Karachi: States and societies are struggling to find ways to deal with religion — or religious thought, to be precise. While most states see religion as a challenge, for the common man the attraction of religion is increasing. However, this attraction is not uniform as religion is also losing appeal in many parts of the world.
The question of religion is critical in Muslim societies which account for about 24 per cent of the world population. In many Muslim countries, religion has taken over policy discourse and religiosity is increasing among masses. Religion has also become an important question for Western countries, especially for those who have sizeable Muslims.
There are two aspects of Islam that worry the West: the so-called militant Islam and political Islam. The power elites and the majority of the intelligentsia in Muslim countries have little concern in terms of the rise of religious power in their countries. The West, too, seems ready to compromise on the narratives of political Islam as long as it helps control or counter militant tendencies among Muslim communities living there. Many Western countries see no harm if a few hundred among the tiny Muslim minorities hold radical political views.
However, they see political Islam as a problem in Muslim countries, mainly on two accounts. First, they think, radical political tendencies can easily transform into militant tendencies in Muslim majority states. Second, the West does not feel comfortable in dealing with Islamists when they come into power. The real concern of the West is violent religious extremism. These countries are confused about how to accommodate religion in their counter-extremism strategies. “Less religion or more religion” remains a critical question in policy formation in Western countries, which have failed to understand the religious extremism among Muslim immigrants.
The worry is that these Western approaches, which have a completely different context, inspire power and social elites in Muslim countries and the latter blindly follow such approaches. The nature of violent extremism in Muslim countries is different from those facing the West.
For Muslim societies, the major challenge is the increasing influence of religion. Religion is transforming Muslim societies, and a religious-socialisation process is shaping the behaviour of Muslim urban classes. Religiosity always connects a person with a broader discourse. Religiosity itself is a neutral phenomenon but within religious discourse, certain actors exploit the sentiments of the people. Managing these actors is a major challenge in Muslim societies.
In Pakistan, the power elites are scared of touching religious issues. Religious actors are largely considered part of the problem, but they should also be considered part of the solution. The power elites do not have connectivity with moderate religious scholars, and their views about religious communities are based on their interaction with the leaderships of religious parties. These parties do not necessarily represent moderate voices. A few such moderate voices might be found in religious political parties, but they do not have a major impact.
The religious elites are not responding to the challenges state and society are facing. As a result, radical narratives are strengthened, and constitutional, legal and educational issues are becoming more complex. Pakistan and other Muslim countries cannot afford the subversion of their constitutions as social imbalances and radicalism can completely transform the situation.
Many of the counter-extremism programmes in the West also focus on the countries of origin of immigrant communities. Western nations try to export their models to Muslim countries and think they will be effective. The Western nations engage the religious scholars of immigrants’ native countries. It has been witnessed that those who have been engaged by the West were part of the religious elites. The engagement empowers them, and they make discourse more complex.
For the West it is a community issue, but for Muslim countries it becomes a bigger challenge, as the religious elite wants to transform the system to make them stakeholders in power.
How can Muslim countries deal with religion and religious actors? Egypt is trying to manage Islamists by making an alliance with Salafis. Saudi Arabia and Iran are exploiting sectarian tendencies and trying to achieve strategic objectives through proxies. Most Arab states feel comfortable with militants It’s an easy choice for Muslim rulers, who want to maintain the status quo, as the militants demand only resources while the Islamists want regime change.
The writer is a security analyst
By arrangement with Dawn
