accordance with the teachings of Islam, Allah had helped them to defeat their enemies and to create a great and powerful Muslim civilization. But what effort have we made, especially with the resources that He has endowed us with?
We are now 1.3 billion strong. We have the biggest oil reserve in the world. We have great wealth. We are not as ignorant as the Jahilliah who embraced Islam. We are familiar with the workings of the world’s economy and finances. We control 57 out of the 180 countries in the world. Our votes can make or break international organizations. Yet, we seem more helpless than the small number of Jahilliah converts who accepted the Prophet as their leader. Why? Is it because of Allah’s will or is it because we have interpreted our religion wrongly, or failed to abide by the correct teachings of our religion, or done the wrong things?
***
This is what comes from the superficial interpretation of the Qur’an, stressing not the substance of the Prophet’s sunnah and the Qur’an’s injunctions, but rather the form, the manner and the means used in the 1st Century of the Hijrah. And it is the same with the other teachings of Islam. We are more concerned with the forms rather than the substance of the words of Allah and adhering only to the literal interpretation of the traditions of the Prophet.
We may want to recreate the first century of the Hijrah, the way of life in those times, in order to practice what we think to be the true Islamic way of life. But we will not be allowed to do so. Our detractors and enemies will take advantage of the resulting backwardness and weakness in order to dominate us. Islam is not just for the 7th Century A.D. Islam is for all times. And times have changed.
Whether we like it or not, we have to change, not by changing our religion, but by applying its teachings in the context of a world that is radically different from that of the first century of the Hijrah. Islam is not wrong, but the interpretations by our scholars, who are not prophets even though they may be very learned, can be wrong. We have a need to go back to the fundamental teachings of Islam to find out whether we are indeed believing in and practicing the Islam that the Prophet preached. It cannot be that we are all practicing the correct and true Islam, when our beliefs are so different from one another.
Today we, the whole Muslim ummah, are treated with contempt and dishonor. Our religion is denigrated. Our holy places desecrated. Our countries are occupied. Our people starved and killed. None of our countries are truly independent. We are under pressure to conform to our oppressors’ wishes about how we should behave, how we should govern our lands, how we should think, even.
***
Our only reaction is to become more and more angry. Angry people cannot think properly. And so, we find some of our people reacting irrationally. They launch their own attacks, killing just about anybody, including fellow Muslims, to vent their anger and frustration. Their governments can do nothing to stop them. The enemy retaliates and puts more pressure on the governments. And the governments have no choice but to give in, to accept the directions of the enemy, literally to give up their independence of action.
With this, their people and the ummah become angrier and turn against their own governments. Every attempt at a peaceful solution is sabotaged by more indiscriminate attacks calculated to anger the enemy and prevent any peaceful settlement. But the attacks solve nothing. The Muslims simply get more oppressed.
There is a feeling of hopelessness among the Muslim countries and their people. They feel that they can do nothing right. They believe that things can only get worse. The Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews. They will forever be poor, backward and weak. Some believe, as I have said, this is the Will of Allah, that the proper state of the Muslims is to be poor and oppressed in this world.
But is it true that we should do and can do nothing for ourselves? Is it true that 1.3 billion people can exert no power to save themselves from the humiliation and oppression inflicted upon them by a much smaller enemy? Can they only lash back blindly in anger? Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people?
***
Surely, the 23-year struggle of the Prophet can provide us with some guidance as to what we can and should do.
We know he and his early followers were oppressed by the Qhuraish. Did he launch retaliatory strikes? No. He was prepared to make strategic retreats. He sent his early followers to a Christian country and he himself later migrated to Madinah. There, he gathered followers, built up his defense capability and ensured the security of his people. At Hudaibiyah, he was prepared to accept an unfair treaty, against the wishes of his companions and followers. During the peace that followed, he consolidated his strength, and eventually he was able to enter Mecca and claim it for Islam. Even then, he did not seek revenge. And the peoples of Mecca accepted Islam and many became his most powerful supporters, defending the Muslims against all their enemies.
That, briefly, is the story of the struggle of the Prophet. We talk so much about following the sunnah of the Prophet. We quote the instances and the traditions profusely. But we actually ignore all of them.
If we use the faculty to think that Allah has given us, then we should know that we are acting irrationally. We fight without any objective, without any goal other than to hurt the enemy because they hurt us. Naively, we expect them to surrender. We sacrifice lives unnecessarily, achieving nothing other than to attract more massive retaliation and humiliation.
