Saadia's Column

Where Have All The Leaders Gone? (April 2003)

For my generation of Muslims, or any Muslims for that matter, it's hard to find spiritual or moral role-models in the world today.
Most of us are passionate about making the world a better place. We want to use our education and intelligence to help establish a healthy and true Islam in the world. We want to be a part of much-needed change in the world order. But let's face it - it's hard to hit out when you don't know where to hit. It's hard to be a vital part of a movement when there's none you can believe in wholeheartedly.

Contemporary Muslim leaders are either so weak and ineffectual as to command little respect, or they like to vent their sound and fury indiscriminately. The former are guilty of doing little to change whatever is wrong in the world today. The latter have the blood of thousands on their hands. And to say, "So what, they've been killing our people for decades," is an unconvincing argument. Because you don't fight evil with evil. That's not what our Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) taught us, at least not to my understanding.

And yet the vast majority of liberal intellectuals sits around and gape while the ‘fundos’ line up after the Pied Pipers who brandish the mightiest swords. Pens are losing big time in the 21st century. How many people have even heard of, let alone read, scholars like Seyyed Hossain Nasr, Gai Eaton or Mohammed Asad? Certainly not enough to compare with the diehard followers of terrorists. But even reading of scholarly works on Islam is not enough. The important thing is to implement true Islamic ideology in our lives.

I think Muslims should be looking inward now, not outward. Our reaction to recent events has been either belligerent or apologetic. And I have to say, I prefer the belligerence. There's nothing worse than the kowtowing Muslim, apologizing profusely for the acts of a crazy few, saying things like, "Islam doesn't condone flying planes into skyscrapers." Well, duh!

But neither belligerence nor bootlicking will help the situation of the Muslim world. As I said, we need to look inward. We need to stop trying so hard to prove to the west that Islam isn't about this, and it isn't about that. We wave the Quran around, saying, "Look! There's nothing in here about violence, or oppression of women, or blah blah blah." But do we really follow that? How can we argue convincingly about the beauty of Islam as a religion, when no Muslim country in the world enacts this? Why are we so concerned with our image in the world, as opposed to the deep-rooted defects in our implementation of Islam around the world?

What happened to leaders of old, who actually feared the great responsibility that came with their position? I really believe that Muslims around the world have a great reservoir of innate strength, pride and courage. If only we could channel this into something positive; to unite and create leadership that would rekindle the Islamic glory of the past.