Muslims, who are known for their particular patriotism and devotion to the tradition of their country, have suffered too much nowadays from national oppressions. It is clear, that since the death of the prophet Muhammad, the Muslim society has not been completely formed. Thus, his “people”, in order to retrieve a Homeland of their own or, at least, a society, have made many attempts throughout history. Each one, usually, was followed by the chosen one - the Messiah, who was likely to be the savior of the nation (Maudoodi, Ahmad & Ansari, 1979).
The wave of Islamic revival has swept through the countries of traditional spread of Islam in the 60s-80s of the 20 century and in the early 21 century. His supporters believe that the only sources of Islam are Quran and Sunnah and advocate for such a change of public order, which would lead to the implementation of the fundamental principles of Islam in the times of Muhammad. ("Islamic Modernism and Islamic Revival - Oxford Islamic Studies Online", 2016).
Islam itself is a worldwide spread monotheistic study – its priesthood shares the highly moral as well as rational religion. The world-famous German poet Goethe also showed understanding of the true nature of Islam, as he wrote: "The Belief in one God always uplifts the spirit, because serves to the criteria of the inner man".
As a good expert of Islam and psychology, Goethe realized that the meaning of dhikr is that "shuffling Mohammedan rosaries for glorifying the names of Allah, reflecting the ninety-nine of His qualities, is a great prayer of praise.” A long as Islam is completely opposite to the western religion believes, it “provides a moral shield against the ‘onslaught of western ‘anti-values’ it acts as an anchor for individuals and social groups caught in the tempest of incertitude, relativism and an identity crisis.” (Rāhnamā, 1994)
In order to share their ideals with the world, which surrounds them, to prove their readiness to accept westernization as it is, Muslim countries such as Iran attempt to reformate not only material aspect of “revival”, but also change worldview of their people. Reza Shah (Pahlavi) - the one, who started the long chain of changes in his homeland in order to ruin antiquated system of his country’s government deserves – successfully rose in rank from the prime minister to the shah.
Inheriting the example of the Turkish Republic, the main purpose of his transformations Pahlavi identified as the establishment in Iran infrastructure of a modern state. He destroyed and build anew obsolete aspects of Muslims’ life (Arfa, n.d.). More and more new governments prove that it is sometimes needed to destroy the old and build from scratch. Sometimes it is nearly impossible to improve the old system for it to correspond to the requirements of the new world. Even though this may be hard, it is possible. However, it requires a lot of work, patience and dedication from the people in charge of the nation. They need to be open to change and see the future before them. In just a couple of words, these people need to be true leaders in order to bring a nation to a new level acceptable in order to be competitive in the modern globalized world.
In the framework of the legislative reform of 1926-1929, the Majlis adopted new criminal, civil and commercial codes, which were based on the norms of Western European legislation. In addition to that, the Majilis build schools and established universities. An American economist Arthur Millspaugh was hired to reconstruct the economic system. Moreover, women were emancipated from old traditional prohibitions, which allowed them to enter universities, reveal faces from veils, allowed them to vote. Not only that, but the Majilis also made officials wear only European-style clothes and instituted French-origin court structure. (Bashiri, 2004).
We cannot ignore the fact that Muslims, on the contrary to Christians, chase a theocentric model of worldview. They live in outdated Koran concepts in their life, which complicates for them the period of adaptation to modernity. Due to their moralities, it is the only humanistic approach, which could possibly be in treating people. Those, who integrate other societies stand out greatly from the mass of the people. They dress differently, eat differently, act differently and cannot be unnoticed. However, this really is what makes them who they are. This is part of their culture and their history and they have all the right to care for it, cherish it for future generation.
They follow the steps of their God and what he told them, willingly denying personal development and freedom of choice (Michel, n.d.). Besides, in recent years the population abruptly increased, which, counting the above, impossible living conditions and persistent integration difficulties, leads to the whole nation’s downfall. However, modern European government does all its best in order to keep legacy of Muslim’s culture safe, as well as to make representatives of this nation respectable citizens of Europe (Laurence, 2012).
According to Mawdudi, an Indian-Pakistani educator, scholar and philosopher, government does have directly link with the religion, thus its role must not be underrated. He defended Islam’s ideals in front of European government, stating that there are aspects in his people’s faith, which must be kept inviolable. Such is an unbreakable connection between the spiritual life and the mortal one as well as their oneness with the God. Thus, Mawdudi said, “Men’s status in the universe having thus been determined, it follows logically that he has no right to lay down the role of his conduct and decide the right and wrong of it” (Nasr, 1996).
Perhaps we should also point out the fact that Islam revivalism is not a united movement. Unfortunately for Muslims themselves, this could also be a reason of their low society status. If only at least a half of them had convened a national gathering, Islam would have become a world-respected force. Nevertheless, there is a very little amount of issues that all people would agree on. There is probably no one issue that will find agreement throughout the whole world or country or even a city. People think differently and believe in different things and that is what makes us all unique and special.
The main root lies within people – not all of them are ready to comprehend the ideas of “neo-Islam” or, at least, of the world which surrounds them. Not all of them even find democracy a rightful type of government. Thus, as long as the situation looks that way, Islam cannot fight for its rights in this world. Nevertheless, nowadays Muslims are the best organized among the representatives of Middle-East nationalities (Momayezi, 1994).
Some of them struggle for their country. Deep inside their hearts burn with the flame of the desire of making it equal to other countries. The world is to let them keep it burning.
References
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