This way forward for Muslims

Long before Sept. 11, Muslim scholars and activists were asking, "What's wrong with the Muslim world?" The consensus can best be summarized by the Koranic verse, "God does not change the condition of people until they change what is within themselves."

Classical Muslim scholars explained this verse to mean that God showers blessings upon people, and only changes their condition when they forget their humble beginnings, substituting gratefulness with arrogance.

Thirteen centuries later, as Muslim populations emerged from colonialism, activists returned to this verse, albeit with a different take. Wretched conditions will not change, they exhorted, until people take the initiative to change their own condition. It was, in essence, a call to recover the dynamic Islamic tenet of personal responsibility for one's actions before the Creator.

One of the classical writings on this theme was Shikwa-Jawab-e-Shikwa (Complaint and Answer) written in 1912 by Muhammad Iqbal, poet laureate of the Indian subcontinent. In Shikwa,Muslims complain to God about their miserable conditions of poverty, illiteracy, and subjugation; all the while, they pray, fast, perform haj and recite the Koran. In Jawab-e-Shikwa (Response to the Complaint), they are told to look in the mirror, to see how much they have fallen short in living the essential features of Islam, such as truthfulness, intelligent inquiry and mercy. Dogmatism, hair-splitting, and hypocrisy are all condemned as attempts to replace substance with disingenuous form.

Iqbal's urgent call for reform seemed for naught as the Muslim world experienced two devastating losses during the 20th century: the dismantling of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924, and the loss of Jerusalem in 1967. The former represented an institution of governance spanning 14 centuries, while the latter represented a spiritual nexus of worship, next only to Mecca and Medina. Today, many see the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, the brutal occupation of Palestine, genocidal sanctions against the Iraqi people, and the stationing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia as further humiliations.

While some seek to blame external elements, a corps of Muslim scholars and activists look to the internal: The wretched conditions faced by Muslims will not cease until there is a fundamental change from within. If Muslims are to emerge from their chronic instability, these scholars argue, faith in God must be strengthened. Self-defeating attitudes prevalent among Muslims -- reliance on conspiracy theories, blaming the West, victimization, nostalgia for a "golden age" of Islam, and the search for a saviour -- all reflect weakness in faith in God. While such an approach may seem arcane to the secular mind, the importance of the Divine in Muslim thought should not be underestimated.

Contemporary Muslim scholars have urged Muslims to do away with conspiracy theories. Echoing Iqbal, they point out that such theories serve to conveniently absolve Muslims of personal responsibility to change their situation for the better. "Why bother trying when someone else controls your destiny?" is the pathetic refrain.

This outlook further places Muslims at a psychological disadvantage, for it makes one's adversaries seem more powerful than is actually true. When one knows that all power belongs to God, the fear of one's enemies diminishes. The renowned Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi advises that Muslims will not solve homegrown problems of corruption, illiteracy, and sectarianism by constantly blaming the West.

Malcolm X struggled through racism by taking responsibility for his own shortcomings and finding the fortitude to face future battles, all within the moral framework of the Koran. In particular, one cannot use racism as a perpetual cover for one's own shortcomings. In today's post-Sept. 11 climate, Muslims need to fortify from within, and then face the challenges of Islamophobia.

The Koran also encourages people to look to history to see God's moral plan. Civilizations have come and gone; their destruction being a result of their own arrogance and moral corruption. Muslims are not immune to this paradigm; the golden age of Islamic rule gradually came to an end for the same reasons as the demise of other empires. Today, some Muslims look back to that age with longing, with little analysis of what led to ascendancy, and what led to decline. Nostalgia, without a moral lesson, leads to intellectual paralysis.

Over the past few decades, Muslims have looked toward autocratic leaders as saviours to lead them out of their current dilemma. Like the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Lion in The Wizard of Oz,they believe the only way to improve their lot is to place hope in some larger-than-life figure -- an Osama bin Laden, for example. Inevitably, they are disappointed. Just as the Oz characters discover their own heart, intelligence and courage, Muslims, too, need to uncover their own potential.

With the failure of pan-Arabism and communism, and the current antipathy toward the United States, Muslim populations are turning to Islam as the indigenous solution. The future struggle will lie in how it is interpreted and implemented.

Sheema Khan is chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Canada.