The world, having seen the failure of the so-called world orders, is in dire need of a just world order which can be provided by the Muslim Ummah, provided that it follows in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad, who 1400 years ago, ushered in for the first time a truly just world order. Will the Muslims prepare themselves to bring about this just world order, asks OMAR AFZAL.
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for a just world order in his address to Ethiopian parliament (May 2011). Iran’s Ahmedinijad pitched for a reform of the international order. Apparently it is a long standing demand, especially of the developing world.
After the collapse of USSR, its ideology was proven to be a failed experiment and the world’s attention turned to the establishment of a new and ‘just’ world order which would promote global peace and security and foster international solidarity. Generally, it was assumed that a just world order will bring in at least:
1. Peace (as ending the wars is the only moral and pragmatic policy to rescue our world);
2. Restore Economic Justice and Fiscal Sanity;
3. Limit Government for the Restoration of Individual Liberty;
4. Consumer Freedom and Free Markets; and
5. Respect for and Protection of Global Ecosystem.
Expectations were raised. The world was to be rebuilt on new principles and justice established universally. The demise of communism led Western values dominate and the world re-organised on the basis of ‘global’ co-operation and international solidarity rather than on confrontation and conflict.
Two decades have passed and expectations have remained unfulfilled. The gap between the rich and poor nations continues to grow and very few have seen any real change. The slogans have changed, as have some governments and a few flags, but for many, the new order has brought nothing tangible.
Some 1400 years ago when the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) appeared on the horizon, the global society was suffering from similar injustices.
Verily, man is bound to lose himself, unless he be one of those who attain faith (in God); and do “good.” (Al-Qur’ān – 103:2-3)
Muhammad loudly proclaimed God’s words: Belief must show itself in human behaviour.
TRUSTEE OR OWNER?
When Allah raised the human race on earth, He told the angles: (2:30) that the human race is only Khalifa = trustees; they have to run their affairs by His guidance sent from time to time (2:38).
Whatever the human race needed for its sustenance and survival on the earth is for all human beings. He has to toil for it without hurting others or hoarding the resources for his exclusive use:
1. Each person is to have equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for the society.
2. Social and economic inequalities are permissible, but only to the extent that they are both a) to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged, and b) attached to offices open to all.
Prophet Muhammad made human beings reject the ‘contingencies and biases of historical fate’ such as their tribes’ or nations’ power, geographical position, etc.
They could choose the principles of: equality, self-determination – “the right of a people to settle its own affairs, self-defence – “against attack, the right to form alliances,” and finally, the principle that treaties are to be respected, “provided they are consistent with the other principles governing the relations of states”.
According to him, among the human rights are the rights to life, to liberty, to property and to equality before the law. Why this hankering for a just social order, especially in the present context?
The stark reality is:
– The richest 20 per cent of the world’s population still earns 60 times more than the poorest 20 per cent.
– The disproportionate distribution of the world’s resources threatens the world with environmental and economic crises.
In part, it was these crises that formed the motivation for a new order. Global problems can only be resolved through global co-operation and solidarity. The obvious answer was a new world order.
If the current level of population growth continues, over one billion people in Africa will be without the basic necessities of life, such as food and water by the year 2025. Poverty and political unrest due to disputes over resources have generated huge refugee flows. There are 75 million people displaced every year. Of the 75 million, 2 million migrate from the poor nations to the richer countries in search of a better life. Some may say they are the lucky ones, but often they face greater hardship in their adopted lands than at home. They face a variety of new social problems and are forced to overcome different challenges. The terminology may have changed, but the reality has not.
The New World Order is said to be marked by three notions: democracy, market economy and peace and co-operation.
As to the present world order, it was based on three citadels of positivism, namely, sovereignty, nation-statehood and the liberal notion of property, none of which can offer adequate solutions to the current crises of humankind. The new order is, in fact, not new, as its economic, military and philosophical underpinnings have much in common with those of the world order established after the first and second World Wars. The present world order leads the way to a zero sum game of some sort; everyone wins everything or everyone loses everything.
Fortunately, not everyone subscribes to Fukuyama’s thesis concerning ‘the end of history’.
They do not believe that history ends with liberalism’s victory over communism. The West may think that the end of communism is the total exhaustion of all viable systematic alternatives to Western ideology. The universalisation of Western liberal democracy, crafted by imitating the norms set in the old world order, cannot be the ultimate point of humankind’s ideological evolution. In a rapidly changing world order, those who do not accept this as the end of the story have a duty towards themselves and others not to remain marginalised.