It is surely time that we pause to think. But will this be wasting time? For well over half a century, we have fought over Palestine. What have we achieved? Nothing. We are worse off than before. If we had paused to think, then we could have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory. Pausing and thinking calmly is not a waste of time. We have a need to make a strategic retreat and to calmly assess our situation.
We are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today, the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.
We may not be able to do that. We may not be able to unite all the 1.3 billion Muslims. We may not be able to get all the Muslim governments to act in concert. But even if we can get a third of the ummah and a third of the Muslim states to act together, we can already do something. Remember that the Prophet did not have many followers when he went to Madinah. But he united the Ansars and the Muhajirins and eventually he became strong enough to defend Islam.
***
We also know that not all non-Muslims are against us. Some are well-disposed towards us. Some even see our enemies as their enemies. Even among the Jews, there are many who do not approve of what the Israelis are doing.
We must not antagonize everyone. We must win their hearts and minds. We must win them to our side, not by begging for help from them, but by the honorable way that we struggle to help ourselves. We must not strengthen the enemy by pushing everyone into their camps through irresponsible and un-Islamic acts.
***
We must build up our strength in every field, not just in armed might. Our countries must be stable and well administered, must be economically and financially strong, industrially competent and technologically advanced. This will take time, but it can be done and it will be time well spent. We are enjoined by our religion to be patient.
***
We know that the Jahilliah Arabs were given to feuding, to killing each other simply because they were from different tribes. The Prophet preached the brotherhood of Islam to them and they were able to overcome their hatred for each other, become united and help towards the establishment of the great Muslim civilization. Can we say that what the Jahilliah (the ignorant) could do, we, the modern Muslims, cannot do? If not all, at least some of us can do. If not the renaissance of our great civilization, at least ensuring the security of the ummah.
To do the things that are suggested will not even require all of us to give up our differences with each other. We need only to call a truce, so we can act together in tackling only certain problems of common interests, the Palestine problem for example.
In any struggle, in any war, nothing is more important than concerted and coordinated action. A degree of discipline is all that is needed. The Prophet lost in Jabal Uhud because his forces broke rank. We know that, yet we are unwilling to discipline ourselves and to give up our irregular and uncoordinated actions. We need to be brave, but not foolhardy. We need to think, not just of our reward in the afterlife but also of the worldly results of our mission.
The Qur’an tells us that when the enemy sues for peace, we must react positively. True, the treaty offered is not favorable to us. But we can negotiate. The Prophet did, at Hudaibiyah. And, in the end, he triumphed.
***
The enemy will probably welcome these proposals and we will conclude that the promoters are working for the enemy. But think. We are up against a people who think. They survived 2,000 years of pogroms, not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy, so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these, they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also.
Of late, because of their power and their apparent success, they have become arrogant. And arrogant people, like angry people, will make mistakes, will forget to think. They are already beginning to make mistakes. And they will make more mistakes. There may be windows of opportunity for us now and in the future. We must seize these opportunities.
But to do so, we must get our acts right. Rhetoric is good. It helps us to expose the wrongs perpetrated against us, perhaps win us some sympathy and support. It may strengthen our spirit, our will and resolve to face the enemy. We can and we should pray to Allah (S.W.T.), for in the end, it is He Who will determine whether we succeed or fail. We need His blessings and His help in our endeavors.
***
As I said at the beginning, the whole world is looking at us, the whole Muslim ummah is placing their hopes in this conference of the leaders of Islamic nations. They expect us not just to vent our frustrations and anger, through words and gestures; not just to pray for Allah’s blessings. They expect us to do something, to act. We cannot say we cannot do anything, we, the leaders of the Muslim nations. We cannot say we cannot unite, even when faced with the destruction of our religion and the ummah.
We know we can. There are many things that we can do. There are many resources that we have at our disposal. What is needed is merely the will to do it. As Muslims, we must be grateful for the guidance of our religion, we must do what needs to be done, willingly and with determination. Allah has not raised us, the leaders, above the others so we may enjoy power for ourselves only. The power we wield is for our people, for the ummah, for Islam. We must have the will to make use of this power judiciously, prudently, concertedly. Inshallah, we will triumph in the end.