THE ALTERNATIVE
There is an alternative. We must strive to understand the contemporary world and apply the principle of trusteeship that is natural to all communities. The concept of the world being a trust in the hands of humankind is nothing new and it is not limited to any one community, or civilization.
Understanding that God gave us the world as a trust, and we are accountable to Him leads us to adopt a special world view. It is this world-view – God as the Creator and Sustainer, and the Earth to be shared by all His creation offers us the only viable alternative for the future direction of humankind and the answer to our various problems. (al-A’raf 7.129); Certainly, to God belongs all that the heavens and the earth contain” (al- Hajj, 22.64).
A new world order should be built upon brotherhood and cooperation among all the nations of the world. True understanding of trusteeship was a significant milestone in human history. In the past the Muslims successfully tried to create human societies based on freedom, equality and sharing the resources.
In a society be it domestic or global, where the world is seen as trust and concept of trusteeship is embedded in the hearts of individuals and rulers, justice emerges in a natural manner. Where the concept of “Amana: is forgotten, sources of production and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few. Lack of effective motivation to reduce inequalities is bound to destroy the feelings of brotherhood that submission to God ultimately creates. Submission is not restricted to a few rituals. God did not promise salvation for adherence to rituals (107:1-4). A just human society must balance “rituals” with benevolence, and it is possible only when human accountability to God is in the driver’s seat. Just laws and educating good manners is not enough to suppress the “greed” innately ingrained in human heart.
The resources with which God has endowed this world are finite but sufficient to cater for the well-being of all, if used efficiently and equitably. Khilafa (guardianship) of man should lead us to find ways of utilizing the God-given resources in so efficient and equitable a manner that the well-being of all human beings is ensured. This will come about only if the resources are used with a sense of responsibility and a constraint determined by Divine Guidance.
The Muslims appear to have lost the sense of Godly trust. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and Oman – with a total population of approximately 26 million have a combined GNP of about 150 billion dollars. The other Arab states, with a total population of about 205 million, have a combined GNP of 200 million dollars. As a result, GNP per capita in the ‘rich six’ is about 9,400 dollars as compared to only 975 dollars in the poor states, a ratio of almost 10 to 1 (Rabie, 1992. p.103).
Expand the concept to the Muslim majority areas and see the immense divide between Brunei and Bangladesh. Brunei’s GNP rate per capita is slightly more than 15,000 US dollars; in Bangladesh, it is only 179 dollars. The ratio is a staggering 84 to 1.
In the last five decades, we have witnessed how the uneven distribution of strategic resources was used to destroy Islamic brotherhood. Muslim countries spent billions of dollars on junk weapons to protect their “nations, instead of using these God-given resources and wealth for fulfilling the needs of God’s servants. The military industry of the West is being fed at the expense of Muslim solidarity. Imagine what could happen if, instead, these billions of dollars were to be used for the welfare of the world citizens and especially the Muslim Ummah which accounts for one-fourth of world population.
To prevent regional conflicts and wars within the Muslims states they must rediscover the spirit of Amana. The Muslim states have so much foreign debt, hunger, malnutrition, environmental degradation and resource scarcity that they are counted among the “Poor and destitute” The world wonders why the Muslims parrot the slogan: Islam is the solution to all human problems.
This can only be alleviated if we truly understand that we are obliged to share and care. When we start sharing our natural resources and technology with the poor and the needy; an important barrier in the way of solidarity will be brought down. This will replace enmity with gratitude and war with peace.
If we desire radical changes in the foreseeable future, it is our duty to change our own conceptions and to seek to influence the way Muslim societies are ruled. A just world order can be realised not by slogans but only if we understand fully that we are trustees of God. Denying our responsibilities will continue to burden our shoulders with the great sin of not taking God’s word to the humanity which is suffering from injustices and oppressive orders.
It is our duty to be ready to discharge fully our God- given trust on this earth. When this happens, God will grant us the keys of the universe. Allah, through the Prophet, has promised: ‘My servants, the righteous shall inherit the earth’ (Al-Anbiya, 21.105). Let us start building God’s just civilization again brick by brick wherever we live, as the Prophet did some 1400 years ago though he was alone and an orphan.